But the truth is that young people have the very greatest risk of being infected. A child's mucous membrane is much thinner and more sensitive than an adult person's. Girls who are forced to receive customer after customer are easily abraded and get sore, which means that the virus can more easily penetrate the body. Some years ago the Thai authorities conducted an investigation. This indicated that 70 percent of those children who had been forced into prostitution were HIV-positive.
Tourism is probably a contributory factor to the rapid spread of the virus.
Further north Thailand is poor. It is difficult to disseminate information concerning how to protect oneself and even if the information is available, it might not be followed. Most of the customers at brothels are Thais and many of them do not want to use condoms. Many customers, both Thai and foreign, consider that the use of a condom is an insult to their masculinity. An investigation in 1990 indicated that 59 percent of the customers never use condoms and that 20 percent did so sometimes.