HIV Basics

What Is HIV?

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. People who have HIV in their bodies have HIV infection, or HIV.
•HIV - is a disease with many stages. People with HIV may have no symptoms, a few symptoms or many serious symptoms.
•People can have HIV for many years without feeling or looking sick. They may not even know they are infected. But they can still pass the virus on to others.
•Over time, HIV damages the body’s immune system. The immune system protects the body from disease.
•When the immune system gets very weak, other diseases and infections can enter the body. This stage of HIV is called AIDS.

How Do People Get HIV?
HIV lives in semen, vaginal fluids, blood and breast milk of person with HIV. It can be passed from one person to another through these infected fluids.
•HIV - can be passed during vaginal, oral or anal sex.
•HIV - can be passed while sharing needles and equipment to inject drugs.
•HIV - can be passed by needles used for tattoos and piercing or to inject vitamins or steroids.
•Although it is rare, health workers caring for people with HIV can get HIV from needle-stick injuries.
•HIV – can be passed from mother to her baby during pregnancy, child-birth or breastfeeding.
•Before 1985, some people got HIV from infected blood transfusions. Now the blood supply in the U.S. is tested. So the chances of getting HIV this way are very, very, very small.

HIV Is Not Passed By:
•Donating blood
•Hugging, dry kissing or sharing food
•Telephones, toilet seats, towels or eating utensils
•Tears, saliva, sweat or urine

What Are Your Risks?
You can figure out whether you are at risk for HIV. Think about anything you are doing now or have done in the past that might have exposed you to HIV.
You are at risk if you:
• Have had sex with a man or woman who has had other partners.
• Have shared injection drug needles, or had sex with someone who has.
• Had a blood transfusion before 1985, when HIV testing began, or have had sex with someone who did.

The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to have an HIV test.