HIV/AIDS Info

Stop the Myths, know the Facts

Commonly asked questions
and misconceptions about HIV and AIDS

What is HIV?

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV is a bloodborne virus that infects cells of the immune system. HIV uses cells of your immune system to grow. When HIV has used one of these cells to grow, the cell can no longer function effectively, leaving your body without a part of its immune system. Usually a person has the virus for months or years before any signs of the illness appear. The virus slowly weakens the body’s ability to fight off illness. People with AIDS can have serious infections and cancers. These illnesses make them very sick and can eventually lead to death.

How does someone get HIV?

HIV spreads through blood, semen, and vaginal fluids from infected people to uninfected people. People get HIV from contact with these fluids. Contact can come from unsafe sex. It can also come from used needles and syringes. Infected women can pass the virus to their babies during pregnancy, childbirth, and breast feeding. Some people who received blood products from 1978 to 1985 were infected with the HIV virus, most notably Ryan White, who was infected as a child. Now blood banks test all blood for HIV before they use it.

Myths about how someone can get HIV.

People do not become infected with HIV through everyday casual contact with people at school, work, home, or anywhere else. People don’t get it from clothes, phones, or toilet seats. HIV is not passed on by forks, cups or other things used by someone who has it. People don’t get it from food made by an infected person. People don’t get it from sweat, tears, saliva or a casual kiss from an infected person (deep, or “French” kissing is not advised). To date, people have not become infected with HIV through bug bites.

How long does it take for the symptoms of AIDS to appear?

People may not get AIDS as soon as they are infected with HIV. A person can have HIV for 10 years or more before the symptoms of AIDS appear. A person goes from first being HIV-positive without any signs of disease, then to being HIV-positive with symptoms, and finally to having AIDS.

How can someone with HIV stay healthy?

New medical treatments have greatly improved the outlook for people with HIV. A doctor experienced in treating HIV can help a person make the best choices. There are numerous programs that target their efforts to help HIV-infected patients get antiviral therapy or other appropriate treatments. People with HIV may also benefit from common-sense lifestyle changes, such as giving up smoking, moderating their alcohol intake, eating better, and exercising regularly.

How can I avoid getting HIV?

The best way to avoid becoming infected with HIV is to avoid activities that allow the virus to be passed to you. The following suggestions could lower your risk of becoming infected with HIV:

  • The only way to avoid sexual exposure to HIV is to have sex in a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner, or to abstain.
  • If you are not in such a relationship, and engage in sex,you should use a latex condom correctly every time you have sex.
  • Do not share needles, syringes or injection equipment.

What is difference between HIV and AIDS?

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that attacks and breaks down the body’s immune system - the “internal defense force” that fights off infections and disease. When the immune system becomes weak, we lose our protection against illness and can develop serious, often life-threatening, infections and cancers.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is the name for the condition that people with HIV have if they develop one of the serious infections connected with HIV, or if blood tests show that their immune system has been very badly damaged by the virus.

It usually takes many years before HIV breaks down a person’s immune system and causes AIDS. Most people have few, if any, symptoms for several years after they are infected. But once HIV gets into the body, it can do serious damage to the immune system. People who appear perfectly healthy may have the virus, without knowing it, and pass it on to others.

What factors contribute to late HIV testing?

  • Low awareness of options for early medical intervention.
  • Denial or low suspicion of risk.
  • Reluctance to discuss HIV exposure risk.
  • Testing access and availability issues.

What are the potential benefits of HIV testing?

  • Prevention of transmission
  • Early treatment
  • Reinforcement of the value of low-risk behaviors
  • Peace of mind