How Can You Spread Hiv

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Simple Steps To Prevent Hiv

HIV prevention is not just about following rules. It’s about knowing who you are, what you believe, and when to act in order to protect yourself and others from infection.

It requires an informed, holistic approachone that enables you to do more than just roll the dice, but to understand the very dynamics of infection and ways to prevent it from happening.

With a little work, you can build an effective, individualized HIV-prevention strategy.

Taking Arvs Can Help Prevent The Spread Of Hiv

The early treatment of people with HIV massively reduces their infectiousness and gives the world the first real opportunity to halt the HIV epidemic.

This follows results of a trial released in May which found that sex with an HIV- positive person on ARV treatment and who has an undetectable viral load is as safe as using condoms.

This is the biggest news of the year, according to Dr Francois Venter, head of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society.

No other intervention beyond abstinence shows such a level of protection.

Its probably even safer than condoms because things often go wrong with condoms.

The trial has revolutionised HIV- policymaking as, for the first time, ARVs are being counted as a weapon to prevent the spread of HIV as well as to treat the virus what the experts are now calling treatment-as-prevention.

The trial involved over 1 700 discordant couples, made up of an HIV-positive and -negative partner, and it was conducted in SA and eight other countries.

All the HIV-positive partners had CD4 counts of between 350 and 500, which means that they did not yet need anti- retroviral medication.

The couples were randomly divided into two groups. In the first group, the HIV-positive partners were put onto ARVs immediately. In the second group, ARVs were delayed until the partners with HIV reached a CD4 count of 250 or developed an Aids-related illness.

The difference between the two groups, with over 800 couples in each, was striking.

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Screen And Treat For Hiv During Pregnancy

If youre pregnant, you should get tested for HIV. If you do have HIV, taking the appropriate medicines religiously can greatly lower the risk of transmitting it to your baby. In fact, if you start treatment early enough, you can reduce the risk to about 1% or lower.9

Breast milk contains HIV. So if you have HIV, you can avoid transmitting it to your baby after delivery by not breastfeeding.10

References

How Is Hiv Transmitted

The person-to-person spread of HIV is called HIV transmission. People can get or transmit HIV only through specific activities, such as through sex or injection drug use. HIV can be transmitted only in certain body fluids from a person who has HIV:

• Blood
• Vaginal fluids
• Breast milk

HIV transmission is only possible if these fluids come in contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue or are directly injected into the bloodstream . Mucous membranes are found inside the rectum, the vagina, the opening of the penis, and the mouth.

In the United States, HIV is spread mainly by:

• Having anal or vaginal sex with someone who has HIV without using a condom or taking medicines to prevent or treat HIV
• Sharing injection drug equipment , such as needles, with someone who has HIV

HIV can also spread from a woman with HIV to her child during pregnancy, childbirth , or breastfeeding. This is called mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

You can’t get HIV from casual contact with a person who has HIV, such as a handshake, a hug, or a closed-mouth kiss. And you can’t get HIV from contact with objects such as toilet seats, doorknobs, or dishes used by a person who has HIV. Use the ClinicalInfo You Can Safely ShareWith Someone With HIV infographic to spread this message.

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How Do I Avoid Getting Hiv During Sex

HIV is spread through contact with blood or sexual fluids , usually during vaginal and anal sex. So the only 100% certain way to avoid HIV is to not have vaginal or anal sex.

But most people do have sex at some point in their lives, so learning about HIV prevention and knowing how to have safer sex is important. Using condoms REALLY lowers your risk of getting HIV. If youre going to have sex, using condoms every single time is the best way to protect yourself from HIV. Theres also a daily pill you can take called PrEP that can help prevent HIV. Your doctor or nurse can tell you if PrEP is right for you.

Some sexual activities are safer than others when it comes to getting HIV. These activities are no risk theyve never caused a reported case of HIV:

• masturbating

• having oral sex with a condom or dental dam

• using clean sex toys

These activities are lower risk theyve only caused a few reported cases of HIV :

• “French or deep kissing

• vaginal sex with a condom and/or PrEP

• anal sex with a condom and/or PrEP

• oral sex without a condom or dental dam

These activities are high risk millions of people get HIV this way:

• vaginal sex without a condom or PrEP

• anal sex without a condom or PrEP

Theres no vaccine that protects against HIV, but lots of people are working on making one. And there are medicines that can help prevent HIV.

How Can I Make Sure I Dont Give Hiv To Anyone During Sex

If you find out that you have HIV, try to stay calm. People living with HIV can have normal, healthy relationships and sex lives. But its important to take precautions to help your partner stay HIV-free.

There are a few ways that you can avoid giving HIV to other people:

• Always use condoms when you have vaginal and anal sex.

• Start treatment for HIV as soon as possible, and keep taking your HIV medicine. When you take it correctly, HIV treatment can lower or even stop your chances of spreading the virus to your sexual partners .

• Theres a daily pill your partner can take to lower the risk of getting HIV, called PrEP.

• Dont share needles for shooting drugs, piercings, or tattoos.

• Get tested and treated for other STDs besides HIV regularly. Having other STDs makes it easier for you to spread HIV to others.

If you test positive for HIV, its important to tell your sexual partners about it so they can be tested, too. Even if youre really careful to not spread HIV, be honest with your future partners about your status so you can both be informed and help each other stay healthy. Read more about talking with your partners about HIV.

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How Do You Get Or Transmit Hiv

You can only get HIV by coming into direct contact with certain body fluids from a person with HIV who has a detectable viral load. These fluids are:

• Blood
• Semen and pre-seminal fluid
• Rectal fluids
• Vaginal fluids
• Breast milk

For transmission to occur, the HIV in these fluids must get into the bloodstream of an HIV-negative person through a mucous membrane open cuts or sores or by direct injection.

People with HIV who take HIV medicine daily as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative partners.

What We Know About Prep

Two medications are approved for daily use as PrEP to prevent an HIV-negative person from getting HIV from a sex or drug-injection partner who has HIV. Studies have shown that PrEP is highly effective for preventing HIV if its taken as prescribed. PrEP is much less effective when it isn’t taken consistently.

More Information

Among people who inject drugs, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV by at least 74% when taken daily.

PrEP is for people without HIV who:

Have had anal or vaginal sex in the past 6 months and:

• Have a sexual partner with HIV or
• Have not consistently used a condomor
• Have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease in the past 6 months

PrEP is also recommended for people who inject drugs and have an injection partner with HIV, or have shared needles, syringes, or other injection equipment.

Because PrEP involves taking medicine daily and regular visits to a health care provider, it may not be right for everyone. And PrEP can cause side effects like nausea in some people, but these generally get better over time. These side effects arent life threatening.

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Health Resources And Services Administrations Hiv/aids Bureau

• FY 2020 CARES Act Funding for Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program RecipientsThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , through HRSA, awarded $90 million to help 581 RHWAP recipients prevent or minimize the impact of the pandemic on people with HIV. This page provides the latest information for award recipients. View recipients.
• HRSA HAB COVID-19 InformationThis page provides links to resources for RWHAP recipients, subrecipients, and stakeholders who are responding to COVID-19. It includes audio and transcripts from HRSA HABs All Grant Recipient Conference Calls and Webinars.
• HRSA.gov/coronavirusThis page provides COVID-19 information specific to all HRSA programs and grantees.
• RWHAP COVID-19 FAQsThese FAQs were developed to assist RHWAP recipients, subrecipients, and stakeholders as they deliver critical services and assist local communities in response to COVID-19. This page is updated regularly.

How Is Hiv/aids Transmitted

Sexual contact – HIV is spread most commonly by sexual contact with an infected partner. The virus enters the body through the lining of the vagina, vulva, penis, rectum, or mouth during sexual activity.

Blood contamination – HIV may also be spread through contact with infected blood. However, due to the screening of blood for evidence of HIV infection, the risk of acquiring HIV from blood transfusions is extremely low.

Needles – HIV is frequently spread by sharing needles, syringes, or drug use equipment with someone who is infected with the virus. Transmission from patient to healthcare worker, or vice-versa through accidental sticks with contaminated needles or other medical instruments, is rare.

Mother-infant – HIV also can be spread to babies born to, or breastfed by, mothers infected with the virus.

Learn more about:

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Viral Load & Medications

If someone has HIV, this does not mean that they are restricted to celibacy. Many people with HIV still continue to have safe, enjoyable sex lives without spreading the virus. Always using a condom or barrier method is an important first step to prevent the sharing of HIV containing fluids.

Antiretroviral therapy : Another way to help decrease the risk of spreading HIV is to lower a personâs viral loadâthe amount of HIV in a personâs blood. Viral loads can be lowered using medications called antiretroviral therapy . These medications can lower the HIV viral load so much that HIV may not even be detectable on a blood testâthis is called an undetectable viral load . When a person’s viral load in undetectable, they have effectively no risk of transmitting the HIV virus to a non-infected partner . Taking these medication will help keep a person with HIV healthy while also helping prevent the spread of HIV to another person. This is not a cure, however. If medication is taken incorrectly or stopped, HIV viral loads will increase again and transmission can occur. Condoms and other barrier methods should still always be used during sex .

Hiv Transmission Through Other Sexual Activities

HIV is also sometimes transmitted during oral sex . It may occasionally be passed from an HIV-positive person to someone sucking their penis.

“Not every act of unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person results in HIV transmission.”

Oral sex is much less risky than vaginal or anal sex, but it is not risk free. The risk depends on the viral load of the person with HIV, the dental health of the person performing oral sex and untreated sexually transmitted infections.

HIV can be transmitted by sharing sex toys such as dildos or butt plugs. They should be covered with condoms or disinfected between use by different people.

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Why Transmission Is Unlikely

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the risk of HIV through tattooing or body piercing is considered low to negligible.

While the CDC accedes that there is a theoretical risk of transmission, there has yet to be a single documented case of HIV by any form of body art.

This is largely due to the fact that transmission could only occur if:

Within the context of body art, the likelihood of these conditions being satisfied as incredibly slim. The opportunity for infection is nowhere near as strong as, say, injecting drug use in which HIV-infected blood is delivered directly into a vein.

What Is Art And How Does It Help Prevent Hiv

Antiretroviral therapy is a combination of medicines that slows down the effects of HIV in your body and can help you stay healthy for many years. It can also lower or even stop your chances of giving HIV to anyone else.

ART lowers the amount of HIV in your body sometimes to the point where HIV wont show up on standard blood tests. If your HIV viral load is so low that certain tests cant see it, its called undetectable. When someone has an undetectable viral load, they cant spread HIV to others during sex.

Its important to remember that even with an undetectable viral load, HIV is still present in your body. If you stop treatment your viral load can go up, making it possible to pass HIV to others you have sex with. Your doctor or nurse can help you find the treatment thats best for you to help keep your viral load low, so you can stay healthy.

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Hiv And Maternal Transmission

HIV can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or through breastfeeding. If left untreated throughout these stages, there is a 15-45% chance of an HIV positive mother transmitting the virus to their child . However there are treatment options to prevent this from happening.

If pregnancy occurs and there has been potential HIV exposure, ask a healthcare provider about getting tested for HIV as early as possible. Taking medications called antiretroviral therapy as prescribed can reduce the viral load so that the baby has a very low chance of contracting HIV .

A person with HIV should not breastfeed their child, as breast milk can transmit HIV. Even if a person is taking ART and their viral loads are undetectable, they should still not breastfeed.

How Do You Get Hiv From Semen Or Vaginal Fluid

Body fluids including semen and vaginal secretions can contain HIV. If a person has HIV and a detectable viral load, HIV can passed on to someone if their semen or vaginal secretions get into the body of a sexual partner during vaginal or anal sex.

If a man has HIV and a detectable viral load, one of his body fluids where the virus is found is his semen.

If he has a detectable viral load and his semen gets into the body of his sexual partner during sex, then HIV can get into the other persons bloodstream.

Pre-cum also contains HIV this is why there is a risk of infection even if a man pulls out of his partner before he ejaculates.

If a woman has HIV and she has a detectable viral load, one of her body fluids where the virus is found is in her vaginal secretions.

If these come into contact with a penis during sex, then HIV could be transmitted. The virus in her secretions can enter through the delicate skin of the penis or foreskin.

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How Is Hiv Transmitted Or Spread

The following are the means by which the HIV virus is spread:

• Vertical transmission. HIV can be spread to babies born to, or breastfed by, mothers infected with the virus.

• Sexual contact. In adults and adolescents, HIV is spread most commonly by sexual contact with an infected partner. The virus enters the body through the lining of the vagina, vulva, penis, rectum, or abraded or irritated tissues in the lining of the mouth through sexual activity.

• Blood contamination. HIV may also be spread through contact with infected blood. However, due to the screening of donated blood for evidence of HIV infection, the risk of acquiring HIV from blood transfusions is extremely low.

• Needles. HIV is frequently spread by sharing needles, syringes, or drug use equipment with someone who is infected with the virus. Transmission from patient to health care worker, or vice-versa, through accidental sticks with contaminated needles or other medical instruments, is rare.

No known cases of HIV/AIDS have been spread by the following:

• Saliva

• Malaise

• Enlarged lymph nodes

An HIV-infected child is usually diagnosed with AIDS when the immune system becomes severely damaged or other types of infections occur. As the immune system deteriorates, complications begin to develop. The following are some common complications, or symptoms, of the onset of AIDS. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include: