HIV
How is HIV Transmitted? HIV is transmitted through direct contact with certain body fluids from a person HIV who has a detectable viral load. These fluids are:
Blood
Semen (cum) and pre-seminal fluids
Rectal fluids
Vaginal fluids
Breast mild.
Most common ways HIV is spread in the US:
Vaginal or anal sex with someone who has HIV (without using a condom or taking meds to prevent or treat HIV)
Anal sex is riskier than vaginal sex
Sharing injection drug equipment (such as needles) with someone who has HIV.
Source: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/about-hiv-and-aids/how-is-hiv-transmitted
Less common Ways:
From mother to child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. However, the use of HIV medicines and other strategies have helped lower the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to 1% or less in the United States.
Getting stuck with an HIV-contaminated needle or other sharp object. This is a risk mainly for health care workers. The risk is very low.
Only in extremely rare cases by:
Having oral sex. But in general, the chance that an HIV-negative person will get HIV from oral sex with an HIV-positive partner is extremely low.
Receiving blood transfusions, blood products, or organ/tissue transplants that are contaminated with HIV. The risk is extremely small these days because of rigorous testing of the U.S. blood supply and donated organs and tissues.
Being bitten by a person with HIV. Each of the very small number of documented cases has involved severe trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood. There is no risk of transmission if the skin is not broken.
Contact between broken skin, wounds, or mucous membranes and HIV-infected blood or blood-contaminated body fluids.
Deep, open-mouth kissing if both partners have sores or bleeding gums and blood from the HIV-positive partner gets into the bloodstream of the HIV-negative partner. HIV is not spread through saliva.
Eating food that has been pre-chewed by a person with HIV. The contamination occurs when infected blood from a caregiver’s mouth mixes with food while chewing. The only known cases are among infants.
Ways HIV Cannot Be Spread:
HIV is not spread by:
Air or water
Mosquitoes, ticks or other insects
Saliva, tears, or sweat that is not mixed with the blood of a person with HIV
Shaking hands; hugging; sharing toilets; sharing dishes, silverware, or drinking glasses; or engaging in closed-mouth or “social” kissing with a person with HIV
Drinking fountains
Other sexual activities that don’t involve the exchange of body fluids (for example, touching).
HIV can’t be passed through healthy, unbroken skin.
Source: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/about-hiv-and-aids/how-is-hiv-transmitted
Know Your Status
What does it mean to test negative for HIV?
It means that no antibodies were found at the time of the test.
It can sometimes take around 3 months for antibodies to be detectable on the test. Most testing sites will recommend following up 3-6 months after the last potential HIV exposure.
TWU is a recipient of grant funding from DIFFA Dallas.
Students can be tested at TWU Student Health Services for FREE!
This can be done on our scheduled free HIV testing dates, or you can ask to be tested during an existing appointment.
What happens after testing positive?
It is important to seek medical care and begin HIV treatment as soon as someone is diagnosed.
Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) is recommended for all people living with HIV.
While there is currently no cure for HIV, treatment (taking HIV medication as prescribed) and get and keep an undetectable viral load, you can stay healthy for many years.
Having an undetectable viral load also helps prevent transmitting the virus to others.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/hiv-testing/positive-hiv-results.html
Prevention
Prevention:
Condoms are highly effective at both preventing both HIV and other STD's (when used consistently & correctly).
HIV Testing - Knowing your HIV status helps you to choose options to stay healthy.
PrEP - Pre-exposure prophylaxis can greatly reduce risk of HIV
Treatment - HIV treatment helps people living with HIV and protects others.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/stophivtogether/hiv-prevention/index.html
AIDS
What is AIDS?
AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection that occurs when the body’s immune system is badly damaged because of the virus.
In the U.S., most people with HIV do not develop AIDS because taking HIV medicine every day as prescribed stops the progression of the disease.
A person with HIV is considered to have progressed to AIDS when:
the number of their CD4 cells falls below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood (200 cells/mm3). (In someone with a healthy immune system, CD4 counts are between 500 and 1,600 cells/mm3.) OR
they develop one or more opportunistic infections regardless of their CD4 count.
Without HIV medicine, people with AIDS typically survive about 3 years. Once someone has a dangerous opportunistic illness, life expectancy without treatment falls to about 1 year. HIV medicine can still help people at this stage of HIV infection, and it can even be lifesaving. But people who start ART soon after they get HIV experience more benefits—that’s why HIV testing is so important.
Source: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/about-hiv-and-aids/what-are-hiv-and-aids
December 1st is World AIDS Day.
One of our PATH members has created this resource compiled with helpful videos to increase awareness about HIV & AIDS.
