What are HIV and AIDS?
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV.
HIV attacks the body’s immune system, our infection and disease defense, weakening it over time, allowing a person to become susceptible to increasingly serious illnesses. HIV starts affecting various people's health at different times. When a person is diagnosed with a serious illness or cancer it is “AIDS-defining.”
You can’t tell if you or another person have HIV by how you look or feel. The only way to know is through a blood test that looks for “HIV antibodies” in your immune system. Your body creates antibodies to fight diseases. HIV antibodies are not made immediately. If you suspect you are infected, wait 14 weeks before you get tested.
How could I get HIV?
You cannot get HIV from kissing, sharing dishes or utensils with an HIV+ person, nor does it pass through the air like a cold or flu.
- blood
- semen
- vaginal fluids
- breast milk
Sex, Needles and Pregnancy
The most likely way HIV gets into a person’s bloodstream is through the mucous membranes of the vagina, the cervix, the rectum or the urethra. HIV can be transmitted if you have anal or vaginal sex without a condom or if you share sex toys that have not been cleaned each time someone uses them.
A person who has a sexually transmitted infection (STI) like gonorrhea, warts, or herpes, increases their risk for getting HIV. Regular check-ups are important to help prevent HIV transmission.
Another common way HIV gets into the blood is through a puncture from a needle that has already been used by someone else and wasn’t cleaned.
A mother can give her child HIV during pregnancy, labour or delivery. Without antiretroviral drug treatment there is about a 25% chance the child will be infected. With treatment, the rate drops to about 5%. HIV can also be passed to a child through an HIV+ mother breast feeding.
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