What is AIDS AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is the most advanced stages of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is a virus that kills or damages cells of the body's immune system. HIV most often spreads through unprotected sex with an infected person. AIDS may also spread by sharing drug needles or through contact with the blood of an infected person.
A blood test for HIV looks for these antibodies. If you have them in your blood, it means that you have HIV infection. People who have the HIV antibodies are called "HIV-Positive." HIV is a virus that damages human immune cells. It weakens the immune system and leads most people to develop AIDS. Like all viruses, HIV infects the cells of a living organism in order to make copies of itself.
How Do People Get AIDS
Injecting drugs-Injecting drug users are one of the most high-risk groups for exposure to HIV. Sharing injecting equipment is a very efficient way to transmit blood-borne viruses such as HIV and Hepatitits C. Sharing needles and “works” (syringes, spoons, filters and water) is thought to be three times more likely to transmit HIV than sexual intercourse. Disinfecting equipment between use can reduce the chance of transmission, but does not eliminate it entirely.
Sexual Intercourse-HIV is passed on in the sexual fluids or blood of an infected person, so if infected blood or sexual fluid gets into your body, you can become infected. This usually happens by either having sexual intercourse with an infected person or by sharing needles used to inject drugs with an infected person. People can also become infected by being born to a mother who has HIV and a very small number of people become infected by having medical treatment using infected blood transfusions.
Mother to Child Transmission-Being born when their mother is infected, or drinking the breast milk of an infected woman. A newborn baby is at risk of getting the HIV virus from his or her mother if she is infected. This can happen before the baby is born, during birth, or through breastfeeding. Women should be tested for HIV because infected women who receive treatment for HIV are much less likely to spread the virus to their babies. Babies born to mothers infected with HIV are also given special medicines to try to prevent HIV infection. Use of infected blood products- Many people in the past have been infected with HIV by the use of blood transfusions and blood products which were contaminated with the virus - in hospitals, for example. In much of the world this is no longer a significant risk, as blood donations are routinely tested.
You Cannot Get AIDS from………
Kissing someone on the cheek, also known as social kissing, does not pose any risk of HIV transmission. Deep or open mouthed kissing is considered a very low risk activity for transmission of HIV. This is because HIV is present in saliva but only in very minute quantities, insufficient to lead to HIV infection alone.
You cannot get HIV by eating from the same plate, cup or utensils that an HIV positive person uses. You cannot get HIV from a HIV positive person’s cough, sneeze or saliva.
You cannot get HIV from a mosquito bite. Injecting with a sterile needle and works will not transmit HIV as long as clean equipment is used each time and none of it is shared.
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