General Information on HIV and AIDS

AIDS stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. It's caused by a virus called HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, that weakens the body's immune system (your defense against infections) so that you lose the ability to fight off infection and illnesses. Some medicines can lengthen the lives of people with AIDS, but there is no cure. The best way to combat the virus is to keep yourself from getting it.

How can you get HIV? You can get HIV through direct contact with blood, semen (cum), vaginal fluids, and breast milk.

You can get the virus by:

• Exchanging blood, semen, and vaginal secretions through vaginal, oral, or anal intercourse with someone who has HIV. During vaginal intercourse, the risk of becoming infected is higher for women than men, because HIV is more easily transmitted from man to woman.
• Sharing needles or syringes (used for injecting drugs, medicine, tattooing, or ear piercing) with someone who has HIV.
• Being born to a mother who has the virus (HIV can be passed to a fetus through the umbilical cord before birth, through contact with vaginal fluids and blood during birth, or through breast milk.)

You can't get it from:

• Touching, talking to, or sharing a home with a person who is HIV infected or has AIDS
• Sharing utensils, such as forks and spoons, used by someone with HIV infection or AIDS
• Using swimming pools, hot tubs, drinking fountains, toilet seats, doorknobs, gym equipment, or telephones used by people with HIV infection or AIDS
• Having someone with HIV or AIDS hug, kiss, spit, sneeze, cough, breathe, sweat, or cry on you
• Being bitten by mosquitoes
• Donating blood. A new needle is used for every donor. You do not come into contact with anyone else's blood. In the United States, donated blood is always screened for HIV so the risk of infection from a blood transfusion is very, very low.

Maybe you have heard the term HIV-positive. It means that an antibody test has shown that someone has been infected with HIV. It does not necessarily mean that a person has AIDS right now.

People with HIV may not know or show that they carry the virus for up to 15 years and possibly longer. They may look, act, and feel healthy, but can still infect others with HIV through unsafe sex and sharing needles.

You can protect yourself from HIV infection by making smart decisions about sex and drugs. Some things are very risky to do, some less risky, and some are 100 percent safe. Of course, the surest way to avoid the virus is to choose not to have sexual intercourse - vaginal, oral, or anal - and not to do drugs.

Using any drugs at all, including alcohol, is risky. Drugs cloud your judgment and may lead you to make unsafe choices. If you choose to have sexual intercourse, you can protect yourself by practicing safer activities or using latex condoms. Of course, condoms are also a safe, effective, and inexpensive form of birth control, so you can protect yourself from unwanted pregnancy at the same time. They also help protect you from other sexually transmitted infections, STIs, besides HIV.

Safer Sex

There are lots of ways to share love and sexual feelings with your partner that are safe, such as:

• Hugging
• Holding hands
• Massaging
• Erotic touching
• Rubbing against each other with clothes on
• Sharing fantasies
• Masturbating together, as long as guys don't ejaculate (cum) near any opening or broken skin (cut) on partners

Low Risk Sex

• There are other ways that are probably safe such as:
  Putting on a latex condom every single time you have vaginal, oral, or anal intercourse
• Using a barrier, such as a latex dental dam, a cut-open condom or plastic wrap, for oral sex and using a barrier for any mouth-anus contact with a male or female genitals or anus.
• Deep (French) kissing

Unsafe Activities

There are other ways that are very risky, because they can expose you to the bodily fluids that HIV lives in, such as:

• Having vaginal, oral, or anal sex without using a latex condom
• Having oral sex without a latex barrier
• Sharing needles, syringes, or any kind of sharp object for drug use or for cutting, tattooing, or piercing. Don't share needles; don’t share ink; you don't know who's infected. If you must share, thoroughly clean your works (cotton, cooker, spoon, etc.). For more information on cleaning your needles and works, check out the Coalition for Positive Sexuality Web site.

Remember, preventing HIV takes action and communication. Talk to your partner about HIV and safer sex practices. Love and passion don't protect you. Just knowing and trusting your partner isn't enough. Use a male or female condom or latex barrier for every act of vaginal, oral, or anal intercourse or remain abstinent. Respect yourself enough to protect yourself!

Questions? For more information about HIV and AIDS, you can call the following hotlines. All calls are kept confidential.

• National AIDS Hotline - 1 (800) 342-AIDS, answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• National AIDS Hotline ( in Spanish) - 1 (800) 344-SIDA, answered Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
• National Information Clearinghouse - 1 (800) 458-5231, answered Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST