Author: Gary Jackson

How HIV Spreads HIV

But it works only if the HIV-positive partner gets and keeps an undetectable viral load. Not everyone taking HIV medicine has an undetectable viral load. To stay undetectable, people with HIV must take HIV medicine as prescribed and visit their health care provider regularly to get a viral load test. In many jurisdictions, people who inject drugs can get sterile needles and syringes through syringe services programs.

About HIV

Learn about HIV and how the virus is transmitted, how to protect yourself and others, and how to live well with HIV. This rare transmission has only occurred through contact between broken skin, wounds, or mucous membranes and blood or body fluids from a person who has HIV. The small number of documented cases have involved severe bite trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood. If a person has HIV and is not on HIV treatment, the virus will weaken the body’s immune system and the person will progress to AIDS.

With advances in HIV treatment, progression to Stage 3 (AIDS) is less common today. Most people have flu-like symptoms within 2 to 4 weeks after infection. Oral sex involves putting the mouth on the penis (fellatio), vagina or vulva (cunnilingus), or anus (rimming).

Extremely rare ways HIV might be transmitted

  1. This issue of CDC’s Vital Signs presents data about HIV diagnoses and risk behaviors such as syringe sharing among people who inject drugs.
  2. Not everyone taking HIV medicine has an undetectable viral load.
  3. With HIV, treatment works best when you get it within the first 72 hours.
  4. Your chances of catching a disease from a single needle stick are usually very low.

Ejaculation in the mouth with oral ulcers, bleeding gums, or genital sores or the presence of other STIs) can increase the chances of HIV transmission. There is little to no risk of getting HIV from the activities below. For transmission to occur, something very unusual would have to happen. Rinse and wash the area well with running water and soap.

Vaginal sex

But such vertical transmission can be prevented with effective interventions, including the use of ART by the mother and a short course of antiretroviral drugs for the baby. Other effective interventions include measures to prevent HIV acquisition in pregnant woman, prevent unintended pregnancies in women with HIV and appropriate breastfeeding practices. HIV testing services should be integrated into maternal and child health services, so that they women at risk can readily access testing.

Alcohol and other drug use

Sharing needles can also put you in contact with other infections that you can get through blood. These include the liver diseases hepatitis B and hepatitis C .. Is a respiratory disease but intravenous drug use increases your risk of contracting it. Your chances of catching a disease from a single needle stick are usually very low.

Does HIV Viral Load Affect Getting or Transmitting HIV?

Reducing the number of sexual partners may reduce your risk. The most likely cause is injury with a contaminated needle or another sharp object. Careful practice of standard precautions protects patients and health care personnel from possible occupational HIV transmission. This page lists jurisdictions that have consulted CDC and demonstrated a need for using federal funds to support syringe services programs, with the exception that funds cannot be used to buy needles or syringes. Half or more accidental injuries from needles and other sharp medical instruments go unreported. Reporting any injury from an accidental needle stick not only helps you get the right kind of care, but it also helps shape guidelines for future needle handling so other people stay safe, too.

If your test result is negative, you can take actions to prevent HIV. When used correctly and consistently every time a person has sex, condoms are among the most effective means of preventing HIV infection in women and men. A person living with HIV who is taking ART and whose viral load is “undetectable” will not transmit HIV to their sexual partner/s. In people who are HIV-negative, PEP prevents the virus from causing infection and spreading. But you must start PEP within 72 hours (3 days) of when you’re exposed to the virus for it to work. And you’ll need to keep taking the medicine for 28 days.

When taken as recommended, it can practically eliminate the chance of acquiring HIV. PrEP is recommended for populations who are at higher risk of HIV. These groups may include men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, and young women in southern Africa. HIV is fully preventable; different interventions exist to stop transmission. While there is no cure for HIV infection, it can be treated using antiretroviral drugs, which work by stopping the replication of the virus. People living with HIV are also much less likely to transmit the virus to others when treatment is working.