AIDS
How HIV spreads

Do you know How HIV spreads?
HIV is found in blood, vaginal fluids, semen, and fluids that leak from the penis before orgasm. Outside the body, the virus is weak. Inside the body, it is strong. The virus lives in anyone exposed to it.

Vaginal sex: When a man puts his penis into a woman's vagina, it is called vaginal sex. If the man is infected with HIV, the fluids from his penis may get into the woman's bloodstream through a tiny tear in the vagina or through certain cells lining the vagina.

Anal sex: When a man puts his penis into his partner's anus, it is called anal sex. The rectum skin can easily tear during anal sex and allow fluids from the penis to get into a partner's bloodstream. Infection can pass the other way, too: the rectum can bleed if irritated by the penis, allowing infected blood into the body through the penis. Whether you are a man or a woman, anal intercourse is risky.

Oral sex: Contact between sex partners' genitals and mouth is oral sex. Virus in the fluids of the penis or vagina can get into the body through cuts or openings in the mouth.

Shooting drugs into veins: When people inject drugs, they also draw their blood into the needle and syringe. Other people using that needle and syringe without cleaning it, they can be exposed to infected blood in it when they shoot up.

Tattoos, ear piercing, and injecting steroids: If you share a needle with another person for any of these activities, you are risking HIV infection. The needle you share could be contaminated. There is no risk of infection with HIV if you get a tattoo or pierced ears from a professional who uses a sterile needle for each customer.

If you inject anabolic steroids with a sterile needle, there is no threat of infection with HIV. However, anabolic steroids, taken by injection or in pill form are dangerous. They can be deadly.

From pregnant woman or new mother to her child: If a woman is infected with HIV, there is a chance HIV will be passed on to her child during pregnancy or during birth. Medicine given to the mother before delivery can drastically reduce the chances of infection. The baby of an HIV-positive mother can also be infected with HIV through breast-feeding.

What about kissing? Small amounts of HIV have been found in the saliva of some people. But researchers have never found that HIV is spread by kissing. There isn't enough of the virus in saliva to cause infection. Most scientists agree you can enjoy kissing without worrying about AIDS transmission.