What is HIV?

​

HIV stands for "human immunodeficiency virus." HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV can only infect humans and leads to the weakening of the immune system. It damages your immune system, making it easier for you to get sick. The immune system is the body's system for fighting disease. When it's compromised or weakened, a person becomes vulnerable to all sorts of bacteria, viruses, or other agents that cause disease.
 

How is HIV spread?

​​

1. Anal or vaginal sex

2. Sharing injection equipment (needles, syringes, cookers, cotton)

3. Perinatal

HIV is carried in semen, vaginal fluids, anal mucus, blood, and breast milk. Most people who get HIV get it through anal or vaginal sex or sharing needle syringes.

​

How often should you be tested for HIV?

​

The CDC recommends everyone between ages 13 and 64 be tested at least once a year, as part of routine healthcare.

​

Who is most at risk for getting HIV?

​

While HIV is more common in some communities than in others, anyone can acquire HIV through behaviors that are likely to transmit the virus. It’s what you do, not who you are, that increases your chances of contracting HIV.

​

What are the symptoms of HIV?

​

Symptoms of HIV include fever, sore throat, night sweats, mouth ulcers, swollen lymph nodes, chills, rash, fatigue, and muscle aches. However, these symptoms are nonspecific and mimic many other viral or bacterial infections. Therefore, diagnosis of acute HIV infection requires a high index of suspicion and careful history taking to identify recent (within 2 to 6 weeks) high-risk exposure to HIV.

​

​

​