Resources & Education

• People have a large amount of HIV in their blood and are very contagious.
• Some people have flu-like symptoms. This is the body's natural response to infection.
• Some people may not feel sick right away, or at all.
• If you have flu-like symptoms and think you may have been exposed to HIV, seek medical care and ask for a test to diagnose acute infection.
• Only antigen and antibody tests, or nucleic acid tests (NATs), can diagnose acute infection.

This stage is also called asymptomatic HIV infection or clinical latency.

• HIV is still active but reproduces at very low levels.
• People may not have any symptoms or get sick during this phase.
• Without taking HIV medicine, this period may last a decade or longer, but some people may progress faster.
• People can transmit HIV during this phase.
• At the end of this phase, viral load goes up and CD4 cell count goes down, and the person may move into Stage 3.
• People who take HIV medicine as prescribed may never move into Stage 3.

• The most severe phase of HIV infection.
• People with AIDS have such badly damaged immune systems that they face an increasing number of severe illnesses, called opportunistic infections.
• People receive an AIDS diagnosis when their CD4 cell count drops below 200 cells per cubic millimeter, or if they develop certain opportunistic infections.
• People with AIDS can have a high viral load and be very infectious.
• Without treatment, people with AIDS typically survive about three years.

You can get HIV if you have anal sex with someone who has HIV without using protection, such as condoms or medicine to treat or prevent HIV.

• Anal sex is the riskiest type of sex for getting or transmitting HIV.
• Being the receptive partner is riskier for getting HIV than being the insertive partner.
• The receptive partner's risk is very high because the lining of the rectum may allow HIV to enter the body during anal sex.
• The insertive partner is also at risk, because HIV can enter the body through the opening at the tip of the penis, the foreskin if the penis is not circumcised, or small cuts, scratches, or open sores.

You can get HIV if you have vaginal sex with someone who has HIV without using protection, such as condoms or medicine to treat or prevent HIV.

• Vaginal sex is less risky for getting HIV than receptive anal sex.
• Either partner can get HIV during vaginal sex.
• Most women who get HIV get it from vaginal sex. HIV can enter a woman's body through the mucous membranes that line the vagina and cervix.
• Men can also get HIV during vaginal sex, since vaginal fluid and blood can carry HIV. Men get HIV through the opening at the tip of the penis, the foreskin if the penis is not circumcised, or small cuts, scratches, or open sores.

HIV can be transmitted from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. This is less common today because of advances in HIV prevention and treatment. This is called perinatal transmission, and it is the most common way that children get HIV.

• Recommendations to test all pregnant women for HIV and start treatment immediately have lowered the number of babies born with HIV.
• If a mother with HIV takes HIV medicine daily as prescribed throughout pregnancy and childbirth, and gives HIV medicine to her baby for four to six weeks after birth, the risk of transmitting HIV to the baby can be less than one percent.

You are at high risk for getting HIV if you share needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment, such as cookers, with someone who has HIV. Never share needles or other equipment to inject drugs, hormones, steroids, or silicone.

• Used needles, syringes, and other injection equipment may have someone else's blood on them, and blood can carry HIV.
• People who inject drugs are also at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections because they may engage in risky sexual behavior, such as having sex without protection.
• You are also at risk for hepatitis B and C, and other infections, if you share needles, syringes, or other injection equipment.

There is little to no risk of getting HIV from the activities below. For transmission to occur, something very unusual would have to happen.

• Oral sex
• Workplace exposure
• Medical care
• Pre-chewed food
• Biting
• Deep, open-mouth kissing
• Female-to-female contact
• Tattoos and body piercings