How you can get HIV

You CANNOT get HIV from:

  • Hugging, shaking or holding hands
  • Eating off dishes in public places
  • Using the same toilets as someone with HIV
  • Getting bites from mosquitoes
  • Breathing air after someone with HIV coughs or sneezes
  • Living or working together with someone who has HIV

You CAN get HIV from:

  • Blood
  • Semen
  • Pre-seminal fluid
  • Vaginal fluid
  • Breast milk

In order for HIV to be transmitted the following conditions must be present: HIV must be present in one person to be transmitted to another and HIV must enter into the blood stream of the other person.

HIV can enter the blood stream at these sites on the human body: vein or other injection sites (under the skin or in the muscle, “skin popping”) anus/butt, vagina, urethra, mouth, cuts or sores.

Sharing of needles and sexual contact are the main ways HIV is transmitted. Sexual contact includes:

Vaginal, anal (butt) and oral (mouth on penis, mouth on vagina). This includes:

  • Male-to-male unprotected sex
  • Male-to-female unprotected sex
  • Female-to-female unprotected sex

Transmission of infected blood or blood products:

  • Intravenous drug use – includes injection beneath the skin, subcutaneous or “skin popping”- with infected needles.
  • Transfusion of infected blood products – hemophiliacs considered more at risk.

Prenatal or Post-natal

  • Prior to childbirth (prenatal) transmission
  • During childbirth
  • After childbirth via breast milk

How can taking the HIV test help me?

If you take the test and find out that you are HIV negative, it means no HIV was found in your blood at that time. You may need to take another test again in three months to be sure. It's better to know and not have to worry! A negative test result does not mean you can't get HIV in the future though.

Finding out you are HIV positive (you do have the virus) does not mean you have AIDS. New, early treatment may help you live a longer, healthier life with HIV.

Only a doctor can tell from tests if you have AIDS.

If you are offered an HIV test and you choose not to get tested, the prenatal care and help you get will not change.

Where do I get tested?

The doctor or clinic who tested you for being pregnant can set up a test.

If you are scared to ask your doctor, you can always call your local health department.

You can get a 'confidential' HIV blood test. Even with a 'confidential' test, the person or place doing your test knows your name and address, and could try to contact you if you have a positive test and do not come back for your test results. Your test results could be put in your medical and health insurance records. Ask who else might see your 'confidential' test results.

You can get an 'anonymous' HIV blood test. This means no one knows your name or address. You are known only by a code number or word given just to you. You will use this code when you go to get your test results.

More here on testing and places that test near your home.

If I have HIV, can I give it to my baby?

Yes.

If you are pregnant and have HIV, you can give the virus to your baby:

  • While you are pregnant
  • During childbirth
  • While you are breastfeeding

Doctors have learned that certain medicines used during your pregnancy can improve the chances of your baby not getting HIV. Only you can help your baby. Get tested for HIV before or as soon as you know you are pregnant.

New medicines for pregnant women with HIV

The drug called AZT or ZDV is really not new. It was one of the first medicines given to people with HIV. What's new is that it is now given to pregnant women with HIV. When pregnant women with HIV took AZT or ZDV, only 8 out of 100 babies were born with HIV. That means 92 babies were born healthy!

Pregnant women with HIV who did not take the medicine had 25 babies out of 100 born with HIV. By not taking the medicine, 17 more babies were born with HIV.

Today, doctors and people in research are testing new medicines . . . so that even more babies will be born healthy!

It's o.k. to have questions. It's o.k. to be scared. Ask all the questions you can think of. Your doctor and counselor want you to know the facts as soon as possible!

Things to know if you test positive for HIV. . .

  1. Get counseling where you get tested if it's available. If it's not available, ask where you can get it.
  2. See a doctor as soon as possible. It can make a big difference in your health.
  3. One way you can help stop the spread of HIV is to talk with your sex and/or drug partners about the importance of being tested for HIV.
  4. Your health department can reach them to offer testing and counseling. They can do this without ever telling your name.
  5. Besides needles, don't share things that you might get blood on - like shavers and razors, tweezers and even your toothbrush.
  6. If you have HIV or AIDS, never give blood, donate your organs or any tissue from your body.