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ABOUT AIDS - WHAT IS HIV AND HOW DO YOU GET IT?
HIVs - the human immunodeficiency virus - is a virus that kills you body's CD4 cells, which are cells that help our body fight off infection. HIV can be passed when it comes in contact with another person in one of these ways - any type of unprotected sex, sharing needles, or blood to blood contact. The virus must gain entry into the blood stream in order to infect an individual. One person must be HIV positive for transmission to occur. The virus that causes HIV is transmitted through specific body fluids. People may become infected with HIV by having very intimate, very direct contact with the blood, semen, vaginal secretions or breast milk of some that is infected with HIV.
Possible routes of transmission include the following:
- Having unprotected sex with someone who is HIV+
- Sharing a needle and/or syringe
- Through any blood to blood contact with an individual who is HIV+
- Babies born to women with HIV can also become infected during pregnancy, birth, or breast-feeding
You cannot get HIV from:
- Working or being around someone who is HIV+
- Sweat, spit, tears, clothes, drinking fountains, phones, toilet seats, insect bites or stings, or through everyday things like sharing a meal
- Donating blood
- Giving someone a hug
WHAT IS AIDS?
AIDS -- acquired immunodeficiency syndrome -- is a disease you get when HIV destroys your body's immune system. An HIV infected person receives a diagnosis of AIDS after developing one of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defined AIDS indicator illness or when CD4 counts goes below 200.
Ways to protect yourself:
- Do not share needles and/or syringes used to inject drugs, steroids, or for tattooing or body piercing. Don't share razors or toothbrushes or anything else that will put you in contact with another individual's blood.
- Abstain from sex...or if you do have sex, have it with only one partner and use a latex condom every time. (If you are allergic to latex you can use polyurethane condoms.) There are also condoms that women can use to protect themselves.
- Educate yourself. Know all the facts about HIV and AIDS.
To schedule an appointment for a FREE and CONFIDENTIAL HIV test or to have more of your questions answered call the Delaware HIV/AIDS Information Line at 1-800-422-0429
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