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| About
AIDS & HIV |
HIV/AIDS is preventable and treatable. To stay healthy, you need to know the facts. In this section you will learn the basics, about HIV , testing and
protection
What is HIV?
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV harms the body's immune system by attacking certain cells, known as helper T cells or CD4 cells, which defend the body against illness.
What is AIDS?
AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, occurs when an individual's immune system is weakened by HIV to such an extent that the individual develops one or more of about 25 "opportunistic infections" (OIs), conditions that take advantage of a weakened immune system. When this happens, a person who is HIV positive is considered to have developed AIDS, or to have an "AIDS diagnosis". They are also considered to have an AIDS diagnosis when their CD4 cell count (a special type of white blood cells that fight infection) falls below a certain level and/or the amount of virus in their body rises above a certain level.
How does someone get HIV?
HIV is spread through an exchange of certain bodily fluids including blood, pre-cum, semen, and vaginal secretions. A woman infected with HIV can pass HIV to her baby through pregnancy or delivery, and also through breast milk. Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never resulted in HIV transmission. And you cannot be infected through casual contact such as hugging or shaking hands. In the United States HIV is primarily transmitted through unprotected sexual contact--including vaginal, anal, and oral sex-and through injection drug use (IDU).
How does HIV affect the body?
HIV harms the body's immune system by attacking certain kinds of cells, known as helper T cells or CD4 cells, which are a part of the body's natural line of defence against illness. As time goes by, HIV destroys so many of these cells that the body is no longer able to defend itself against certain cancers, viruses, bacteria, or parasites. If left untreated, HIV can lead to AIDS and death.
What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
HIV-the Human Immunodeficiency Virus-is the virus that causes the Syndrome known as AIDS, or acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome. HIV can weaken the immune system to a point where the body is likely to develop opportunistic infections (OIs), which are illnesses that a healthy immune system would normally fight off, such as a kind of skin cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma or Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, otherwise known as PCP. HIV-infected person develops AIDS when he or she has either developed one of the many OIs that are typically seen in people with AIDS or experienced a major drop in T cells or CD4 count. Healthy people have between 500 and 1,500 CD4 cells in a millilitre of blood. When a person with HIV has fewer than 200 T cells (CD4 count), that means that he or she has progressed to AIDS.
What are ways to reduce the risk of HIV or other STD transmission?
 Choosing not to have sex, or making an agreement with a partner who is not HIV-positive to be sexually faithful to each other, and sticking to it
Using a condom for vaginal or anal sexual intercourse, and barrier methods, such as a condom or dental dam, for oral sex
Talking to a health care provider about getting vaccinated for hepatitis A and hepatitis B
Not sharing needles for injection drug use
Getting tested! And asking partners to do the same
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