HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. It damages your immune system, making it easier for you to get sick. HIV is spread during sex, but condoms can help protect you.

HIV stands for “human immunodeficiency virus.” It’s a virus that can only infect humans and leads to the weakening of the immune system. The immune system is the body’s system for fighting disease. When it’s compromised or weakened, a person becomes vulnerable to all kinds of bacteria, viruses, or other agents that cause disease.

When HIV is left untreated, it can wreak havoc on a person’s immune system. As this happens, the body is less able to fight off infections. AIDS stands for “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome,” which means the immune system has been made less effective by HIV. When this happens, a person is considered to have an acquired immune deficiency or AIDS.

It’s important to note that you cannot have AIDS without being infected with HIV. But people can, and do, live long lives (on treatment) with HIV and never develop AIDS.
Once you have HIV, the virus stays in your body for life. There’s no cure for HIV, but medicines can help you stay healthy. HIV medicine lowers or even stops your chances of spreading the virus to other people. When your viral load is “undetectable” or you can no longer detect the virus in your body, you can’t pass HIV to your partner(s).

That’s why treatment (and getting tested) is so necessary. With the proper care and medication, people with HIV can live long and healthy lives. Find a provider near you today.

HIV is carried in semen (cum), vaginal fluids, anal mucus, blood, and breast milk. Most people who get HIV get it through anal or vaginal sex or sharing needles syringes. You can get HIV from:

• Having vaginal or anal sex
• Sharing needles or syringes for shooting drugs, piercings, tattoos, etc.
• Getting stuck with a needle that has HIV-infected blood on it
• Getting HIV-infected blood, semen (cum), or vaginal fluids into open cuts or sores on your body

There are many myths about the way that HIV is spread. HIV is not transmitted through saliva (spit) or sweat. HIV is also not spread through hugging, holding hands, coughing, or sneezing. And you can’t get HIV from a toilet seat. If you don’t know if you’ve been exposed to HIV, the best way to feel confident in your status is by getting an HIV test.
There are also many ways to prevent the spread of HIV. Using condoms and/or dental dams every time you have sex and not sharing needles can help protect you and your partners from HIV. If you don’t have HIV, there’s also a daily medicine called PrEP that can protect you from HIV.
HIV destroys cells in your immune system called CD4 cells or T cells. Without CD4 cells, your body has a hard time fighting off diseases. This makes you more likely to get really sick from infections that usually wouldn’t hurt you. Over time, the damage HIV does to your immune system leads to AIDS.
You have AIDS when you get rare infections (called opportunistic infections) or types of cancer, or if you’ve lost a certain number of CD4 cells. Treatment can delay or even prevent you from ever developing AIDS.

It can be years before symptoms of HIV make you feel sick, so many people may not know that they have it. That’s why routine HIV testing is so important.
At first, you might feel achy, feverish, or like you have the flu. These symptoms are your body’s first reaction to the HIV infection. Common early symptoms include:

• Chills
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Mouth sores
• Muscle Aches
• Night Sweats
• Rash
• Sore Throat
• Swollen Lymph Nodes

During this time, there’s a lot of the virus in your system, so it’s really easy to spread HIV to other people. The symptoms only last for a few weeks, and then you usually don’t have symptoms again for years. But HIV can be spread to other people — whether or not you have symptoms or feel sick.

These symptoms are the same in both men and women, but a few more symptoms may present in women. Common HIV symptoms in women include:

• Changes in Menstrual Cycle (heavier or lighter periods or bad PMS)
• Lower Belly Pain due to Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
• Pain During Sex
• Vaginal Yeast Infections

While any one of these symptoms can be the first sign of HIV infection, they can also be signals of other health issues. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, contact your healthcare provider and make sure to get an HIV test so that you can get the care you need.