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HIV — human immunodeficiency virus — damages your immune system by destroying a type of white blood cell that helps your body fight infection, leaving you open to other infections and diseases.
AIDS — acquired immunodeficiency syndrome — is the final stage of HIV infection, when the virus has badly damaged the immune system. Not everyone with HIV develops AIDS.
How HIV spreads
HIV passes through certain body fluids from a person who has it:
- unprotected vaginal or anal sex with a person who has HIV — the most common way. "Unprotected" means without condoms or medicine to treat or prevent HIV;
- sharing drug needles;
- contact with the blood of a person with HIV;
- from mother to baby — during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
Who's at higher risk
Anyone can get HIV, but the risk is higher for:
- people with another sexually transmitted infection (STI), which raises the risk of getting or spreading HIV;
- people who inject drugs with shared needles;
- gay and bisexual men;
- Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino Americans, who make up a larger share of new diagnoses and of people living with HIV than other groups;
- people whose sexual behavior is riskier — for example, not using condoms or HIV medicines.
Stigma, discrimination, income, education and region can also affect risk.
Stages and symptoms
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Acute HIV infection | may bring flu-like symptoms — fever, chills, rash, night sweats, muscle aches, sore throat, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, mouth ulcers — that can come and go within two to four weeks |
| Chronic HIV infection | without treatment, the infection settles in, often with no symptoms |
| AIDS | without treatment, the virus eventually wears down the immune system until it can't fight off opportunistic infections — infections that are more common or more severe when immunity is weak |
Because some people don't feel sick early on, testing is the only way to know.
Testing
A blood test shows whether you have HIV. Your health care provider can do it, you can use a home test kit, or you can find free testing sites with CDC's Testing Locator.
Treatment
There's no cure, but HIV can be treated with medicines called antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART can turn HIV into a manageable long-term condition and lowers the risk of passing it on. Most people with HIV live long and healthy lives if they start ART as soon as possible and stay on it.
Support, a healthy lifestyle and regular medical care help too.
Prevention
- Get tested for HIV.
- Choose less risky sex: fewer partners, and a latex condom every time (use polyurethane if you or your partner is allergic to latex).
- Get tested and treated for STIs.
- Don't inject drugs.
- Ask your provider about HIV prevention medicines:
| Medicine | For |
|---|---|
| PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) | people without HIV who are at very high risk — a daily medicine that lowers that risk |
| PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) | emergencies only, after a possible exposure — it must be started within 72 hours |
Sources
Based on the MedlinePlus health topic "HIV," National Library of Medicine, drawing on the National Institutes of Health; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Lizenz: CC0 1.0 (gemeinfrei) · Bearbeitet nach medlineplus.gov
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