Some Frequently Asked Questions about AIDS and HIV

What is HIV?

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency virus. The term immunodeficiency means a weakened immune system. People who have been infected with HIV are called HIV-positive (sometimes written: HIV+).

HIV is a virus that weakens your immune system, which is the internal system that defends your body against disease. Your immune system is supposed to protect you from infections, but HIV can sneak past it and then attack your body from the inside. If your immune system becomes weak enough, you can become sick from other infections.

What is AIDS?

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. If HIV is not treated with anti-HIV drugs, your immune system generally becomes weaker over time. Eventually, you can become sick with a life-threatening infection, at which point you are said to have AIDS.

With proper treatment with anti HIV drugs, most people with HIV can avoid getting AIDS and stay healthy for a long time.

What is a Virus?

Viruses (like HIV) are strange. They are the very simplest and smallest of all living things-even smaller than bacteria and other germs. In fact, it’s too hard to say whether viruses even count as living things at all, since they can’t reproduce on their own. To reproduce, viruses need to infect living cells and fool them into making more viruses. These newly formed viruses then go onto infect other cells.

HIV is a virus that can infect cells of the immune system, including the all important CD4+ cells-the very cells that are supposed to fight off infections. That’s what makes HIV so dangerous.

When describing how viruses like HIV reproduce, we actually use the science-fiction-sounding word replicate. In a way, viruses really are just ultra-tiny robots-machines that do little more than make more of themselves. Unfortunately, in the process, they can cause great damage to the body they’ve infected.

How is HIV transmitted?

HIV infection happens when enough HIV from an HIV-positive person gets into an HIV negative person’s body. This can’t happen through casual contact, such as shaking hands, sneezing or touching a doorknob or toilet seat. HIV infection only happens when body fluids with a high amount of virus get into the other person’s body. Only five body fluids can contain enough virus to infect someone else: blood, semen (including pre-cum), vaginal fluid, anal fluid and breast milk. Infection can happen during sex, during childbirth and through needle use (by sharing used needles or “works”).

There is little or no risk of HIV being transmitted through unbroken skin. However, transmission can happen much more easily through the mucosal membranes. These are the wet linings of body cavities like the vagina, rectum and urethra (the “pee hole” in a man’s penis or a woman’s vulva). HIV can infect cells in the lining of the vagina, rectum and penis even if the tissues are healthy. Having a sexually transmitted infection like herpes, gonorrhea or syphilis can make it even easier to transmit (or be infected by) HIV. So can any other damage to these tender tissues, which can easily happen during sex.

Sexual activities that can easily lead to HIV transmission are called high risk. High-risk sexual activities include vaginal or anal intercourse without a condom. Some sexual activities, such as oral sex, pose only a low risk of HIV transmission. While these activities can lead to HIV transmission, the chances are much smaller. Other sexual activities pose no risk for HIV transmission. These include kissing, hugging, mutual masturbation and massage.

HIV can also be transmitted if you share needles or other equipment to inject drugs such as heroin, crack, steroids or hormones.

It is important to be aware of these risks so that you can prevent spreading HIV to your sexual partners or anyone you share drugs with. It is equally important for you to protect yourself from reinfection with HIV, as this could further damage your immune system or expose you to a strain of HIV that is resistant to certain kinds of anti-HIV drugs.

This information was provided by the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) for more information, contact CATIE at 1-800-263-1638, or www.catie.ca