HIV/AIDS Education

1. HIV/AIDS Education All Stats come from the CDC

2. What is HIV • Human – This virus infects human beings • Immunodeficiency – This virus attacks a person’s immune system, causing it to become deficient and not work properly. • Virus – A virus is a type of germ. Viruses need living cells to grow and reproduce.

3. What is AIDS? • Acquired – This is a condition that is acquired, meaning that a person becomes infected with it. • Immune – This condition affects a person’s immune system, the part of the body in charge of fighting off germs such as bacteria or viruses. • Deficiency – The immune system is weakened and does not work properly. • Syndrome- A person with AIDS may experience many other diseases and infections due to their weakened immune system.

4. AIDS is the condition that is caused by HIV • You can have HIV and not have AIDS • The illness of AIDS is the last stage of HIV • T-Cell count in normal person is 600-1200 • T-Cell of an AIDS person is <200 • A person becomes sick from several opportunistic diseases or cancers like tuberculosis, pneumonia, involuntary weight loss, candidacies and HIV dementia (memory impairment).

5. Where did it come from? • Researchers believe that HIV was introduced into the human population when hunters became exposed to infected blood from a subspecies of chimpanzees native to west Africa. • It was first discovered from a man’s blood in 1959, from a single virus contracted in the Republic of Congo.

6. How do you get HIV? HIV is transmitted during sex, through significant and direct contact with infected blood, and from mother to baby.

7. The body fluids containing HIV include: • Blood (including menstrual blood) • Semen and possibly pre-seminal fluid • Vaginal secretions • Breast milk

8. In order for HIV to be transmitted: • HIV must be present • HIV must get inside the body Sexual behaviors that can transmit HIV are: • Vaginal sex • Anal Sex involving either men or women • Oral sex to either the male or female

9. Other ways that HIV can be transmitted are: • Sharing needles when shooting drugs • Home tattooing and body piercing • accidental needle stick • Blood transfusions • Childbirth • breastfeeding

10. It is important to know: • Most people with HIV infection do not look sick • The HIV can not discriminate between men and women, therefore is not a gay disease

11. HIV is NOT transmitted through: • Saliva, tears, sweat, feces, or urine • Hugging • Kissing • Massage • Shaking hands • Insect bites • Living in the same house with someone who has HIV • Sharing showers or toilets with someone with HIV

12. To avoid getting HIV: • Prevent the blood, semen, vaginal fluids, or breast milk of someone who is infected from entering your body through an entry site. • Latex condoms can reduce the risk of transmitting HIV during sexual acts, but is not 100% effective.

13. The hardest part of protecting yourself can be learning how to apply what you know to your life and to your behavior. Reduce your risk for HIV by avoiding activities that put you at risk and only practicing safer sex. Don’t be afraid to get tested or insist that your sexual partner get tested.

14. How risky is kissing, hugging, and touching? Kissing LOW RISK as HIV is not transmitted through saliva. Tiny amounts of HIV can be found in saliva, but it is not enough to cause HIV infection alone. Serious gum disease, along with cuts due to surgery or flossing can pose a very small risk for getting HIV through kissing alone.

15. Hugging and Touching LOW RISK HIV is not transmitted through casual and ordinary social contact. It is not shed from the skin or through sweat. You MUST enter through the bloodstream in order to cause the infection. If you have cuts or abrasions, avoid contact with infected blood.

16. How risky is oral sex? The person whose mouth touches the genitals is at risk if your partner has HIV. You could come into contact with this virus through their infected bodily fluids.

17. Is HIV still a risk if you’re faithful to your partner? Being in love, going steady, or even getting married does not automatically protect you from HIV. The virus doesn’t know how you feel. You can only get HIV from coming into contact with someone who is infected. You can not get HIV if both people are uninfected and this has been confirmed through a blood test.

18. People don’t always tell the truth, and they don’t always know if they are infected. This is true! People often are not honest about their sexuality or the number of sexual partners. You need to be tested a first time, and then again 6 months later to assume that you are not infected. You need to build up enough antibodies to test positive.

19. Is HIV always fatal? • You can die from other complications before the HIV infection turns to AIDS and takes your life. • There are drugs that HIV patients are taking that allow some of them to live for longer periods of time. How long? No one really knows, but we do know that this treatment is very expensive and this disease is incurable, therefore can be the cause of an HIV patients death.

20. The role of drugs & alcohol and HIV • There are many drugs that people use or abuse recreationally. Some are legal, others illegal. The most common being alcohol. • Alcohol impairs people’s judgment. They may take risks that might expose them to HIV that they would not take when sober. • Sharing needles to inject drugs like heroin, speed, or anabolic steroids is VERY dangerous and can easily spread HIV from one person to another • Some people who are addicted to drugs may trade sex for drugs or money to get more drugs. This may also put you at a great risk for HIV.

21. Where can I get tested for HIV? -Health Clinic -Doctors Office -Home Test $35-$50 Can be purchased in a drug store HIV status is not public information, therefore you can take a test anonymously if desired.

22. Every 10 seconds someone dies of AIDS. It’s real! It’s preventable! Listen!