HIV

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HealthWiki > New Where There Is No Doctor > Sexually Transmitted Infections > HIV

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In this chapter:

 

In this chapter:

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a STI that can pass from one person to another through sex, through unclean needles, and by touching infected blood. HIV can also spread to a newborn baby if the person giving birth has HIV and is not being treated. HIV is not spread through everyday contact such as shaking hands, hugging, or kissing, from living, playing, or eating together, or from sleeping next to each other. Also, it is not spread by food, water, insects, toilet seats, or sharing cups. HIV and AIDS are not the same, AIDS is an illness that develops later, after a person has been infected with HIV for some time without receiving treatment. If a person with HIV never gets treatment, they will develop AIDS which eventually leads to serious illnesses that can kill them, including tuberculosis, pneumonia and cancer.

Signs

A person can look and feel healthy but still have and spread HIV. HIV usually does not have any signs at the beginning. The person might briefly have a fever, headache, rash, or upset stomach within a few weeks of infection, but those signs are common in other illnesses. More often, it takes years for the first signs of illness to appear. Over time, as HIV grows in the body, it slowly makes the person less able to fight off illness. The person might have swollen lymph nodes, a way the body shows it is fighting a serious infection. Also, people with HIV may get more coughs or diarrhea than usual, and lose weight. Because these signs can also be caused by other problems, the only way to know for sure whether you have HIV is to get an HIV test. Tests are available at many health centers at low or no cost.

Treatment

There is no cure for HIV, but it can be treated. The antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) that treat HIV need to be taken every day for life. ARVs are now more widely available and cause fewer side effects than in the past. People taking ARVs will not develop AIDS but instead can stay healthy and lead long, healthy lives. The medicine reduces the amount of virus in their body to very low levels which also helps prevent HIV from passing to other people.

If there is a chance you could have gotten HIV, get tested so you can start treatment as soon as possible.

Prevention

To prevent HIV and AIDS, always use a condom during sex and do not share needles or other supplies when injecting drugs. Testing anyone pregnant for HIV so they can get treatment if needed can prevent HIV from being passed to a baby during childbirth. Medicines that treat HIV can also be used to prevent it. Learn more about this use, called PEP and PrEP.

An end to HIV will come when people living with HIV are treated like anyone else and HIV medicines are available to all.

This page was updated:10 Jan 2023