What is HIV and what does it do to the body?
Many people have heard of HIV, but are still confused about what it is. HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus that damages the body’s ability to fight infection (1). This causes the body to become highly susceptible to other infections.
HIV attacks CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell (2). Normally, CD4 cells function as immune cells to protect the body from infection (2). When HIV attacks these cells, they are no longer able to fight infections. The virus then capitalizes on CD4 cells to spread around the body (2).
When HIV has been left untreated, it can develop into AIDS. AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is a late-stage of HIV (1).
How do you get HIV?
HIV is spread through certain bodily fluids, such as blood, breast milk, semen, and vaginal fluids (3). For example, sharing needles and having unprotected sex can increase the possibility of contracting HIV. HIV can also be spread from an HIV-positive mother to a child during childbirth, though the risk of transmitting HIV to the baby can be decreased to 1% if the pregnant person takes HIV medicine (4). However, HIV will not be transmitted by shaking hands, hugging, or kissing someone with HIV.
Is HIV cureable?
No, HIV is not curable, but it is preventable and treatable. Practicing safe sex and refraining from sharing or using contaminated needles can help protect you from HIV.
For people with HIV, antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a medicine that reduces viral load, or the amount of HIV in the body (4). This viral suppression helps to keep the immune system strong. ART can even make one’s viral load so low that it is undetectable. When one’s undetectable viral load has been maintained for 6 months, there is thought to be almost no risk of sexual transmission (5).
Additionally, there are medicines to prevent getting HIV. This medicine is called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). When taken as prescribed, PrEP reduces the risk of HIV from sexual transmission and injection drug use by 99% and 74%, respectively (6).
What if my partner has HIV and I don’t? Will I get it?
Not necessarily. Using multiple methods to prevent HIV, such as ART, PrEP, and safe sex practices can vastly decrease the likelihood of transmitting HIV to an uninfected partner (7). Additionally, HIV-positive partners wishing to have children with HIV-negative partners can do so, as there are multiple ways to ensure both partners and the baby are healthy (7).
Minority HIV/AIDS Fund. (2023, January 13). What are HIV and AIDS?. HIV.gov. https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/about-hiv-and-aids/what-are-hiv-and-aids
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2024, February 9). HIV/AIDS. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hiv-aids/symptoms-causes/syc-20373524#:~:text=HIV%20is%20caused%20by%20a,cells%20called%20CD4%20T%20cells.
World Health Organization. (n.d.). HIV and AIDS. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids#:~:text=HIV%20is%20spread%20from%20the,with%20antiretroviral%20therapy%20(ART).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, August 9). HIV treatment as prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/art/index.html
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (n.d.). 10 things to know about HIV suppression. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/10-things-know-about-hiv-suppression
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, July 5). Pre-exposure prophylaxis (prep). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/prep/index.html
Partners with mixed HIV status. International Association of Providers of AIDS Care. (n.d.). https://www.iapac.org/fact-sheet/partners-with-mixed-hiv-status/#:~:text=Research%20suggests%20that%20using%20multiple,of%20both%20parents%20and%20baby.
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