About HIV
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that replicates and damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) describes a number of life-threatening infections and illnesses that only occur when your immune system has been damaged by the HIV virus.
AIDS cannot be transmitted from one person to another, but the HIV virus can.
There is currently no cure for HIV, however there are effective drug treatments that enable the majority of people with the virus to live a long and healthy life.
Symptoms of HIV
Most people experience a short, flu-like illness about 2-6 weeks after the initial contraction of HIV. This flu-like illness can last a few a week or two.
After these symptoms disappear, HIV may not cause any symptoms for many years. This means many people with HIV don't know they're infected.
In some cases, AIDS can be the first presentation of an HIV infection.
Certain groups of people are advised to have regular tests as they're at particularly high risk, including:
- men who have sex with men
- Black African heterosexuals
- people who share needles and other injecting equipment
HIV is found in semen, vaginal and anal fluids, blood, and breast milk. It cannot be transmitted through sweat, urine or saliva (because it a fragile virus that doesn't survive outside the body for long).
The most common way of getting HIV in the UK is through having anal or vaginal sex without a condom.
Other ways of contracting HIV include:
- sharing needles or syringes
- transmission from mother to baby during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding
You can get tested in a number of places, including at your GP surgery, sexual health clinics, and clinics run by charities.
The only way to find out if you have HIV is to have an HIV test. This involves testing a sample of your blood or saliva for signs of the infection.
It's important to be aware that:
- emergency anti-HIV medication called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) may stop you becoming infected if started within three days of possible exposure to the virus
- HIV tests may need to be repeated 1-3 months after potential exposure to HIV infection (this is known as the window period)
If you test positive for HIV, you'll be referred to a specialist HIV clinic for more tests and a discussion about your treatment options
Treatment of HIV
Prevention
Anyone who has sex without a condom or shares needles is at risk of HIV infection.
The best way to prevent HIV is to use a condom for sex and never share needles or other injecting equipment, including syringes, spoons and swabs.
Treatment
Antiretroviral medications are used to treat HIV. They work by stopping the virus replicating in the body and allows the immune system to repair itself.
These come in the form of tablets, which need to be taken every day.
Most people with HIV take a combination of drugs - this is to prevent drug resistance.
The goal of HIV treatment is to have an undetectable viral load. This means the level of HIV virus in your body is low enough to not be detected by a test.
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