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AIDS stands for “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome’ (a syndrome means a cluster of medical conditions). It is caused by the human immunodefiency virus (HIV) which targets and weakens the body’s immune system. HIV is a slow-acting virus and an individual can look and feel well for many years, without the person being aware they have the virus. However they can pass the virus onto other people.
When the immune system is sufficiently depleted it can no longer overcome infections, illnesses and some cancers. When a person contracts two or more HIV illnesses simultaneously and or have a CD4+ count of 200 or less they are usually given an AIDS diagnosis. A blood test is the only certain way to determine whether an individual is HIV positive.
There is still no preventative vaccine or cure for HIV. In Australia, people have access to a wide range of antiretroviral drugs that slows down the progression of HIV and allows people living with HIV to live full and productive lives. However side-effects, drug toxicity and drug failure can have a significant on the quality of life for some people taking these treatments.
How is HIV transmitted from one person to another?
HIV can only be transmitted through certain body fluids. Body fluids that can contain enough HIV to be infectious are blood (including menstrual blood), semen and pre-ejaculatory fluid, vaginal fluids and breast milk getting directly into the blood stream of another person. Activities which put people at risk of HIV infection include vaginal, anal or oral sex without a condom, sharing injecting/ piercing and tattooing equipment and from a HIV positive women to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.
If you have a sexually transmissible infection such as gonorrhoea, chlamydia, herpes or syphilis you increase your risk of becoming infected with HIV
HIV is infectious and can be transmitted from one person to another.
Having other STIs will increase your risk of acquiring HIV.
You cannot "catch" AIDS, only HIV can be transmitted from one person to another.
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