Human Immunodeficiency Virus can sometimes get confused with AIDS.

The virus is HIV. AIDS is a by-product of HIV. If you get the HIV virus, it compromises your immune system, which means that you cannot fight off common infections like sore throat, common cold, etc. so they just get worse and worse. For example, the common cold will turn into pneumonia and it will go on and on.

And that is what AIDS is called – acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS is all these small illnesses your body can’t fight. They become a big illness, and then sufferers end up dying from AIDS.

HIV is found in sexually active men and women, and injecting drug users are most at risk.

The HIV virus is carried through blood, semen, vaginal fluids, pre-cum, and breast milk. The major methods of transmission are: arterial, unprotected/anal/vaginal intercourse, and ontaminated needles.

• Sharing needles is a direct way of getting blood from one person into another person.
• If you’re having anal sex, anything going into the anus can cause small blood vessels in the anus to burst and break and bleed. So if you’ve got infected semen going into that area, then that’s how it can be transmitted from one person to the other.
• In breast milk, it would need to take a lot of breast milk for it to be passed on. However, anybody that is pregnant today will have a HIV test.

It’s really important that pregnant people have HIV tests so that if there is a positive result, the mother-to-be can go on to antiretroviral drugs before giving birth, have a caesarean section and avoid breastfeeding so there’s no risk to the baby.

The treatment is antiretroviral drugs, and is very controllable now. Somebody who’s HIV positive and taking the drugs can show no symptoms and can expect to lead a full and healthy life.