
- HIV can only be transmitted by very intimate bodily contact. ...
- Medical transmission. Inadequate sterilisation of medical materials can similarly result in the spread of infection between patients.
- Needlestick injuries. Accidental injection with potentially infected needles (“needlestick injuries”) can result in HIV transmission.
- Vertical transmission. Mother to child (“vertical”) transmission is another way of transmitting the virus. HIV can be transmitted from mother to the child at any time from conception onwards.
- Blood products. Blood products – such as blood transfusion materials – can potentially spread HIV. ...
- Blood.
- Semen (cum) and pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum)
- Rectal fluids.
- Vaginal fluids.
- Breast milk.
What is the most common method of HIV transmission?
- This is called perinatal transmission or mother-to-child transmission.
- Mother-to-child transmission is the most common way that children get HIV.
- Recommendations to test all pregnant women for HIV and start HIV treatment immediately have lowered the number of babies who are born with HIV.
What are the four ways HIV is not transmitted?
The majority of your daily activities do not pose a risk of HIV transmission, even though HIV is contagious. HIV can only be transmitted through certain body fluids, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, anal fluid, and breast milk. Saliva, sweat, skin, feces, and urine cannot be transmitted through these methods.
What are 5 fluids that transmit HIV?
•HIV-1 is passed from person to person through mucous membranes by only specific body fluids. Like the list shows, the body fluids that can transmit HIV: oRectal Fluids. oSemen and pre-seminal fluid. oVaginal Fluids. oBlood. oBreast milk. Slide 13: Body Fluids Not Transmit HIV
What are ways the HIV are transmitted?
- By mosquitoes, ticks, or other insects.
- Through saliva, tears, or sweat.
- By hugging, shaking hands, sharing toilets, sharing dishes, or closed-mouth or “social” kissing with someone who has HIV.
- Through other sexual activities that don’t involve the exchange of body fluids (for example, touching).
- Through the air.

What is the main transmission of HIV?
Sexual contact - HIV is spread most commonly by sexual contact with an infected partner. The virus enters the body through the lining of the vagina, vulva, penis, rectum, or mouth during sexual activity. Blood contamination - HIV may also be spread through contact with infected blood.
What are the four ways of HIV transmission class 9?
What is HIV?Unprotected sexual interaction with an already infected person.Reusing needles used by an infected person.From an infected mother to the baby through the placenta.Blood transfusion from an infected person.
What are the 7 modes of transmission of HIV?
HIV transmission occurs through sexual contact, vertical transmission from mothers to infants, and among injection drug users sharing infected needles, as well as through transfusion of infected blood products. Nonsexual casual contact has not been associated with HIV transmission.
How Do You Get or Transmit HIV?
You can only get HIV by coming into direct contact with certain body fluids from a person with HIV who has a detectable viral load. These fluids are:
How does HIV get into the bloodstream?
For transmission to occur, the HIV in these fluids must get into the bloodstream of an HIV-negative person through a mucous membrane (found in the rectum, vagina, mouth, or tip of the penis); open cuts or sores; or by direct injection . People with HIV who take HIV medicine daily as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load ...
What happens when you kiss someone with HIV?
Deep, open-mouth kissing if both partners have sores or bleeding gums and blood from the HIV-positive partner gets into the bloodstream of the HIV-negative partner. HIV is not spread through saliva.
How to prevent HIV infection?
People who are HIV-negative can prevent getting HIV by using PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a way to prevent HIV infection after a recent possible exposure to the virus. There are other ways to prevent getting or transmitting HIV through injection drug use and sexual activity. Topics.
What happens if you don't get HIV?
If you have HIV and you are not on HIV treatment, eventually your body’s immune system will weaken and you will progress to AIDS. People with AIDS have such badly damaged immune systems that they get a number of severe illnesses, called opportunistic infections.
What is not spread by HIV?
HIV is not spread by: Air or water. Mosquitoes, ticks or other insects. Saliva, tears, or sweat that is not mixed with the blood of a person with HIV. Shaking hands; hugging; sharing toilets; sharing dishes, silverware, or drinking glasses; or engaging in closed-mouth or “social” kissing with a person with HIV. Drinking fountains.
Why is the risk of getting bitten by a person with HIV so small?
The risk is extremely small these days because of rigorous testing of the U.S. blood supply and donated organs and tissues. Being bitten by a person with HIV. Each of the very small number of documented cases has involved severe trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood.
How Is HIV/AIDS Transmitted?
Sexual contact - HIV is spread most commonly by sexual contact with an infected partner. The virus enters the body through the lining of the vagina, vulva, penis, rectum, or mouth during sexual activity.
How does HIV spread?
Sexual contact - HIV is spread most commonly by sexual contact with an infected partner. The virus enters the body through the lining of the vagina, vulva, penis, rectum, or mouth during sexual activity. Blood contamination - HIV may also be spread through contact with infected blood.
Can HIV be transmitted through blood?
Blood contamination - HIV may also be spread through contact with infected blood. However, due to the screening of blood for evidence of HIV infection, the risk of acquiring HIV from blood transfusions is extremely low.
Can HIV be transmitted to babies?
Transmission from patient to healthcare worker, or vice-versa through accidental sticks with contaminated needles or other medical instruments, is rare. Mother-infant - HIV also can be spread to babies born to, or breastfed by, mothers infected with the virus. Learn more about: Risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS.
How do you get HIV?
HIV can be transmitted from an infected person to another through: 1 Blood (including menstrual blood) 2 Semen 3 Vaginal secretions 4 Breast milk
Which milk contains the highest concentration of HIV?
Breast milk. Blood contains the highest concentration of the virus, followed by semen, followed by vaginal fluids, followed by breast milk. * Activities That Allow HIV Transmission. Unprotected sexual contact.
Is it safe to have HIV in your mouth?
There are however, documented cases where HIV was transmitted orally, so we can’t say that getting HIV-infected sem en, vaginal fluid or blood in the mouth is without risk. However, oral sex is considered a low risk practice. Sharing injection needles: An injection needle can pass blood directly from one person’s bloodstream to another.
Can a mother pass HIV to a child?
Mother to Child: It is possible for an HIV -infected mother to pass the virus directly before or during birth, or through breast milk. Breast milk contains HIV, and while small amounts of breast milk do not pose significant threat of infection to adults, it is a viable means of transmission to infants.
How is HIV transmitted?
Our expert takes a look at the five most common ways HIV is transmitted. 1. HIV can only be transmitted by very intimate bodily contact. This is because HIV is a very fragile organism – despite the fact that once the virus has entered the body, it can cause such devastating effects.
What are the causes of HIV transmission?
3. Needlestick injuries. Accidental injection with potentially infected needles (“needlestick injuries”) can result in HIV transmission. Special procedures and equipment can be used to minimise the occurrence. 4. Vertical transmission. Mother to child (“vertical”) transmission is another way of transmitting the virus.
How does HIV spread from mother to child?
Vertical transmission. Mother to child (“vertical”) transmission is another way of transmitting the virus. HIV can be transmitted from mother to the child at any time from conception onwards. However, it seems that most transmissions occur around the time of delivery and through breastfeeding.
What happens when you share equipment used by injecting drug users?
Sharing of equipment used by injecting drug users is common in certain communities. Small amounts of blood in needles and syringes left after an infected person has used the equipment contains HIV that is then injected into the bloodstream of the next user.
Is HIV transmitted in South Africa?
As we shall see later, genital secretions are particularly prone to picking up and transmitting HIV.
Can blood products spread HIV?
Blood products. Blood products – such as blood transfusion materials – can potentially spread HIV. The risk of this is particularly likely when used in concentrated forms such as the use of Factor VIII in the treatment of haemophilia.
Can HIV be transmitted through bites?
However, HIV transmission is known to be very unlikely to occur in, for example: Bites from insects. Kissing. Oral sex (unless there is an obvious break in the lining of the mouth or genitals) Body rubbing, etc. It is always important to keep a sense of proportion.
Some elaborate HIV facts you need to know
If we have previously covered the basics of HIV prevention and HIV testing, we are going to delve in more detailed HIV facts in this article before proceeding to discussing the most common to the most uncommon ways of how the virus spreads.
The most common ways of HIV transmission
Specific bodily fluids coming from HIV positive people with detectable viral load can transmit HIV when another person comes into direct contact with them:
Less common ways of HIV transmission
Perinatal transmission or also referred to as mother-to-child transmission is one of the less common ways HIV can be transmitted, especially after the advancement of HIV medicines, prevention and treatment. The spread of the virus may happen during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.
Extremely rare ways HIV of HIV transmission
Below are some extremely rare ways in which HIV can be spread from one person to another:
Impossible ways of HIV transmission
To be fully educated on how HIV can be transmitted, it is important to also know the ways in which the disease cannot be spread:
HIV Risk Factors
The risk for transmitting HIV increases based on certain types of behaviors that put a person in contact with bodily fluids which may contain the virus. 2
Blood Transmission
There are a few ways that HIV may be transmitted through contact with virus-containing blood, including blood transfusions and sharing used needles or syringes.
Sexual Transmission
During sex, a person living with HIV can transmit the virus to a sexual partner through certain body fluids. These include: 7
Pregnancy or Breastfeeding Transmission
There are a few ways HIV can be passed from a pregnant person to a baby. During pregnancy, the virus can be transmitted to the fetus through the placenta . It can be transmitted during childbirth through contact with blood or other body fluids that contain the virus.
Prevention Strategies
There are several ways for both people living with HIV and those who are currently HIV negative to reduce the risk of spreading the virus to others.
Summary
An HIV infection attacks a person's immune system. The virus is transmitted through certain body fluids, including semen, blood, vaginal fluids, or breastmilk, of a person who has HIV. This is accomplished through contact with another person's mucus membranes (e.g., vagina or anus) or directly through the bloodstream (e.g., shared needles).
A Word From Verywell
Though rates are decreasing, millions of people across the globe are currently living with HIV. Fortunately, due to medical advancements, people living with HIV are able to have full lives while managing the condition.
How to prevent HIV transmission?
There are several ways you can prevent the transmission of HIV: Get treatment for your condition and take prescribed medications like antiretrovirals. These diminish the amount of the virus in your blood, which will reduce your chances of transmitting it to others.
How to avoid HIV?
Avoid misusing drugs and alcohol. Misusing alcohol or drugs can impair your decision-making. This can lead you to engage in certain behaviors that may increase your chances of contracting or transmitting HIV, including having sex without a barrier method.
How to reduce the chance of HIV?
Use condoms or other barrier methods to lower your chance of contracting or transmitting HIV. 3. Consider intimate activities that don’t involve the exchange of bodily fluids. You only have a chance of contracting HIV if you share bodily fluids with another person.
How to prevent HIV?
Remember that you can only contract HIV by exchanging bodily fluids with a person. Get tested regularly if you suspect you’re exposed or have a high chance of contract ing HIV.
What is the best way to lower your chances of contracting HIV?
There are medications you can take to lower your chances of contracting HIV before and after sexual encounters. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a medication you take daily by mouth to lower your chance of contracting HIV. This may be desirable if you: partner with someone living with HIV.
Why do we need regular HIV tests?
You can get regular tests for HIV and STIs to stay on top of your health as well as to reduce transmitting these conditions to others.
Why is it important to get tested for HIV?
It is important to get tested for HIV if you suspect you have been exposed to it or if you engage in behaviors that put you at a high chance of contracting the virus. You can get free HIV tests if you are insured, or you can seek out a local clinic that provides free or low-cost testing to anyone uninsured.
