HIV/AIDS

• A virus that can be passed from one person (someone who is HIV positive) to another (HIV negative) through contact with body fluids (semen, blood and from a woman to her baby in the womb or during delivery. The virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex (anal or vaginal, in rare cases oral sex) as well as through sharing drug-injecting equipment such as needles and syringes.  
  

• The virus damages the immune system, the part of the blood that fights infections and can cause the infected person to become ill.
  

• HIV can lead to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)

AIDS is:

• When the immune system becomes extremely damaged it is no longer able to fight off a number of infections and cancers it could usually deal with.
  

• HIV cannot be passed during normal social contact such as kissing or touching.

• Sharing mugs, plates and cutlery or in swimming pools.

• HIV does not survive in blood outside the body.
  

• Blood is screened in the UK and most countries before being used in transfusions, so transmission through blood transfusion and organ donations are rare.