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HIV Prevention
HIV prevention is an important issue for everyone. Though scientists are working on vaccines that may one day prevent HIV infection, until that important goal is reached prevention efforts are the only way to stop the spread of HIV. Prevention helps HIV-negative people stay negative and helps HIV-positive people protect their HIV-negative partners. Also, it is important for HIV-positive people to avoid getting infected with other types of HIV which may impact their health. Therefore, prevention is important for everyone: men and women, HIV-negative and HIV-positive.
There are 3 primary ways that HIV is spread: when people have unprotected sex, when
people share needles or “works,” and when HIV-infected women pass the virus on to
their babies during pregnancy or childbirth. You cannot get HIV from kissing, hugging,
shaking hands, insect bites, sharing a drink, working with someone with HIV, living in the same
apartment with someone with HIV, or sharing toilets or showers.
HIV is found in an HIV-positive person's blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk. To avoid getting HIV you must prevent these fluids from entering your body through your mouth, vagina, rectum/butt, or the opening at the tip of your penis.
Sexual activities
that we know can transmit HIV
Needles
and HIV transmission
Pregnancy and
HIV
The Prevention
Project
Sexual activities that we know can transmit HIV:
Using a condom for vaginal and anal sex reduces your risk for getting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Other types of birth control (the pill, diaphragm, Norplant) do not protect against HIV and STDs. You can still become infected with HIV and other STDs even if your male partner does not ejaculate inside of your rectum/butt or vagina.
Communication is very important. Talk to your partner(s) about HIV and STDs. Develop skills for negotiating safer sex. If you or your partner have not been tested recently for HIV, consider HIV testing.
What about oral sex?
Because HIV is present in a man’s semen and in woman’s vaginal fluids, unprotected oral sex (a penis in mouth; a mouth on a vagina) has some risk of transmitting HIV. With a male partner, this risk probably increases if he ejaculates in your mouth.
Some studies have shown that oral sex does have a small risk (lower than anal or vaginal sex). A small risk does not mean no risk at all. The only way to be sure you are safe is to use a condom with a male partner and a dental dam (a latex barrier between mouth/vagina) with a female partner.
What we know for sure is that unprotected oral sex is high risk for other sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, and Hepatitis B. Oral/anal contact is risky for Hepatitis A and B as well as intestinal parasites.
HIV is transmitted by sharing needles, cookers, cotton and water when injecting drugs, including steroids, into a vein or under the skin. If you use needles, don't share the needle or works. Make sure you always use a clean needle. If you need to share, clean your needle and syringe properly (for information about how to clean needles and how to find a Needle Exchange Program, see our links section).
Sharing unsterilized needles for piercings or tattoos can also transmit HIV. Do not share needles for home-made piercing and tattooing. If it is being done professionally, ask about their method for sterilization of needles.
HIV-positive women can transmit HIV to their babies during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding. With help from a doctor and proper treatment it is possible to prevent transmitting HIV to your baby. If you are HIV-positive and pregnant, it is important that you see a health care provider to help reduce the risk to your baby. Please contact the Bellevue Hospital Center’s Virology Clinic for HIV care during pregnancy.