HIV and Aids

• Unprotected sex, and sharing needles with an HIV-infected person
• Childbirth - babies born to HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth, or shortly after birth through breast-feeding
• Household settings - although rare, a few cases of HIV have been transmitted in household settings when infected blood or other body fluids came in contact with skin or mucous membranes

• Experts recommend against 'French' or open-mouthed kissing with an infected person because of the possibility of contact with blood (casual contact through closed-mouth or social kissing is not a risk factor for transmission of HIV)
• The risk of acquiring HIV from an infected health care worker is extremely low, and only two cases worldwide have been documented of an HIV-positive surgeon transmitting the virus to a patient
• Female-to-female transmission of HIV appears to be low, but case reports of female-to-female transmission indicate that vaginal secretions and menstrual blood are potentially infectious and that mucous membrane (e.g. oral and vaginal) exposure to these secretions has the potential to lead to HIV infection

Six months onwards. In the next stage, the symptoms usually go away while the body continues to defend itself by producing antibodies, but the virus continues to multiply and infect immune cells. This stage may last for many years.

Development of Aids
Later, as the disease progresses, more serious symptoms emerge such as weight loss, prolonged fever and diarrhoea. The damage to the immune system allows other infections to occur, which include shingles, pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), tuberculosis, cytomegalovirus and fungal infections. Unusual cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma may also occur.