HIV is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids; there is no cure or safe treatment to reduce the symptoms and consequences of the disease. HIV is transmitted by sharing drug needles or food with an infected individual; it cannot be cured, but there are experimental medications to minimize the risk of AIDS.
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How is HIV contracted and what are the treatment options?
How is HIV contracted, and what are the treatment options? HIV is spread during unprotected sex or through contact with infected blood; it cannot be cured, but early treatment can minimize the long-term consequences. Which of the following can be contracted through contact with saliva?
Why get and stay on HIV treatment?
Getting and staying on HIV treatment because it reduces the amount of HIV in your blood (also called the viral load) to a very low level. This keeps you healthy and prevents illness.
Can HIV be cured through contact with blood?
HIV is spread during unprotected sex or through contact with infected blood; it cannot be cured, but early treatment can minimize the long-term consequences. Which of the following can be contracted through contact with saliva?
When should you develop a treatment plan for HIV?
Working with your health care provider to develop a treatment plan will help you learn more about HIV and manage it effectively. When Should You Start HIV Treatment? Treatment guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that a person living with HIV begin ART as soon as possible after diagnosis.
How does treatment help prevent HIV?
Why is it important to take HIV medication?
What does it mean when your HIV is suppressed?
What is the amount of HIV in the blood called?
What does it mean when your viral load goes down after HIV treatment?
How long does it take for a mother to give her baby HIV?
How long does it take to get rid of HIV?
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How is HIV contracted and what are the treatment options?
People can get or transmit HIV only through specific activities, such as sex or injection drug use. HIV can be transmitted only in certain body fluids from a person who has HIV. These fluids are blood, semen, pre-seminal fluids, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk.
How is HIV treatment given?
The treatment for HIV is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART involves taking a combination of HIV medicines (called an HIV treatment regimen) every day. ART is recommended for everyone who has HIV. ART cannot cure HIV, but HIV medicines help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives.
How is HIV treated and managed?
HIV treatment involves taking medicine that reduces the amount of HIV in your body. HIV medicine is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). There is no effective cure for HIV. But with proper medical care, you can control HIV.
How is HIV caused?
HIV infection in humans came from a type of chimpanzee in Central Africa. The chimpanzee version of the virus (called simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV) was probably passed to humans when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat and came in contact with their infected blood.
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SOURCES: AIDSinfo.gov: “HIV Treatments: The Basics.” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: “HIV Cure.” amfAR: “The Countdown to a Cure for AIDS,” “Pathways to an HIV ...
HIV and AIDS: Medicines to Help You | FDA
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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 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.
What fluids are HIV in?
Blood. Semen ( cum) and pre-seminal fluid. Rectal fluids. Vaginal fluids. Breast milk. 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.
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.
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.
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.
What is the risk of getting stuck with HIV?
Getting stuck with an HIV-contaminated needle or other sharp object. This is a risk mainly for health care workers. The risk is very low.
What is the treatment for HIV?
HIV treatment involves taking medicines that slow the progression of the virus in your body. HIV is a type of virus called a retrovirus, and the combination of drugs used to treat it is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART is recommended for all people living with HIV, regardless of how long they’ve had the virus or how healthy they are.
How successful is HIV treatment?
HIV treatment is most likely to be successful when you know what to expect and are committed to taking your medicines exactly as prescribed. Working with your health care provider to develop a treatment plan will help you learn more about HIV and manage it effectively.
What happens if you delay treatment for a virus?
If you delay treatment, the virus will continue to harm your immune system and put you at higher risk for developing opportunistic infections that can be life threatening.
Why do people stay on HIV medication?
Getting and staying on HIV treatment because it reduces the amount of HIV in your blood (also called the viral load) to a very low level. This keeps you healthy and prevents illness. There is also a major prevention benefit. People living with HIV who take HIV medication daily as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative partners. This is called treatment as prevention.
What is drug resistance in HIV?
What Is HIV Drug Resistance? Drug resistance can be a cause of treatment failure for people living with HIV. As HIV multiplies in the body, it sometimes mutates (changes form) and produces variations of itself. Variations of HIV that develop while a person is taking ART can lead to drug-resistant strains of HIV.
How long do HIV side effects last?
Some side effects can occur once you start a medicine and may only last a few days or weeks.
How soon can you start ART for HIV?
Treatment guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that a person living with HIV begin ART as soon as possible after diagnosis. Starting ART slows the progression of HIV and can keep you healthy for many years.
Treatment Considerations for Women
For the most part, HIV treatments for women are the same as for men. However, there are some special considerations related to treatment of HIV for women, including:
Treatment Considerations for Children and Adolescents
Because of their developing bodies, children and teens have to take different amounts, formulations, and combinations of anti-HIV drugs than adults.
How is HIV transmitted?
HIV is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids; there is no cure or safe treatment to reduce the symptoms and consequences of the disease.
Can HIV be cured?
HIV is spread during unprotected sex or through contact with infected blood; it cannot be cured, but early treatment can minimize the long-term consequences. HIV is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids; there is no cure or safe treatment to reduce the symptoms and consequences of the disease.
How does treatment help prevent HIV?
Having an undetectable viral load may also help prevent transmission from injection drug use.
Why is it important to take HIV medication?
Taking HIV medication consistently, as prescribed, helps prevent drug resistance. Drug resistance develops when people with HIV are inconsistent with taking their HIV medication as prescribed. The virus can change (mutate) and will no longer respond to certain HIV medication. If you develop drug resistance, it will limit your options ...
What does it mean when your HIV is suppressed?
Viral suppression is defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood. HIV medicine can make the viral load so low that a test can’t detect it (called an undetectable viral load ). If your viral load goes down after starting HIV treatment, that means treatment is working.
What is the amount of HIV in the blood called?
The amount of HIV in the blood is called viral load . Taking your HIV medicine as prescribed will help keep your viral load low and your CD4 cell count high. HIV medicine can make the viral load very low (called viral suppression ). Viral suppression is defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood.
What does it mean when your viral load goes down after HIV treatment?
If your viral load goes down after starting HIV treatment, that means treatment is working. Continue to take your medicine as prescribed.
How long does it take for a mother to give her baby HIV?
If a mother with HIV takes HIV medicine as prescribed throughout pregnancy, labor, and delivery and gives HIV medicine to her baby for 4 to 6 weeks after birth, the risk of transmitting HIV to her baby can be 1% or less.
How long does it take to get rid of HIV?
There is no effective cure for HIV. But with proper medical care, you can control HIV. Most people can get the virus under control within six months. Taking HIV medicine does not prevent transmission ...