HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Human: HIV can only live in the human body. It dies quickly anywhere else.  If you touch blood that is infected with the HIV virus you will not get it unless it enters your body.

Immunodeficiency: The immune system looks after the body by fighting diseases. HIV attacks the human immune system, stopping it from working properly.

Virus: The virus itself does not make you sick, it attacks the immune system. When it attacks, your immune system gets weak and it is easier for you to get other diseases which it is harder to recover from.

HIV causes AIDS.  AIDS is when HIV has weakened a person’s body so much that they can’t fight illnesses.

AIDS stands for Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome

Acquired: To acquire something is to get something from somewhere else. AIDS is a result of your body getting the HIV virus.

Immuno: This means that AIDS has something to do with the body's immune system.

Deficiency: Deficient means weak or lacking. AIDS means that the immune system is so weak that it cannot work properly. It cannot stop diseases properly because it is not strong enough to fight them.

This means that AIDS is a collection of diseases and not just one disease. People with AIDS are in danger of getting a number of diseases which their body can’t recover from.  For example, pneumonia would not necessarily kill a healthy person but it might kill someone with AIDS because their immune system is too weak to fight it.

There is no cure for HIV/AIDS – once the virus is in your body, there is no way to get rid of it but there are medicines to make people feel healthier and live longer.

Adults, children and babies can all get HIV/AIDS.
 

How does HIV spread?

HIV is spread through sex and blood-to-blood contact with a person who has the virus.  Examples of different ways are:

• Through sex without a condom if one partner carries the HIV virus.
• When a person has lost a lot of blood through injury, disease or an operation, they might need a blood transfusion – when someone else donates blood and it is transferred into their body to save their life.  It is important that all blood donations are screened to make sure the blood doesn’t carry viruses, such as HIV.  However, in some countries – especially when there is an emergency situation such as war and a lot of people are injured – blood isn’t screened properly and so the HIV virus can spread during transfusions.
• Sharing needles and syringes that have come into contact with the blood of a person with HIV can spread the virus.  This is how people who inject drugs can get HIV/AIDS. 
• An HIV-positive mother can pass the virus on to her baby while it is still in her womb, when she is pregnant, when she gives birth or through breastfeeding.
  

It is NOT possible to get HIV from casual, every day contact such as:

•  Hugging, shaking hands, coughing and sneezing
• Toilet seats
• Plates, glasses, cutlery
• Towels, bed sheets
• Swimming pools or public baths
•  Insects, such as mosquitoes.
  

What happens when you get HIV?

People with HIV usually live for years without any signs of the disease.  A lot of people don't realise that they have HIV, although a blood test can tell them.  They may look and feel healthy but they can still pass the virus on to others.

Symptoms of AIDS sufferers can include shortness of breath, difficult or painful swallowing, fever, feeling sick and vomiting, severe headaches and even coma.