This Month's HIV/AIDS Facts

These facts contain commonly accepted public health information about the prevention and transmission of HIV and AIDS. If this is not the information that you are seeking, please use the Back button on your browser to visit another section of our site. Thank you.

Question: How is AIDS spread?

Basic Answer: AIDS (a result of HIV infection) is caused by a virus (HIV) that spreads through sex -- vaginal, oral or anal -- and blood-to-blood contact with people who have HIV. HIV can also be spread from a mother with HIV to her baby during pregnancy or through breast feeding. The body fluids that transmit HIV are blood, semen, vaginal fluids, breast milk and other body fluids containing blood. HIV cannot spread from person to person by casual everyday contact.

Detailed Answer: AIDS (a result of HIV infection) is caused by a virus (HIV) that spreads through blood-to-blood or sexual contact with someone who has the virus. HIV can also be spread from a mother with HIV to her baby during pregnancy or through breast feeding. The body fluids that transmit HIV are blood, semen, vaginal fluids, breast milk and other body fluids containing blood. The principal ways that people become infected with HIV are through: •

• Sharing needles and syringes with someone who has the virus.
• Having sex -- vaginal, oral or anal -- with someone who has the virus.
• A baby’s exposure to his or her HIV-positive mother during pregnancy or birth or through breast feeding.

Before testing began in 1985, some people became infected with HIV through receiving blood transfusions, blood components or blood clotting factors, or through transplants of organs infected with the virus. Since 1985, testing of blood products and organs for transplants has improved greatly, and such transmission is very rare now.

The virus does not spread from person to person by casual everyday contact, nor does it spread through the air or in water.

SOURCES:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "HIV and Its Transmission." January 2001.
• DeVita, V., Jr., et al., eds. AIDS: Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention, 4th ed. 1997.
• National Academy of Sciences. Confronting AIDS: Update 1988. 1988.

For current statistics, contact the CDC National AIDS Hotline (800/342-AIDS), Spanish (800/344-7432), TTY/TDD (800/243-7889); the CDC Voice and Fax Information System (888/232-3228); the CDC National Prevention Information Network (800/458-5231) or its Web site at www.cdcnpin.org; or the CDC HIV/AIDS Web site at www.cdc.gov/hiv/dhap.htm.