How is it contracted?

- HIV can only be contracted through certain activities, most commonly through sexual
behaviours or needle or syringe use
- Only certain body fluids from someone with HIV can transmit HIV, such as:
- Blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids and breast milk
- Must come in contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue or injected directly into
the bloodstream for transmission to occur
- Mucous membranes are found inside the rectum, vagina, penis and mouth
- Most commonly spread through having anal or vaginal sex with someone who has HIV
without using a condom or taking precautionary medicines
- Sharing needles or syringes, rinse water or other equipment used to prepare injection drugs
with someone who has HIV
- Less commonly spread from mother to child during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding or
being stuck with a HIV contaminated needle or other sharp object.
- In extremely rare cases, through oral sex, receiving blood transfusions, blood products or
organ/tissue transplants that are contaminated with HIV, eating food that has been chewed
by a HIV infected person and being bitten by a person with HIV (only if the skin is pierced)

Symptoms of HIV

- May experience flu like symptoms during the early stage such as fever, rash, night sweats,
sore throat, fatigue, mouth ulcers etc.
- Clinical latency stage (after the early stage), HIV is still active but reproducing very slowly
- Late stage of HIV, if the HIV infected victim is not on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) then the
virus will weaken the bodys immune system and will progress to AIDS.
- Symptoms of AIDS can include rapid weight loss, recurring fever, extreme and unexplained
tiredness, diarrhoea that lasts more than a week, sores of the mouth, anus or genitals,
memory loss, depression and etc.
Speech

How is it contracted? HIV can only be contracted through certain activities and most commonly
through sexual behaviours or needle or syringe use. Only some of our body fluids from someone
with HIV can transmit HIV, such as blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids and
breast milk. HIV is most commonly contracted through having anal or vaginal sex with someone who
has HIV without using a condom or taking precautionary medicines. Although slightly less common,
sharing needles, syringes, rinse water or other equipment used to prepare injection drugs with
someone who has HIV can also contract HIV.

There are three stages of HIV, the acute infection stage, clinical latency stage and the Aids stage. The
acute infection stage is often within 2-4 weeks of the infection and many people develop flu like
symptoms. The clinical latency stage (after the acute infection stage) is a stage where the virus is
living within a persons body without producing symptoms, during this stage people infected with
HIV will experience either no symptoms or mild symptoms. The Aids stage comes after and during
this stage where your immune system is badly damaged ad without treatment typically people who
progress into aids will live for about 3 years.