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Women and HIV
- Over 57,000 women in the United States have HIV.
- Most women get HIV from having sex with men and not using a condom.
- Women from all backgrounds and cultures can get HIV. However, increasing numbers of African American and Latino women have HIV.
What is HIV?
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV is the virus
that causes AIDS.
HIV is a virus that attacks your immune system. The immune system has "T
cells" that help protect your body from disease. A person with HIV does
not have as many "T cells" as a healthy person. HIV makes it hard
for your body to fight off sickness.
A person with HIV is called HIV positive (HIV+).
How do you get HIV?
You can get HIV by:
- Having sex with a person who is HIV + and not using a condom
- Sharing needles or syringes ("drug works")
with someone who has HIV
- Getting blood from a person who has HIV
You can't get HIV by:
- Being in the same room with someone who has HIV.
- Sharing a knife or fork, sheets, toilet seats, or phones with someone who
has HIV
- Kissing a person with HIV
- Shaking hands with someone with HIV
- Getting bitten by a mosquito or other bug
What are the signs?
- You cannot tell who has HIV just by looking at them. Most
people do not show any outward signs when they first get HIV.
- A person can spread HIV even if he or she does not look sick.
- An HIV test is he only way to know for sure if you or someone else has
HIV.
It may take a few weeks or months for the HIV to show up on a test.
This is called the "window period". This means that a person who
was just infected may not test positive, even though they have the virus. During
the "window period" a person can pass the virus to others. Always
protect yourself from HIV.
How do you get tested for HIV?
There are 3 main types of tests for HIV:
- Blood -- a small amount of blood is taken.
- Oral -- a cotton swab is put in your mouth for about 2-5 minutes.
- Urine -- a small cup of urine is tested.
How do you get treated for HIV?
- There is no cure for HIV.
- There are medicines that you can take to help stop the virus from building
up in your body, so that you can stay mostly healthy.
What should pregnant women know about HIV?
- When a woman is pregnant, she can pass HIV to her fetus through her blood.
- A pregnant woman can take medicine to lower the chance of giving her baby
HIV.
- HIV can get into her breast milk. A woman can pass HIV to her baby during
breastfeeding.
What can you do if you are HIV+?
- See your doctor often.
- Take your medicine. Medicines must be taken regularly, or it will get harder
to treat the virus with those medicines.
- Eat a healthy, balanced diet.
- Don't smoke or use illegal (street) drugs.
- Get regular exercise.
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