How is it passed?

How is HIV passed from person to person?

HIV is found in body fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breastmilk. It is passed from one person to another - or transmitted - only in very specific ways. These are:

• through sexual intercourse between a man and a woman or between two men;
• through infected blood - for example through contaminated blood transfusions or unsterilised needles and syringes. ( In most places today blood transfusions are completely safe because the blood is tested for HIV before it is used to treat patients); and
• from an infected mother to her baby while it is still in the womb or during childbirth or during breastfeeding.

HIV does not spread through "casual" everyday contact between people.

It is not transmitted by coughing, or sneezing, or by touching or hugging someone who has the virus.

It is not spread in air, water or in food, or by sharing cups, bowls, cutlery,clothing, or toilet seats.

And HIV is not transmitted by biting insects such as mosquitoes, because the quantity of blood on their mouthparts is too minute.

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