HIV or human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus

HIV or human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus, and a member of the retrovirus family. It causes the disease, AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This disease is characterized by the progressive weakening of the immune system, as the virus targets the white blood cells, which are an important component of the immune system. As a result, the immune system fails to prevent diseases and infections, which paves the way for opportunistic infections. However, it takes several years to develop AIDS from the time of contracting the human immunodeficiency virus.

Once an individual contracts HIV and develops AIDS he or she has to live with it, as there is no cure for AIDS. Medications that are available for the treatment of AIDS can help to suppress the symptoms, improve the quality of life and prolong the life span. But, they can do nothing to cure this serious disease. Therefore, it is important to prevent the disease, with some precautionary measures. But for this, it is imperative to know 'how can you get AIDS or HIV?'. So, let's take a brief look at how HIV/AIDS can get transmitted from an infected individual to a healthy one.

How Can You Get AIDS or HIV?

Human immunodeficiency virus can be found in body fluid, i.e. in blood, vaginal fluid, semen and breast milk. Basically, one can get the human immunodeficiency virus in four ways, which are discussed below.

Unprotected Sex With an HIV Positive Individual
As has been mentioned already, the human immunodeficiency virus can be found in semen and vaginal fluid. HIV/AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease and so, the human immunodeficiency virus can easily pass from an infected individual to another person through unprotected sexual intercourse. This can happen both in the case of unprotected vaginal and anal sex. Having sores or cuts at the genital area can increase the risk for contracting the virus during sexual intercourse. Even oral sex is not completely safe. The risk of getting the human immunodeficiency virus is high, if one has some other sexually transmitted diseases like, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis.

Blood Transfusion
Transfusion of infected blood is another common route for the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus from an infected individual to a healthy one. For this reason, blood is first tested for the presence of HIV before using it for transfusion. In developed countries, contracting the HIV virus through the transfusion of infected blood is extremely rare. However, some underdeveloped or developing countries may not have such efficient testing system, for which in such countries HIV transmission is possible through blood transfusion.

Intravenous Drug Use
People using intravenous drugs and sharing a common needle for this purpose are in the high risk zone for contracting the human immunodeficiency virus. Apart from HIV/AIDS, sharing needles during intravenous drug use can transmit other blood borne diseases like, hepatitis C. You can contract the human immunodeficiency virus, even if a small amount of infected blood get into your bloodstream.

Mother to Child Transfusion
Another important fact about AIDS or HIV is that, an HIV infected mother can pass the virus to her unborn child during pregnancy or at the time of delivery. As HIV can be found in breast milk, the virus can also get transmitted while breastfeeding a child. This type of transmission can be prevented with the help of certain drugs available for this purpose.

Apart from these, one can get HIV during tattooing or piercing, if the instrument used for the purpose has not been properly sterilized. So, by now you must have got a fair idea about, 'how can you get AIDS or HIV?' It is possible to prevent the transmission of HIV with some precautionary measures. Avoidance of unsafe or unprotected sex, use of barrier protection methods like, condoms, careful blood transfusion and use of only sterilized needle, as well as sterilized equipments for tattooing or piercing are some such important precautions to prevent the spread of HIV. HIV infected mothers can prevent the transmission of the virus to their children by using some antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. You can also talk to your physician to know more about how to prevent the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus.