HIV infection can be passed from person to person in any of the following ways:

Prevention

HIV infection can be passed from person to person in any of the following ways:

• Unprotected sexual intercourse (heterosexual or homosexual)
• Oral sex with an infected person
• A contaminated blood transfusion (very rare in the United States since 1985, when blood supplies started being tested for HIV)
• Needle sharing (if one intravenous drug user is infected)
• Occupational exposure (needle stick with infected blood)
• Artificial insemination with infected semen
• Organ transplant taken from an HIV-infected donor

Newborns can catch HIV infection from their mothers before birth or through breastfeeding.

There is no evidence that HIV can be spread through the following: kissing; sharing food utensils, towels or bedding; swimming in pools; using toilet seats; using telephones; or having mosquito or other insect bites.

Although several HIV vaccines are being tested, none has been approved. You can decrease your chances of being infected with HIV by avoiding high-risk behaviors. To decrease the risk of HIV infection:

• Don't have sex, have sex with only one partner who is also committed to having sex with only you or use barrier methods of contraception such as condoms.
• If you use intravenous drugs, never share needles.
• If you are a health care worker, strictly follow universal precautions (the established infection-control procedures to avoid contact with bodily fluids).
• If you are a woman thinking about becoming pregnant, have a test for HIV beforehand, especially if you have a history of behaviors that put you at risk of HIV infection. Pregnant women who are HIV-positive need special prenatal care and medications to decrease the risk that HIV will pass to their newborn babies.