How does a person get infected?

How does a person get infected?

HIV is passed from person to person through body fluids. A person catches the virus in the following ways:

• By sexual contact with an infected person
  
• By sharing needles or syringes with someone who is infected
  
• From tattooing, skin piercing or acupuncture with unsterilized needles
  
• A mother can pass the infection to her baby during the pregnancy, at the time of birth or through breast feeding
  
• Health-care workers have become infected after being stuck with a needle containing HIV infected blood or after having an open cut come in contact with infected blood. Less commonly, HIV has been transmitted when infected blood comes in contact with mucus membranes of the eyes or nose.
  
  

Since November of 1985, all blood products in Canada have been tested for HIV, so infection from blood transfusions has become rare.

A person cannot get infected by:

• Casual contact with an infected person (such as shaking hands)
  
• Hugging or kissing
  
• Being coughed or sneezed on
  
• Donating blood
  
• Swimming in a pool
  
• Sitting on a toilet seat
  
• Sharing bed linens, eating utensils or food
  
• From insect or animal bites