Knowing the facts about AIDS is necessary

Knowing the facts about AIDS is necessary for individuals to choose healthy behaviors and attitudes. The facts are:

• Anyone can get HIV. Anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, who engages in high-risk behavior with an infected person is likely to get the virus.

• You will not get HIV through everyday contact with people at work, at school, at the swimming pool or in other casual situations.

• HIV is not passed in saliva, sweat, urine, bowel movements, tears, mosquito bites, clothes, phone receivers or toilet seats. It is not passed by donating blood, eating in restaurants or shaking hands.

• The virus is passed in semen, vaginal fluids and blood. It can enter the body through the vagina, penis, rectum, mouth or any cut or open sore. Anal intercourse is especially risky due to the delicate tissue involved. The virus can be transmitted by exchange of semen or secretions during intercourse, from mother to fetus during pregnancy or birth or by sharing needles or syringes with drug users.

• Abstinence is the only 100-percent safe choice to avoid sexually transmitted AIDS. Condoms are the best defense against the sexual transmission of HIV, but they are not foolproof. Latex condoms provide the best protection, but any condom must be used properly and every time.

• AIDS is fatal.