How HIV makes people sick

HIV enters the body through infected body fluids. These body fluids include blood and blood products, semen, vaginal fluid, other body fluids that contain blood, breast milk, brain and spinal cord fluid, fluid around bone joints, and amniotic fluid. HIV-infected body fluids may enter an uninfected person's body in the following ways:

• Having sex (anal, vaginal, or oral) with an infected person
• Being stuck or pierced with a needle or other sharp object that contains HIV-infected blood
• Receiving a blood transfusion or organ or tissue transplant from an infected person
• HIV-positive women can pass HIV to their children during pregnancy, childbirth, or breast-फीडिंग

Discussion question: Discuss any five bodily fluids through which HIV particles may be transmitted, and four ways through which HIV-infected body fluids may enter an uninfected person's body.

Once HIV is in the body, it carries out processes that attack the body's immune system and result in making people sick. Click on an area of the HIV life cycle depicted below to find out more about each stage in the process.