Putting It All Together

Here is a summary of the important facts and information related to AIDS.

• AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency, or immune deficiency, syndrome) is an advanced stage of a viral infection that attacks the body's disease-fighting immune system.
• HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus) is the infectious agent that is the cause of AIDS.
• HIV/AIDS testing is available anonymously through clinics and requires a blood sample.
• Not everyone who has HIV infection develops AIDS.
• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definition of AIDS includes all HIV-infected people who have a very low level of key immune cells and/or one of a number of medical conditions that are the result of HIV's attack on the immune system.
• A number of drugs are available to help HIV-infected individuals live longer and healthier lives.

Minimizing HIV Exposure From Medical Procedures

HIV has been transmitted through transfusions of contaminated blood and blood components. In the United States, several thousand surgical patients and others became HIV-infected through receiving contaminated blood, most of them early in the AIDS epidemic.

Since 1985, however, blood banks have added new safeguards to their procedures to ensure that donated blood does not present an HIV risk. These measures include various heat-treating techniques and screening donated blood for evidence of HIV. Blood from potential donors who are determined to have risk factors for HIV transmission is also discarded.

Today, the risk of acquiring HIV infection from blood transfusions is extremely small. People who are scheduling elective surgery can reduce the risk even further by banking some of their own blood before the surgery. This is known as autologous blood donation.

HIV transmission as a result of other medical procedures is rare, although accidental sticks with contaminated needles have occurred, mostly among healthcare workers.

Dentists, hygienists, and other healthcare professionals are required to wear protective latex gloves to avoid the transmission of viral infections such as HIV.