• How can I tell if I'm infected with HIV?
• HIV & Oral Sex

HIV/AIDS

HIV -- the human immunodeficiency virus - is a virus that kills your body’s "CD4 cells." CD4 cells (also called T-helper cells) help your body fight off infection and disease. HIV can be passed from person to person if someone with HIV infection has sex with or shares drug injection needles with another person. It also can be passed from a mother to her baby when she is pregnant, when she delivers the baby, or if she breast-feeds her baby.

AIDS -- the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome - is a disease you get when HIV destroys your body’s immune system. Normally, your immune system helps you fight off illness. When your immune system fails you can become very sick and can die from an illness as common as the flu.

It is important to remember that AIDS is not synonymous with HIV. AIDS results from specific damage to the immune system, and can actually be triggered by many different infections or diseases, one of which is HIV.
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How can I tell if I'm infected with HIV?

What are the symptoms?

The only way to know if you are infected is to be tested for HIV infection. You cannot rely on symptoms to know whether or not you are infected. Many people who are infected with HIV do not have any symptoms at all for many years.

The following may be warning signs of HIV infection:

• rapid weight loss
  
• dry cough
  
• recurring fever or profuse night sweats
  
• profound and unexplained fatigue
  
• swollen lymph glands in the armpits, groin, or neck
  
• diarrhea that lasts for more than a week
  
• white spots or unusual blemishes on the tongue, in the mouth, or in the throat
  
• pneumonia
  
• red, brown, pink, or purplish blotches on or under the skin or inside the mouth, nose, or eyelids
  
• memory loss, depression, and other neurological disorders

Remember The Basics

• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is found in blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk.


• HIV is spread most often by having sex without using a condom, or by sharing needles.


• People can be infected with HIV without knowing it. An HIV test is the only way to know for sure.


• There are treatments that help people with HIV stay healthier, but there is still no cure.


• Choosing not to have sex and never sharing needles are good ways to protect yourself.


• Practicing safer sex means always using a new condom with a water-based lubricant.


• You cannot get HIV from shaking hands, water fountains, bathrooms or eating utensils.

Your best protection is prevention!
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HIV & Oral Sex

Can I get HIV from oral sex?

Yes, it is possible for either partner to become infected with HIV through performing or receiving oral sex. There have been a few cases of HIV transmission from performing oral sex on a person infected with HIV. While no one knows exactly what the degree of risk is, evidence suggests that the risk is less than that of unprotected anal or vaginal sex.

If the person performing oral sex has HIV, blood from their mouth may enter the body of the person receiving oral sex through

• the lining of the urethra (the opening at the tip of the penis);
  
• the lining of the vagina or cervix;
  
• the lining of the anus; or
  
• directly into the body through small cuts or open sores.

If the person receiving oral sex has HIV, their blood, semen (cum), pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum), or vaginal fluid may contain the virus. Cells lining the mouth of the person performing oral sex may allow HIV to enter their body.

The risk of HIV transmission increases if the person performing oral sex

• has cuts or sores around or in their mouth or throat; if the person receiving oral sex ejaculates in the mouth of the person performing oral sex; or
  
• if the person receiving oral sex has another sexually transmitted disease (STD).

Not having (abstaining from) sex is the most effective way to avoid HIV.

If you choose to perform oral sex, and your partner is male,

• use a latex condom on the penis; or
  
• if you or your partner is allergic to latex, plastic (polyurethane) condoms can be used.

Studies have shown that latex condoms are very effective, though not perfect, in preventing HIV transmission when used correctly and consistently. If either partner is allergic to latex, plastic (polyurethane) condoms for either the male or female can be used.

If you choose to have oral sex, and your partner is female,

• use a latex barrier (such as a natural rubber latex sheet, a dental dam or a cut-open condom that makes a square) between your mouth and the vagina. A latex barrier such as a dental dam reduces the risk of blood or vaginal fluids entering your mouth.
  
• Plastic food wrap also can be used as a barrier.

If you choose to perform oral sex with either a male or female partner and this sex includes oral contact with your partners anus (analingus or rimming),

• Use a latex barrier (such as a natural rubber latex sheet, a dental dam or a cut-open condom that makes a square) between your mouth and the anus. Plastic food wrap also can be used as a barrier.

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