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  • Through sexual contact -- including oral, vaginal, and anal sex
  • Through blood -- via blood transfusions (now extremely rare in the US) or needle sharing
  • From mother to child -- a pregnant woman can transmit the virus to her fetus through their shared blood circulation, or a nursing mother can transmit it to her baby in her breast milk

Other transmission methods are rare and include accidental needle injury, artificial insemination with infected donated semen, and organ transplantation with infected organs.

HIV infection is not spread by casual contact such as hugging, by touching items previously touched by a person infected with the virus, during participation in sports, or by mosquitoes.

It is NOT transmitted to a person who DONATES blood or organs. Those who donate organs are never in direct contact with those who receive them. Likewise, a person who donates blood is not in contact with the person receiving it. In all these procedures, sterile needles and instruments are used.

However, HIV can be transmitted to a person RECEIVING blood or organs from an infected donor. To reduce this risk, blood banks and organ donor programs screen donors, blood, and tissues thoroughly.

People at highest risk for getting HIV include:

  • Injection drug users who share needles
  • Infants born to mothers with HIV who didn't receive HIV therapy during pregnancy
  • People engaging in unprotected sex
  • People who received blood transfusions or clotting products between 1977 and 1985 (prior to when screening for the virus became standard practice)
  • Sexual partners of those who participate in high-risk activities (such as injuection drug use or anal sex)
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14y ago

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