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HIV 101: How Is HIV Transmitted?

HIV 101: How Is HIV Transmitted?

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Don't be afraid to ask this, as most people are unclear about it.

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Let's start with how it is not transmitted. Since the virus cannot survive outside the body, you cannot get it from toilet seats or shared cups or utensils. You can't get it from kissing or from spit, since it's not transmitted in your saliva.

HIV is also not transmitted in sweat or urine. You can't get it from a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, mosquito or rodent bites, tattoos, or ear/body piercings.

Only four bodily fluids are known to carry HIV in quantities concentrated enough to infect another person: blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk. That is, unless a person is on HIV treatment and has reached an undetectable viral load. In that case, that person cannot transmit HIV to another person via these four fluids, which is why many HIV-positive women are able to breast feed without transmitting HIV to their children

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of these four fluids from an HIV-positive person must come in contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue, or be directly injected into the bloodstream (from a needle or syringe), for HIV transmission to even possibly occur.

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Diane Anderson-Minshall

Diane Anderson-Minshall is the CEO of Pride Media, and editorial director of The Advocate, Out, and Plus magazine. She's the winner of numerous awards from GLAAD, the NLGJA, WPA, and was named to Folio's Top Women in Media list. She and her co-pilot of 30 years, transgender journalist Jacob Anderson-Minshall penned several books including Queerly Beloved: A Love Across Genders.
Diane Anderson-Minshall is the CEO of Pride Media, and editorial director of The Advocate, Out, and Plus magazine. She's the winner of numerous awards from GLAAD, the NLGJA, WPA, and was named to Folio's Top Women in Media list. She and her co-pilot of 30 years, transgender journalist Jacob Anderson-Minshall penned several books including Queerly Beloved: A Love Across Genders.