Prevention

HIV infection can be passed from person to person in any of the following ways: unprotected sexual intercourse (heterosexual or homosexual), oral sex with an infected person, needle-sharing (if one intravenous drug user is infected), occupational exposure (needle stick with infected blood), artificial insemination with infected semen or an organ transplant taken from an HIV-infected donor. Newborns can also catch HIV infection from their mothers before birth or through breast-feeding. There is no evidence that HIV can be spread through the following: kissing; sharing food utensils, towels, or bedding; swimming in pools; using toilet seats; using telephones; or having mosquito or other insect bites. Although several HIV vaccines are being tested, none has been approved. You can decrease your chances of acquiring HIV infection by avoiding high-risk behaviours. To decrease the risk of HIV infection:

• Have a monogamous (one partner only) sexual relationship (this also assumes that your partner has only you as his or her partner) practice abstinence or use barrier methods of contraception such as condoms.
• Intravenous drug users should never share needles.
• If you are a health care worker, strictly follow universal precautions, the established infection-control procedures to avoid contact with bodily fluids.
• If you are a woman who is thinking about becoming pregnant, have a test for HIV beforehand, especially if you have a history of behaviours that put you at risk of HIV infection. Pregnant women who are HIV-positive need special prenatal care and medications to decrease the risk that HIV will pass to their newborn babies.