15 Things You Should Know about HIV and Safer Sex

15 Things You Should Know about HIV and Safer Sex

1. Anyone can get HIV (the virus that causes AIDS)
2. HIV attacks your body’s immune system.
3. A person with HIV may get sick with certain diseases and then be diagnosed with AIDS.
4. Many people who have AIDS in their twenties become infected with HIV in their teens.
5. You can be infected with HIV for 10 or more years without having any recognizable symptoms.
6. You can’t tell by looking if someone has HIV.
7. You can take steps to protect yourself from HIV. Put yourself first. Get tested today.
8. If you put yourself at risk you can become infected with HIV. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO YOU ARE.
9. You are at risk any time you exchange body fluids (semen, blood, vaginal fluids or breast milk).
10. You can become infected if you have sex with an infected person.
11. Unprotected sex among infected partners may cause cross-infection resulting in drug resistance.
12. You can also become infected if you share needles or syringes with an infected person.
13. HIV is not passed through hugging, hand shaking, and coughing, talking, sneezing or toilet seats, water fountains, bathrooms or eating utensils.
14. Safer sex means taking steps to protect yourself.
15. Choosing not to have sex is safest.