HIV is transmitted when people exchange
blood, semen, or vaginal discharge.
People usually get HIV from having
unprotected sex with someone who has it.
However, people can actually get HIV from
protected sex too. Condoms offer good STD
protection, but they do fail sometimes.
Nurses and other people who are around
blood a lot are at a higher risk of
getting HIV from contaminated blood.
Usually our skin would protect us from
things like HIV, but if we have a cut,
then the infected blood can get into our
body.
People who share needles (usually illegal
drug users) may also get HIV due to
swapping blood from the needle.
There was a time, before we knew much
about HIV and how to test for it, that
people could get it from blood
transfusions at the hospital, often after
injury or surgery. Now that we know more
about HIV, we can test blood for HIV
before giving the blood to anyone.
For more information, you can look here:
http://www.niaid.
nih.gov/factsheets/hivinf.htm
