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HIV & AIDS: Are you at Risk?

What is HIV and how can I get it?

HIV - the human immunodeficiency virus - is a virus that kills your body’s "CD4 cells." CD4 cells (also called T-helper cells) help your body fight off infection and disease. HIV can be passed from person to person if someone with HIV infection has sex with or shares drug injection needles with another person. It also can be passed from a mother to her baby when she is pregnant, when she delivers the baby, or if she breast-feeds her baby.

What is AIDS?

AIDS - the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome - is a disease you get when HIV destroys your body’s immune system. Normally, your immune system helps you fight off illness. When your immune system fails you can become very sick and can die.

What do I need to know about HIV?

The first cases of AIDS were identified in the United States in 1981, but AIDS most likely existed here and in other parts of the world for many years before that time. In 1984 scientists proved that HIV causes AIDS.

Anyone can get HIV. The most important thing to know is how you can get the virus.

You can get HIV:

• By having unprotected sex- sex without a condom- with someone who has HIV. The virus can be in an infected person’s blood, semen, or vaginal secretions and can enter your body through tiny cuts or sores in your skin, or in the lining of your vagina, penis, rectum, or mouth.
  
• By sharing a needle and syringe to inject drugs or sharing drug equipment used to prepare drugs for injection with someone who has HIV.
  
• From a blood transfusion or blood clotting factor that you got before 1985. (But today it is unlikely you could get infected that way because all blood in the United States has been tested for HIV since 1985.)
  
• Babies born to women with HIV also can become infected during pregnancy, birth, or breast-feeding.

You cannot get HIV:

• By working with or being around someone who has HIV.
  
• From sweat, spit, tears, clothes, drinking fountains, phones, toilet seats, or through everyday things like sharing a meal.
• From insect bites or stings.
• From donating blood.
• From a closed-mouth kiss (but there is a very small chance of getting it from open-mouthed or "French" kissing with an infected person because of possible blood contact)

How can I protect myself?

• Don’t share needles and syringes used to inject drugs, steroids, vitamins, or for tattooing or body piercing. Also, don’t share equipment ("works") used to prepare drugs to be injected. Many people have been infected with HIV, hepatitis, and other germs this way. Germs from an infected person can stay in a needle and then be injected directly into the next person who uses the needle.
• If you do make this decision, have sex only with one partner who you know doesn’t have HIV and is only having sex with you. The more sex partners you have, the greater your chances are of getting HIV or other diseases passed through sex. Use a latex condom every time you have sex, including oral and anal sex. If you are allergic to latex, there is a polyurethane (a type of plastic) condom that you can try. There also is a condom that women can use to protect themselves. Don’t use lambskin condoms - they might not protect you against HIV.
• Don’t share razors or toothbrushes because of the possibility of contact with blood.
• If you are pregnant or think you might be soon, talk to a doctor or your local health department about being tested for HIV. Drug treatments are available to help you and reduce the chance of passing HIV to your baby if you have it.

How do I know if I have HIV or AIDS?

You might have HIV and still feel perfectly healthy. The only way to know for sure if you are infected or not is to be tested. Please call us 214-645-7300 and make an appointment.

What can I do if the test shows I have HIV?

Although HIV is a very serious infection, many people with HIV and AIDS are living longer, healthier lives today, thanks to new and effective treatments. It is very important to make sure you have a doctor who knows how to treat HIV. If you don’t know which doctor to use, talk with a health care professional or trained HIV counselor. If you are pregnant or are planning to become pregnant, this is especially important.

How can I find out more about HIV and AIDS?

You can call the CDC National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-342-2437 (Spanish/ Español: 1-800-344-7432; TTY access: 1-800-243-7889). The Hotline is staffed with people trained to answer your questions about HIV and AIDS in a prompt and confidential manner. Staff at the Hotline can offer you a wide variety of written materials and put you in touch with organizations in your area that deal with HIV and AIDS.

Community Prevention and Intervention Unit

HIV Testing Clinic

400 S. Zang Blvd. Suite 520 Dallas, Texas 75208

Office hours are Monday thru Friday between 9am and 5pm

For appointments please call: (214) 645-7300 Hablamos Español