HIV - Can You Get Infected Without Having Sex?

Apart from being transmitted through sexual intercourse, the HIV virus can be spread when certain body fluids like blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, vaginal fluids, rectal fluids, and breast milk of an HIV-infected person comes into contact with damaged tissue or mucous membrane or when directly injected into the bloodstream. Also, an infected woman without medication may spread HIV to her child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. It is always advised to never share any product through which you can get into contact with the other person s bodily fluids.

There is no vaccination, which can help in the prevention of HIV infection or AIDS. The infection may affect anyone who indulges in wanton intercourse or injection drug use, changes sexual partners too frequently or has unprotected sex. It is best to avoid any such circumstance to prevent the chances of infection. The best precaution is to avoid unprotected sex as it is better to be safe than sorry.

HIV is not transmitted if you hug, sneeze, eat, or drink from public places. Also, you will not be affected by HIV by being in a casual contact with the affected person since HIV is not transmitted through air, water, insects or any object that is touched by an individual affected with HIV. There is no reason to avoid a person with HIV, but it is better not to indulge in unprotected sexual activities with the affected person.

The risk of getting infected with HIV is quite high when needles used by an infected person is shared by another. The shared syringe may have traces of blood of the HIV-infected person and when the same is used to inject another person, it puts him under the risk of getting infected with the virus. Hence, you must ensure that the syringe used on you in the healthcare unit is a new and unused one. Exercise caution when it comes to using syringes.