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How Can I Prevent AIDS?

It doesn't matter who you are. What matters is how you act. There aren't any AIDS risk groups -- only AIDS risk behaviors.

The most common way people get HIV is by having sex with an infected person. You can't tell by looking at a person whether they have HIV. This means you have to protect yourself — and your sex partner. How can you do this?

• Don't have sex outside marriage or a committed relationship. If you or your partner have ever had unprotected sex — or if either of you uses injection drugs — you can't be sure you don't have HIV. The only way to be sure is to get tested. This means two HIV tests six months apart, with no new sex partners or injection drug use in between.
• You can't get HIV if your penis, mouth, vagina, or anus doesn't touch another person's penis, mouth, vagina, or anus. Kissing, erotic massage, and mutual masturbation are safe sex activities.
• You can greatly reduce your risk by using a latex or polyurethane condom during sex. Don't use natural-skin condoms — they prevent pregnancy but don't prevent infections. Learn the right way to use a condom. Use a condom as soon as the man has an erection, not just when he's ready to ejaculate. Use a lubricant — but NEVER use an oil-based lubricant with a latex condom. The female condom (also called a vaginal pouch) also protects against disease.
• Oral sex without a condom or latex dam is not safe, but it's far safer than unprotected intercourse.

Using drugs increases your HIV risk. Stop using drugs if you want to avoid the AIDS virus. If you're not ready to stop taking drugs, you can still reduce your risk of getting HIV. Here's how:

• Don't have sex when you're high. It's easy to forget about safe sex when you're on drugs.
• If you must use drugs, don't inject them.
• If you must inject drugs, don't share the equipment. This includes every piece of it: needles, syringes, cookers, cotton and rinse water. Some states have needle-exchange programs where you can trade dirty equipment for new equipment.

Mothers with HIV can give the virus to their infants during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. If you're pregnant, get an HIV test. Anti-HIV drugs taken during pregnancy and delivery can greatly reduce the risk of passing the AIDS virus to your baby. If you have HIV, you should feed your infant formula, or breast milk from an uninfected woman.

You can get HIV from the blood of an infected person. If you are helping a bleeding person, be careful to avoid getting blood into cuts or open sores on your skin or in your eyes or mouth.

If you think you have been exposed to HIV, see your doctor immediately. Your doctor may recommend taking anti-AIDS drugs to keep the virus from taking hold. This is NOT a "morning-after pill" — it's several weeks of drugs with serious side effects — but it can keep you from getting HIV infection.