Help take care of your health by learning the facts & raising your awareness of HIV
From symptoms and transmission to treatment and prevention, we’ve answered the most common questions about HIV and AIDS.
What is HIV?
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease.
Whilst there’s currently no cure, there are very effective treatments that enable most people with the virus to live a long and healthy life.
What is AIDS?
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the name used to describe a number of potentially life-threatening infections and illnesses that happen when your immune system has been severely damaged by the HIV virus.
With an early diagnosis and effective treatments, most people with HIV won’t develop any AIDS-related illnesses.
What’s the difference between HIV & AIDS?
HIV refers to a viral infection that gradually disables the immune system if it’s left untreated.
Once HIV reaches the stage where the immune system has been severely damaged, it’s called AIDS. Doctors often call it advanced HIV or late-stage HIV.
Although you can’t catch AIDS from someone, you can get HIV from them.
What are the symptoms of HIV?
The first sign of HIV is often a short flu-like illness that occurs two to six weeks after infection, although the severity varies from person to person. The most common symptoms are a raised temperature (fever), sore throat and body rash.
After these initial symptoms disappear (usually after a week or two), HIV may not cause any further symptoms for many years. However, the virus continues to damage your immune system.
Other symptoms can include:
• Tiredness
• Joint pain
• Muscle pain
• Swollen glands
You should get tested as soon as possible if you think you could have HIV. Further information on testing can be found below.
Who is at risk of getting HIV?
You’re most at risk of becoming infected with HIV if you:
• Have a current or previous partner with HIV
• Have a current or previous partner who’s from an area with high HIV rates
• Are from an area with high HIV rates
• Have vaginal, anal or oral (although the risk of becoming infected with HIV from oral sex is very low) sex without using a condom
• Use drugs to help or enhance sex (known as chemsex)
• Inject drugs and share equipment
• Share sex toys with someone infected with HIV
• Have a history of sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis B or hepatitis C
• Have had multiple sexual partners
• Have been raped
• Have received a blood transfusion, transplant or other risk-prone procedures in countries that don’t have strong screening for HIV
• Are a healthcare worker who could accidentally prick themselves with an infected needle (but this risk is extremely low)
• Are born to a parent with untreated HIV
If you’re in one of these categories, speak to your GP as they may advise that you have regular tests for HIV.
How is HIV transmitted?
The virus is transmitted when bodily fluids from someone with HIV enter your bloodstream. These fluids include:
• Semen and pre-seminal fluid
• Vaginal secretions
• Anal secretions
• Breast milk
• Blood
In the UK, most cases of HIV are caused by having sex with a person who has HIV without using a condom.
The virus can get into the bloodstream through the lining of parts of the body that are wet and absorbent, including the vagina, anus and penis head. The virus can also get in through the mouth and eyes.
This means HIV can be passed on during oral sex if the person receiving oral sex has lots of the virus in their body, or the person performing oral sex has mouth ulcers, sores or bleeding gums. It can also be transmitted through cuts, bites, sores and injecting using shared needles.
People with HIV are most infectious a few weeks after contracting the illness.
HIV is a fragile virus which doesn’t survive easily outside of the body, so you’re unlikely to get HIV if you come into contact with infected blood or semen that’s been out of the body for a while. It also can’t be transmitted through sweat, urine or saliva because they don’t contain enough of the virus.
This means HIV can’t be passed on through:
• Kissing
• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Sharing towels or cutlery
• Sharing toilets or swimming pools
Viral load is the term used to describe the amount of HIV in your blood. The more HIV there is in your blood, the higher your viral load. If there is so little HIV in your blood that your viral load is undetectable, there is no risk of HIV being passed on.
Most people taking daily HIV treatment reach an undetectable viral load within six months of starting treatment.
What should you do if you think you may have HIV?
If you think you may have HIV, it’s very important to get tested early so you can start treatment as soon as possible.
If HIV is left untreated, it develops into AIDS because the immune system eventually becomes unable to fight off illness.
An early diagnosis means you can start treatment sooner, which can improve your chances of controlling the virus, reduce the risk of becoming more unwell and reduce the chance of passing the virus on to others.
It’s free to get tested for HIV on the NHS and involves either taking a blood or saliva sample, or both.
You can get tested for HIV at a number of places including:
• Sexual health clinics
• Some contraception and young people's clinics
• Some GP surgeries
• Charity-run clinics
• Your local antenatal clinic if you’re pregnant
• Local drug dependency services
The blood test is the most accurate test and can normally give reliable results from one month after infection.
The other tests tend to be less accurate and may not give a reliable result for a longer period after exposure to the infection. This is known as the window period.
For all types of test, a blood test should be carried out to confirm the result if the first test is positive. If this test is also positive, you'll be referred to a specialist HIV clinic for some additional tests and a discussion about the treatment options.
You can also order and pay for a HIV home test kit online and use it to send off a finger-prick blood sample and get your results in two to three days. Tests are available online from other providers too.
Hearing that you have HIV can be shocking, and it’s normal and understandable to feel a range of emotions. Whatever you feel, you don’t have to go through it alone. Your HIV clinic, local mental health services and GP can all help you cope with your diagnosis.
In some cases, if you think you may have been exposed to HIV, you may be able to get PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis). PEP can help stop you becoming infected with HIV if started within 72 hours of possible exposure to the virus. Ideally it needs to be taken within 24 hours after exposure.
If appropriate for you, PEP is available through sexual health clinics and HIV clinics or through A&E if it’s needed out of hours. It’s a 28-day course of treatment and instructions for taking it need to be followed precisely.
It’s also wise to tell other people, particularly sexual partners, if there’s a chance they may have been infected.
Screening for HIV in pregnancy
If you're pregnant, you'll be offered a blood test to check if you have HIV as part of routine antenatal screening.If untreated, HIV can be passed on to your baby during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.
Treatment in pregnancy greatly reduces the risk of passing HIV on to your baby.
How is HIV treated?
If you're diagnosed with HIV, you'll have regular blood tests to monitor the progress of the HIV infection before starting treatment. Following your diagnosis, treatment can be started at any point, depending on your circumstances and in consultation with your HIV doctor.
Although HIV can’t be cured, antiretroviral medicines can be taken to treat the condition and help you live a healthy life. They work by stopping the virus replicating in the body, allowing the immune system to repair itself and prevent further damage.
Because HIV can easily become resistant to treatment, most people with the condition take a combination of different medications. These are taken as one or several tablets every day.
The goal of HIV treatment is to have an undetectable viral load. This means the level of HIV virus in your body is low enough to not be detected by a test.
HIV medication can react with other medication or herbal remedies, so always tell your GP or pharmacist which treatment you’re on.
How can you prevent HIV?
The most effective way to reduce your risk of getting HIV is to use a condom during sex.
If you use a lubricant too, choose a water-based one as oil-based ones can make condoms less effective. If you’re unsure which lubricant to choose, ask your local Boots pharmacist for help.
It’s also important not to share needles when injecting drugs. Many pharmacies and sexual health clinics offer a needle exchange service which takes any used needles and gives you a new, unused one instead. By not sharing needles you’ll also reduce your risk of getting ill from other viruses, such as hepatitis B.
If you’re at high risk of being infected by HIV (if you have a partner who’s HIV positive, for example), you may also be able to take PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis).
If it’s suitable for you and you’ve already had experience of using it before, the Boots Online Doctor can give you discrete access to PrEP without an appointment.*
You’ll need to complete a five to 10 minute online consultation which will be reviewed by a doctor within 24 hours. If they need more information, they’ll also contact you. PrEP medication may be prescribed, if suitable for you. You can choose to pick up your medication or have it delivered to you.
Treatment as prevention
When someone with HIV takes effective treatment, it reduces their viral load to undetectable levels.
Having an undetectable viral load for six months or more means it’s not possible to pass the virus on during sex. This is called undetectable=untransmittable (U=U), which can also be referred to as ‘treatment as prevention’.
Living with HIV
Getting treatment for HIV early can help you live a near-normal, healthy life and continue to do the things you love.
However, it can understandably affect your mental health, so finding strategies to look after your emotional wellbeing is important too.
Charities like Terrence Higgins Trust and NAM are good places to find out more about getting support when living with HIV.
HIV charities can give support and guidance to help you:
• Look after your psychological wellbeing
• Tell your partner and former partners about your diagnosis
• Tell your employer if you want to or if you’re required to (e.g. in frontline healthcare)
• Understand your employment rights
• If you’re pregnant or considering becoming pregnant
• If you want to understand where to get financial support
There are several ways you can also look after your health, such as:
• Exercising regularly
• Eating a varied and balanced diet
• Stopping smoking
