PREVENTION
Is There a Vaccine to Prevent HIV Infection?
There is currently no vaccine to prevent HIV infection. Until a vaccine is approved, other HIV prevention methods such as safer sex practices, avoiding needle-sharing, and even HIV treatment-as-prevention programs will remain essential.
How Can I Reduce My Risk of Becoming Infected with HIV Through Sexual Contact?
If you are sexually active, protect yourself from HIV infection by practicing safer sex.
Use Protection.
Latex condoms (and female condoms) prevent HIV infection. Using a condom may not always be easy, but it does prevent the transmission of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). When used right, condoms are extremely effective. If you are allergic to latex, polyurethane condoms are also available and is an appropriate alternative to latex condoms.
Dental Dams prevent the transmission of HIV and other STIs when used for oral-genital or oral-anal sex. Dental dams are latex squares available in medical supply stores and from some adult shops. Be sure the dam covers the entire vulva (clitoris and vaginal opening) and that you hold it at both edges. Be careful not to turn the dam inside-out while you use it. If you don't have a dental dam you can improvise and cut open a condom.
Use only water-based lubricants. Latex condoms break down when combined with oil- or petroleum-based lubricants such as Vaseline or hand lotion.
If needed, consult a nurse, doctor or health educator for guidance on safer sex practices.
How Can I Avoid Acquiring HIV From a Contaminated Needle?
If you are injecting drugs of any type, including medications and steroids, do not share syringes or other injection equipment with anyone else.
If you are planning on getting any body art, it is important that you go to a reputable establishment with qualified professionals that use new sterile equipment for every procedure.
Is There a Link Between HIV and Other STDs?
Having a sexually transmitted disease can increase your risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV. This is true whether you have open sores or breaks in the skin (as with syphilis, herpes, chancroid) or not (as with chlamydia and gonorrhea). Where there are breaks in the skin, HIV can enter and exit the body more easily. Even when there are no breaks in the skin, STIs can cause biological changes that may make HIV transmission more likely. Studies show that HIV-infected individuals who are infected with another STI are three to five times more likely to contract or transmit the virus through sexual contact.
Are Some People at Greater Risk of HIV Infection Than Others?
HIV does not discriminate. Anyone can become infected with HIV regardless of age, gender, sexual identity (straight, gay or bisexual), financial status, and racial/ethnic identity. Being at risk of HIV infection depends on the activities you participate in and the associated level of risk. The greater the level of risk the activity is, the greater your risk of HIV infection.
Are Women Especially Vulnerable to HIV?
Women are four times more likely to contract HIV through vaginal sex with infected males than vice versa. This biological vulnerability can be worsened by social and cultural factors that often undermine women's ability to take care of her own health such as: being unable to avoid sex with partners who are HIV-infected, being unable to insist on condom use or having to put her own health secondary to that of her family.
For more information on the biological vulnerability of women to HIV, please visit the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE).
For more information on prevention please visit www.aids.gov
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