Blood, pre-cum, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk all contain high concentrations of HIV, and all have been linked to transmission of Saliva, tears, sweat, and urine can have the virus in them, but in such small concentrations that nobody has ever been infected through them.

Blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breastmilk, and other body fluids containing blood taken from HIV-positive people can contain high concentrations of HIV. The virus also might be present in the fluid surrounding the brain and the spinal cord, fluid surrounding bone joints and fluid surrounding a fetus of an HIV-positive pregnant woman. HIV has been found in the saliva and tears of some HIV-positive people but in very low quantities.

HIV is transmitted through blood, semen, pre-semen (pre-ejaculate), vaginal fluids, and breast milk. These fluids need to enter the bloodstream. Saliva is not generally considered risky, but cuts, sores, or blisters in the mouth increase the likelihood of transmission (i.e., HIV infection). Other bodily fluids such as sweat, tears, or urine are not risky.

An infected pregnant woman can transmit HIV on to her unborn baby either before or during birth. HIV can also be passed on during breastfeeding. If a woman knows that she is infected with HIV, there are drugs that she can take to greatly reduce the chances of her child becoming infected, as well as other options such as choosing to have a caesarean section delivery and not breastfeeding, as HIV is found in breast milk.

During invasive surgical procedures healthcare workers may also come into contact with the following bodily fluids, which contain significant amounts of HIV:

HIV infection most often has no symptoms. Flu-like symptoms often occur four to twelve weeks after infection when seroconversion generally takes place. Symptoms are variable, but include swollen glands in the neck and armpits, fatigue, fever, thrush, night sweats, weight loss, gynocologic disorders (in women) including yeast infections and PID. For more detailed information, go to, Symptoms of HIV.

HIV is transmitted through contact with the blood, semen, vaginal secretions or breast milk of an HIV infected person.

There is no evidence to show that mosquitoes transmit HIV. Epidemiologically, the incidence of HIV infection is the highest among the sexually active group of 15 years to 40 years. However, mosquitoes bite persons of all age groups and if they were a means of spreading HIV, the incidence of infection would be uniformly high and among all age groups.

No. Although this is a common fear, there is no evidence to support the theory that mosquitoes can transmit the Human-Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Studies by the US Centres for Disease Control and others can find no evidence that mosquitoes, or any other blood-sucking insect, can transmit HIV. In countries where both high HIV prevalence and high malaria rates exist, such as Uganda, HIV mainly affects the sexually active population.

Detectable antibodies usually develop within four weeks to three months of HIV infection. Some people have symptoms during this time. They are usually not severe. They include slight fever headaches fatigue muscle aches and swollen glands. These symptoms may last for a few weeks. There are usually no symptoms for a long time after the antibodies have developed with the current average span of asymptomatic HIV disease standing at just over ten years after point of infection.

Mosquitoes or other sucking and biting insects do not transmit HIV. For a mosquito to infect someone, it would have to bite a person who was infected. Then, it would have to both immediately travel to someone else and infect that person from tiny drops of infected blood left on the sucker, or it would have to process the virus in its saliva and inject it into the next person. Mosquitoes do neither of these things. They do not travel from person to person.

Yes, if the injecting equipment is contaminated with blood containing HIV. Avoid injections unless absolutely necessary. If you must have an injection, make sure the needle and syringe come straight from a sterile package or have been sterilised properly; a needle and syringe that has been cleaned and then boiled for 20 minutes is ready for reuse. Finally, if you inject drugs of whatever kind, never use anyone else's injecting equipment.

How do I assess the level of risk of contracting HIV or STD's based on my own exposure? Maybe I don't need a test.

We have just introduced our new three-line Discreet AIDS - HIV test to some of our wholesale customers within South America. This is the third generation of the original Discreet AIDS - HIV test. Besides testing for antibodies of HIV1 and HIV2, this new test has an additional line that tests specifically for antibodies of HIV-O.

Yes!! One of the incorrect assumptions about herpes is that people can not transmit the virus unless lesions are present. Many people diagnosed before 1996 or so were given this information. It has since been proved false. There is a phenomenon known as AVS, or asymptomatic viral shedding, and it is estimated that the average person with herpes has AVS for 1-2 weeks out of the year, but it is believed that this varies with the number and severity of outbreaks.

A risk of HIV transmission does exist if instruments contaminated with blood are either not sterilized or disinfected or are used inappropriately between clients. CDC recommends that instruments that are intended to penetrate the skin be used once, then disposed of or thoroughly cleaned and sterilized.

There is very high risk of when getting HIV when having a tattoo, if new set of tools are not used on each person. Since there will always be a tendency of blood stain when a tattoo is being impressed on someone, HIV can easily pass from the blood of an infected tattoo client to an uninfected person, if the same materials are being used for their services.