HIV

What it is. HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system — the part of your body that fights infection. It spreads through some kinds of unprotected sex, through shared needles, and from parent to baby during pregnancy or birth. Today HIV is a manageable, long-term (chronic) condition — not the emergency it once was.

How you'd know. Some people get a flu-like illness a few weeks after catching HIV, but many have no symptoms for years. The only way to know is to test.

How it's tested. A blood test (the "4th-generation" test) can usually detect HIV about 2 to 3 weeks after exposure. Rapid tests and self-tests are also available and give a result in minutes. Because the test can take time to turn positive, a negative result is confirmed again at 3 months.

Is it curable? HIV cannot be cured yet, but it is very treatable. Daily medicine (called ART) keeps the virus under control and lets people live long, healthy lives.

U = U (Undetectable = Untransmittable). When treatment lowers the virus so far that it can't be measured, HIV cannot be passed on to sexual partners. Staying on treatment protects both you and the people you care about.

What if it's not treated? Without treatment, HIV slowly weakens the immune system over years and can lead to serious infections and cancers (AIDS). Starting treatment early prevents this.

Preventing it / after a possible exposure. If you may have been exposed, PEP (emergency medicine) can prevent HIV if started within 72 hours and taken for 28 days. To stay protected ongoing, PrEP is a medicine that prevents HIV before exposure. See the "I was exposed" and "I want to prevent this" pages.