HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. This virus may be passed from an infected person to another when infected blood, semen, breast milk, or vaginal secretions come in contact with an uninfected person’s broken skin or mucous membranes*.  An infected pregnant woman can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Some of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.

* A mucous membrane is wet, thin tissue found in certain openings to the human body. These can include the mouth, eyes, nose, vagina, rectum, and opening of the penis.

AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.

Acquired – means that the disease is not hereditary but develops after birth from contact with a disease causing agent (in this case, HIV).

Immunodeficiency – means that the disease is characterized by a weakening of the immune system.

Syndrome – refers to a group of symptoms that collectively indicate or characterize a disease. In the case of AIDS this can include the development of certain infections and/or cancers (Also known as Opportunistic Infections), as well as a decrease in the number of white blood cells in a person’s immune system.

These body fluids have been shown to contain high concentrations of HIV:

The following are additional body fluids that may transmit the virus that health care workers may come into contact with:

Since 1985, all donated blood in the United States has been tested for HIV. Therefore, the risk of infection through transfusion of blood or blood products is extremely low. The U.S. blood supply is considered to be among the safest in the world.

Abstaining from all types of sexual contact is the only way to eliminate the risk of HIV infection.

Make sure not to come in contact with anyone’s body fluids without a latex barrier.

Do not share any type of needle or injecting equipment.

Latex barriers, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing transmission of HIV.

The earliest known case of HIV-1 in a human was from a blood sample collected in 1959 from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. (How he became infected is not known.) Genetic analysis of this blood sample suggested that HIV-1 may have stemmed from a single virus in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

We know that the virus has existed in the United States since at least the mid- to late 1970s. From 1979-1981 rare types of pneumonia, cancer, and other illnesses were being reported by doctors in Los Angeles and New York among a number of male patients who had sex with other men. These were conditions not usually found in people with healthy immune systems.

For many years scientists theorized as to the origins of HIV and how it appeared in the human population, most believing that HIV originated in other primates. Then in 1999, an international team of researchers reported that they had discovered the origins of HIV-1, the predominant strain of HIV in the developed world. A subspecies of chimpanzees native to west equatorial Africa had been identified as the original source of the virus. The researchers believe that HIV-1 was introduced into the human population when hunters became exposed to infected blood.

For more information on this discovery, visit the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases press release at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/newsroom/releases/hivorigin.htm.

At the end of 2003, an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 persons in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS, with 24-27% undiagnosed and unaware of their HIV infection.1

For more information see "A Glance at the HIV/AIDS Epidemic".

1Glynn M, Rhodes P. Estimated HIV prevalence in the United States at the end of 2003. National HIV Prevention Conference; June 2005; Atlanta. Abstract 595.

The Center for Disease Control reported 28,143 males and 10,410 females; for a total of 38,553 new cases of HIV/AIDS infection in the United States for the year 2004.

Of these cases, 50% were African American; 30% White; 18% Hispanic; and the remaining 2% being Asian/Pacific Islander and Alaskan Native/American Indian.

Project VIDA provides free Rapid HIV testing every Monday and Thursday from 3:00PM – 5:30PM.  For more information please contact our offices at (773) 522 – 4570.

The Chicago Department of Public Health also provides free HIV and STD testing.  For more information or to locate a clinic near you, please visit: http://www..cityofchicago.org

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