Do you think you could get AIDS by... sharing a bathroom?
eating food that was cooked by someone that has AIDS? giving blood at a blood drive?
coughing or sneezing?
shaking hands?
being bitten by a mosquito or a tick?
touching someone who is sweating that has AIDS?
swimming in a pool?
You can't get AIDS by doing any of these things, although many people think you can. You can't get AIDS by being near or touching someone who has AIDS. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is spread through the blood. HIV does not travel as tears, air, or sweat. If you find a used needle on the ground, don't touch it. Especially if you have an open cut. The blood from the needle might have HIV in or on it. You can kiss a person infected with HIV on the cheek, but you shouldn't do any big, deep kissing since small amounts of HIV have been found in saliva.
You can get AIDS by:
blood transfusions ( not very common anymore).
being born with it.
having unprotected sex with someone who has AIDS.
finding a used needle on the ground, picking it up, and getting the infected blood into an open wound. getting blood from someone else's cut who has AIDS, into yours.
As you can see, AIDS is hard to get. One boy, whose story I read, got very lucky! He almost got cured from his AIDS! The doctors gave him several drugs to slow down the spread of the HIV virus, but sadly they didn't work.Over the years the amount of the HIV virus in his body increased, and the number of fighting cells dropped! After that scientists invented a new group of drugs, called protease ( PROH-tee-ayss) inhibitors. The drugs help prevent HIV from spreading in the body. The boy took the drugs, and they are working very well. The number of HIV viruses in his body has dropped to almost zero!!!!!!!
Right now there isn't a cure for HIV and AIDS, but a lot of scientists and doctors are working very hard to find one!