If you go to the toilet with a tissue that someone else has touched, will you get HIV again?

AIDS is transmitted worldwide through three routes: sexual contact, blood, and mother-to-child, and sexual contact is the most important way of transmission of AIDS. AIDS can be transmitted through sexual intercourse between men and between men and women. The more people who have sexual contact, the greater the risk of contracting HIV.

Syringe sharing of drugs is an important risk for blood-borne transmission of AIDS. HIV can be acquired by transfusing or injecting HIV-contaminated blood or blood products. HIV can be transmitted through the use of HIV-contaminated and unsterilized syringes, acupuncture needles or razors, which can invade the body.

About 1 in 3 women living with HIV will transmit HIV to their infants and young children through pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. You will not be infected with HIV in your daily life and work, and you will not be infected with HIV in general contact with people living with HIV/AIDS at work and in your daily life, such as shaking hands, eating together, sharing tools and office utensils, etc. HIV is not transmitted through public facilities such as toilet seats, telephones, dining utensils, bedding, swimming pools or public baths.

Coughing, sneezing, and mosquito bites do not transmit HIV.

How does HIV spread from one person to another?

HIV infection can occur when blood, semen (including a small amount of fluid excreted before ejaculation), vaginal fluid, or breast milk from a person infected with HIV enters the body of a healthy person.

HIV can be transmitted through veins (such as injecting drugs) and can also enter the body through the anus (or rectum), vagina, penis, mouth, and other mucous membranes (such as the mucous membranes of the eyes or nose), or wounds and ulcers. Whole, healthy skin is very effective at insulating viruses and bacteria such as HIV.

The common routes of HIV transmission are:

Sexual intercourse (including rectal, vaginal, or oral intercourse) with someone living with HIV

Sharing needles or syringes with people living with HIV.

Transmission from an HIV-infected mother to a baby can occur before or during childbirth, or through breastfeeding.

HIV can also be transmitted through blood transfusions or transfusions of clotting factors. But since 1985, all blood supplies in the U.S. have been tested for HIV. Therefore, the risk of HIV transmission through blood products is extremely low. America's blood supply is arguably the safest in the world.

Health workers have also been infected with HIV by being pricked with contaminated needles. Rarely, some people become infected by contaminated blood splashing into skin wounds or mucous membranes of the eyes and nose. There was one case of HIV-infected health workers transmitting the virus to patients, but this is the only one:

A dentist transmitted the virus to six patients.