HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) weakens the body's immune system (germ-fighting system). There is no cure, but most people can control the virus with medicines and live a healthy life.

Help Your Teen Stay Healthy

• Make sure your teen takes all medicines exactly as directed.
• Encourage your teen to exercise, get enough sleep, and eat well.
• If your teen's immune system is weak, ask your health care provider if your teen needs to:
  • avoid some types of foods (such as raw or undercooked eggs, seafood, poultry, or meat; or unpasteurized juice and dairy)
  • avoid certain pets (such as reptiles, which can spread infections)
• Ask the health care provider which vaccines (shots) your teen and other household members should get.
• Teach all family members to wash their hands well and often with soap and water. They should scrub for at least 20 seconds, rinse, and dry well. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Help your teen go for all follow-up medical visits and blood tests.

Prevent the Spread of HIV

• Your teen should: 
  • Take all HIV medicines as prescribed.
  • Never share any kind of needle.
  • Keep all cuts or sores covered.
  • Know that there is a small risk of infecting someone with HIV by sharing razors, toothbrushes, tweezers, or pierced jewelry.
• If your teen is going to have sex, they need to:
  • Tell all current sexual partners that they have HIV. The partners should be tested for HIV.
  • Tell any new partners that they have HIV before having sex.
  • Use a latex condom every time and for every kind of sex (vaginal, oral, or anal).
  • Talk to their health care provider about taking medicines to lower the risk of spreading HIV.

Your teen:

• has trouble taking any of the prescribed medicines
• gets new symptoms, such as:
  • fever, chills, or night sweats
  • weight loss
  • fatigue (feeling tired more often)
  • thrush (a white coating on the tongue and inside the cheeks)
  • a bad cough
• has not had chickenpox or the vaccine and is around someone with chickenpox

Your teen:

• has chest pain, shortness of breath, or trouble breathing
• is not seeing normally
• develops a severe headache, is confused, has a seizure, or has trouble moving a part of the body

How do people get HIV? Teens mainly get HIV from:

• sex (especially anal and vaginal)
• sharing needles for injecting drugs or tattooing

HIV also can pass from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. People also get HIV from getting stuck with an infected needle.

You can't get HIV from hugging or holding hands with someone who has HIV.

How does HIV cause illness? HIV destroys germ-fighting cells in the body called CD4 cells (or T cells). Over time, as HIV kills off more CD4 cells, people with HIV can get infections and other health problems. If the number of CD4 cells gets very low or people have serious infections, HIV becomes AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). It can take many years for someone with HIV to develop AIDS.

What are the signs of HIV? For the first few years after getting HIV, many teens have no signs. Some may have swollen glands or a rash. As the immune system weakens, people with HIV can have fever, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and serious infections.

How is HIV treated? Health care providers prescribe medicines to help keep the number of CD4 germ-fighting cells high and reduce the viral load (how much HIV is in the body). Teens with HIV need regular blood tests to find out how many CD4 cells they have and how much HIV is in the body.