Background

HIV stands for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This is the virus that leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV cannot survive outside of the body. In order to be infected, the virus must enter your bloodstream.

HIV is transmitted through:

• unprotected sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal, oral)
• shared needles or equipment for injecting drugs
• unsterilized needles for tattooing, skin piercing or acupuncture
• pregnancy, delivery and breast feeding (from an HIV-infected mother to her infant)
• occupational exposure in health care settings

Over a period of years, HIV weakens the body's immune system to the point where it can no longer fight infection. On average, it takes 10 years to progress from an initial HIV infection to AIDS. People with HIV can live for a number of years with no external sign or symptom of the disease, and may unknowingly infect others. The only way to know if you have the virus is to have an HIV blood test.

When the body can no longer fight infection, the disease is known as AIDS. The infections associated with AIDS are called "opportunistic" because they take advantage of the body's weakened immune system. It is the opportunistic infection, and not AIDS, that causes death.

In the 1980s, the HIV epidemic primarily affected men who have sex with men (MSM) and those who received blood and blood products. MSM continue to make up the greatest number of new HIV infections, but the number infected in all risk groups remains high. Also, the Aboriginal community continues to be over-represented in Canada's HIV epidemic.

At the end of 2002, Health Canada estimated there were approximately 56,000 people in Canada living with HIV (including those living with AIDS), and that approximately 17,000 or 30% were not aware that they were infected.

Source: Health Canada