Question: Can one get infected with HIV from hugging a person with HIV/AIDS, sharing eating utensils, sharing bath towels, using public toilets, a dog bite, a mosquito bite or working with a person with HIV/AIDS?

Answer: No.

Any social contact with an HIV infected person holds no risk of infection with HIV/AIDS for uninfected persons. Although HIV has been identified in body fluids eg: saliva and urine, no scientific evidence exists to show that these fluids cause transmission of HIV.

There is no known risk of transmission from sweat, tears, respiratory droplets, swimming pool water, communal bath water, food or drinking water.

Data has been collected from over 16 000 people with HIV/AIDS over 4 years with family members and health care workers who cared for them. To date, none have been infected with HIV from this daily social contact. It usually requires unprotected, penetrative sexual contact or broken skin for this to happen. Intact skin remains the best defense against the virus.

Casual contact:
HIV is not spread by casual contact
HIV cannot live in the air, water or food
HIV is weak - it only lives in body fluids
HIV only spreads if the body fluid of a person with HIV gets into the blood stream of another person
This is why shaking hands with people with HIV does not spread the virus. If this was not true many more people would have HIV.

Doctors, nurses, teachers, classmates, co-workers, friends and family all touch people with HIV and do not get the virus unless they have unprotected sex or share needles with them.

People with HIV can cook food for others without any risk of passing the infection. The virus is not spread by doorknobs, typewriters, telephones or anything else that can be touched by someone with HIV or eating food prepared by someone with HIV.

No one has ever been infected by sharing cigarettes, being sneezed on or spat on by someone with HIV. Measles and chicken pox is spread through the air but HIV is not air or vector borne (carried by insects such as mosquitoes or fleas). Colds or flu can be serious for someone with HIV/AIDS. Never allow anyone with chicken pox or measles to enter the room where one living with HIV/AIDS is being nursed when ill .

HIV and Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Alcohol or drug abuse influences one's decision making ability and makes it more likely that a person will not think clearly and will be more likely to do things that put them at risk of getting HIV, such as sharing needles or practicing unprotected sex.