•	HIV is a disease with many stages. People with HIV may have no symptoms, a few symptoms or many serious symptoms.
•	People can have HIV for many years without feeling or looking sick. They may not even know they have HIV. However, they can still pass on the virus to others.
•	Over time, HIV damages the body's immune system. The immune system protects the body from disease.
•	When the immune system gets very weak, other diseases and infections can enter the body. This stage of HIV is AIDS.

How do people get HIV?
HIV lives in the semen, vaginal fluids, blood and breast milk of a person with HIV. It can be passed from one person to another through these infected fluids.

•	HIV can be passed during vaginal, oral and/or anal sex.
•	HIV can be passed while sharing needles and equipment to inject drugs.
•	HIV can be passed by needles used for tattooing, piercing, or to inject vitamins or steroids.
•	Health workers caring for people with HIV can get HIV from needle-stick injuries.
•	HIV can be passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth and/or breastfeeding.

The HIV test
The HIV test looks for the antibodies your body produces against the virus. If you have these antibodies, your test results will be positive. This means you have HIV. If you do not have the antibodies, your test will be negative. This means one of two things:

•	You don't have HIV.
•	You have HIV, but your body hasn't made antibodies to it yet. It usually takes up to three months after infection for the body to make antibodies to HIV. In rare cases, it can take up to six months.

Rarely, a test result is neither negative nor positive. When this happens, the test must be done again.