Is HIV/AIDS contagious?
HIV is not spread through ordinary social contact; for example by shaking hands, travelling in the same bus, eating from the same utensils or by hugging. Mosquitoes and insects do not spread the virus nor is it water-borne or air-borne. HIV is transmitted mostly through semen and vaginal fluids during unprotected sex with an infected partner. Besides sexual intercourse, HIV can also be transmitted in the following ways: sharing of contaminated (with infected blood) needles; by the transfusion of infected blood or blood products; and from an infected woman to her baby before birth, during birth or after delivery.
