Preventing HIV/AIDS

AIDS - What is it?
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
It is caused by a virus called HIV.
People can be infected for years without knowing it. They look and feel perfectly healthy, but they can infect you.

What does it do?
Breaks down the body's ability to fight disease
There is no cure for AIDS.
Early treatments may delay the effects of the disease.

How is the AIDS virus (HIV) spread?
Unprotected sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal or oral)
Sharing IV needles and syringes
Infected mother to fetus and breast feeding
Receiving infected blood, organs, or tissue

How is it not spread?
By shaking hands, hugging, kissing, eating, or drinking from the same container, or by food handlers
By mosquitoes or other insects
By donating blood, organs, or tissue

What is dangerous behavior?
Sharing dirty needles and syringes (works) to inject drugs
Exchange of blood, semen, or vaginal secretions during oral, vaginal, or anal sex

What can you do to reduce your risk?
Avoid sexual intercourse
Do not share needles or syringes.
Practice mutual monogamy with an uninfected partner.
Use a latex condom with vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
Practice safer sex that does not exchange blood, semen, or vaginal secretions.
Do not let drugs/alcohol impair safer sex judgment.

What about condoms or latex barriers?
When used correctly, latex condoms sharply reduce the risk of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (VD), and AIDS. To help prevent disease, use them for vaginal, anal, or oral sex.

Use only latex condoms.
Put the condom on before you begin intercourse; pre-ejaculate fluid can transmit disease.
Hold the tip of the condom to squeeze out the air. This leaves room for the semen when ejaculated.
Put the condom on the end of the penis. Keep holding the tip of the condom. Unroll the condom onto the erect (hard) penis all the way down to the hair.
You can use a lubricant like K-Y, ForPlay, or contraceptive gel with a condom. Lubricants like petroleum jelly, grease, or mineral oil should not be used.
Do not store condoms near heat.
Use a latex barrier or condom as protection during oral sex.
After ejaculation, the rim of the condom should be held and the penis withdrawn while it is still erect.

Is there a test to see if you're infected with the AIDS virus?
Yes, there is a blood test to show if your body has been infected with the AIDS virus.

Teen Clinic offers HIV counseling and testing. Testing can be provided either anonymously (client's name is not used at all), or confidentially (client's name is used, but kept confidential). There is no fee for the test, and it will be done only at your request.

The HIV test is offered at the following Teen Clinic

*Grass Valley Area*
Teen Clinic	(530) 274-5900

Teen Clinic of Grass Valley does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, income, or marital status.

Want to know more?

Because AIDS/HIV are such a complex problem, there are many resources on the 'net. Rather than make a list of all these various sources, we have chosen the best and most comprehensive to tell you about. Also, instead of giving clickable links to these sites here, we have chosen to list their full web address so that you can make note of it for later exploration. For the convenience of our viewers, we do provide a page at the end of our web with actual links to all sites we describe.

Grass Valley Resource Center ~ in our Bank Street building we have a large collection of books and videos on this topic and it is open to anyone seeking the information.

"Cells Alive" ~ a wonderful little Internet web site that has won many awards for it's excellent 3-D animations through the body and the immune system. They have little "QuickTime" videos you can view online if you have Netscape Navigator 2.0 (also best for viewing our web site) that explain things like "Chemotaxis.... how white cells find the bad guys" and many others. Their web address (URL), in case you want to visit them later, is: http://www.comet.chv.va.us/quill/

AIDS Bytes ~ an excellent site providing an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand interactive AIDS dictionary of common terms, their web address is: http://www.clients.anomtec.com/AIDSBytes/

CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse ~ this is probably the most comprehensive AIDS information site on the Internet, and understandably so, since it comes from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. Their address is: http://www.cdcnac.org/

JAMA HIV/AIDS Information Center ~ an interactive collection of useful and high-quality resources for physicians, other health professionals, and anyone wanting an in-depth look at this deadly disease. This site is from the Journal of the American Medical Association and their address is: http://www.ama-assn.org/special/hiv/hivhome.htm