HIV/AIDS in Women

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Basics

• Summary
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• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors

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• Specifics

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Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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Summary

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It harms your immune system by destroying the white blood cells that fight infection. AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is the final stage of infection with HIV. Not everyone with HIV develops AIDS.

HIV often spreads through unprotected sex with an infected person. Women can get it more easily during vaginal sex than men can. HIV may also spread by sharing drug needles or through contact with the blood of an infected person.

About one in four people in the United States who have HIV are women. Women who have HIV/AIDS have some different problems from men, such as

• Complications such as repeated vaginal yeast infections, severe pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and a higher risk of cervical cancer
• Different, sometimes more severe, side effects from the drugs that treat HIV/AIDS
• Drug interactions between some HIV/AIDS medicines and hormonal birth control
• The risk of giving HIV to their baby while pregnant or during childbirth
• Women often don't get diagnosed until they are in the later in the stages of HIV infection. This means that they may be more at risk of infections.

There is no cure, but there are many medicines to fight both HIV infection and the infections and cancers that come with it. People who get early treatment can live with the disease for a long time.

Start Here

• Women and HIV (Food and Drug Administration) Also in Spanish
• Women and HIV/AIDS (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Get Tested for HIV (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health)
• Testing for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Top Questions About HIV Prevention and Women (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health)

Specifics

• HIV/AIDS and Pregnancy: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

• HIV among Women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Intersection of Intimate Partner Violence and HIV in Women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF
• Women and HIV/AIDS in the United States (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: HIV/AIDS in Women (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Peripheral neuropathy in HIV-infected and uninfected patients in Rakai, Uganda.
• Article: Abnormal Vaginal Pap Test After Hysterectomy in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected...
• Article: Human Immunodeficiency Virus Persistence and T-Cell Activation in Blood, Rectal,...
• HIV/AIDS in Women -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• AIDS.gov
• AIDSinfo (Department of Health and Human Services) Also in Spanish
• NIAID Division of AIDS (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)