Prevention
About HIV
What is HIV?
HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is a virus that attacks cells meant to fight against infection, weakening the immune system and making the person more susceptible to other infections.
The virus is spread via certain bodily fluids of a person with HIV, most commonly occurring during unprotected sex and through sharing through sharing injection drug equipment (hiv.gov).
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Activities that can lead to HIV include:
- Anal, vaginal, or oral sex without a condom
- Having multiple sex partners
- Having anonymous sex partners
- Having sex while under the influence of drugs or alcohol which can lower inhibitions and result in greater sexual risk-taking (cdc.gov)
Things to do to lower your risk of contracting HIV:
- Use a new condom for every act of sex throughout the entire sex act
- Reduce the number of people you have sex with
- Limit or eliminate drug and alcohol use before and during sex
- Get tested for HIV regularly (about once a year)
- Talk to your healthcare provider and find out if either pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, is a good option for you to prevent HIV infection (cdc.gov)
If you are HIV positive, ways you can reduce the likelihood of transmitting HIV to a partner include:
- Ask your healthcare provider about antiretroviral therapy (ART). Taking HIV medicine as prescribed can make your viral load very low and undetectable. If your viral load stays undetectable, you have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to HIV-negative partners.
- Use a new condom for every sexual act throughout the entire act (cdc.gov)
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About Substance Use
In 2018, nearly 9 in 10 of 5.1 million young adults with a substance use disorder did not get treatment (samhsa.gov).
About 33% of full-time undergraduate students in the US drink heavily or binge drink. Over 1,500 students die from alcohol related consequences every year (Arria & Wagley, 2019).
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Memory and cognition are negatively affected when students use substances regularly, making them more likely to drop out of college. People who used drugs and/or drank alcohol excessively in college earn less money over the course of their lives than non-users (campusdrugprevention.gov).
Drug and alcohol use cause the lowering of inhibitions as well as the activation and disruption of the brain’s reward system. This causes students who use to reorganize their priorities in order to seek pleasure and often engage in more dangerous behaviors they might not otherwise engage in. Unprotected sex is more likely to occur when one or multiple partners is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and can lead to the transition of HIV.
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