Although the number of HIV diagnoses among people who inject drugs has declined by 48 percent from 2008 to 2014, according to the CDC, experts worry that the rising opioid epidemic is putting new people at risk for getting the virus. In addition, using drugs can lower people’s inhibitions, making them less likely to use a condom during sex or to take preventive HIV medications, further increasing their risk. Under the right environmental circumstances, the virus can survive in a used needle for up to 42 days, according to the U.S. The reason is that needles, syringes, and other equipment can contain blood, and therefore HIV, which can then be directly transmitted into the bloodstream. Sharing a needle: 1 in 159Ībout 6 percent of the HIV diagnoses in 2015 can be attributed to the use of injection drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Here, approximately, are the odds of getting HIV, broken down by type of exposure - and how to reduce your risk. But it’s also the case that the virus is more likely to be transmitted during certain acts than others.
It takes only one instance of exposure to become infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.