HIV is a virus that you can get through sex or from a needle with blood from someone who has HIV. It cannot be cured, but there are very good medicines available to treat HIV. 

HIV is a virus. The abbreviation stands for 'human immunodeficiency virus', because it weakens your immune system. Without treatment, HIV leads to the illness AIDS.

You can get HIV through sex without a condom, or from a needle with blood from someone who has untreated HIV. It can also be passed from mother to child during birth. 

Your chance of having HIV depends on three factors: 

1. How likely is it that your sexual partner has HIV?

2. If your sexual partner has HIV: are they receiving treatment? 

3. What kind of sex did you have? 

We explain each factor below: 

1. How likely is it that your sexual partner has HIV?

Around 25,000 people in the Netherlands are living with HIV. Eight to nine out of ten people in whom we find HIV in the Netherlands are men who have sex with men. Your chance of HIV is therefore higher if your sexual partner is in this group.

2. If your sexual partner has HIV: are they receiving treatment? 

Most people living with HIV already know this and are receiving the right treatment for it. The chance of getting HIV after sex with someone who is receiving HIV treatment correctly is zero (undetectable = untransmittable). 

Based on the latest figures from Stichting HIV Monitoring, across the whole population of the Netherlands there are around 1,500 people living with an untreated HIV infection. Abroad, this percentage can be higher. 

3. What kind of sex did you have?

The chance of getting HIV from a single instance of sex with someone with untreated HIV depends on the type of sex, but is generally low. 

Based on various studies, the chance for each type of sex is estimated as follows: 

From vagina to penis: one HIV transmission per 2,500 times you have sex.
From penis to vagina: one HIV transmission per 1,250 times you have sex.
From anus to penis: one HIV transmission per 900 times you have sex. 
From penis to anus: one HIV transmission per 72 times you have sex.
From penis to throat and vice versa (oral sex): one HIV transmission per 10,000 times you have sex. 

At ZIZ we find HIV in around one in a thousand people who test for it. The chance is therefore relatively low. On the other hand, missing an HIV diagnosis can have serious consequences. For this reason, we always advise testing for HIV, and making it easy to do so. 

No, HIV cannot currently be cured. There is, however, very effective treatment for HIV. 

Early (acute) HIV
Between one and six out of ten people who have contracted HIV have no symptoms in the early stage. In people who do have symptoms of acute HIV, the symptoms often start two to four weeks after transmission, but this can also take longer, up to several months. 

The symptoms people experience with an acute HIV infection are mainly fever, swollen lymph nodes, a sore throat, muscle pain/tiredness, diarrhoea, weight loss and headache. These symptoms are not specific to HIV and can have other causes too. An episode of acute HIV also clears up on its own. 

Late (chronic) HIV
Most people have no symptoms of HIV until the immune system is severely weakened. From that point on, people become increasingly vulnerable to other infections, such as fungal or yeast infections in the mouth or vagina, skin infections and respiratory infections. How this presents can vary greatly from person to person. 
 

You test for HIV with a blood test. At ZIZ we use a fourth-generation HIV test, which looks for both HIV antibodies and HIV antigens. 

After four weeks, our test detects 95–99% of all HIV infections. 

To rule out HIV with 100% certainty, we advise testing after three months (or repeating the test at that point, depending on the risk).

We do not treat HIV at ZIZ. If we find HIV, we refer you free of charge to an HIV treatment centre. Very effective treatment for HIV is available. 

The most important thing with an HIV diagnosis is to tell sexual partners from the past three days (72 hours). They can then still receive treatment (PEP) to prevent them getting HIV too. 

The ZIZ eHealth consultation has the guideline on sexual accidents built in. If you may have been at risk of HIV in the past 3 days, you can go through the consultation and see whether you are eligible for a course of PEP.