Contagious Times

Individuals who are infected with HIV are most contagious (able to pass it onto other individuals) early on in the disease, either before they’ve been diagnosed with HIV or even have any symptoms whatsoever because in their blood, they have high viral counts that can be passed on to a sexual partner or someone sharing needles with them. Then after about 6 months or so, their virus goes down in amount and is almost impossible to culture until the end product (which would be Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome – people who aren’t taking medications) – in the terminal phases of this illness, they are also very contagious then.