Anyone can get HIV if they are sexually active, regardless of whether you're gay or straight or where you come from — but HIV rates are higher among gay and bisexual men and African communities in the UK. Everyone should ensure they take steps to protect themselves and others from HIV infection by using a condom during sex.

Putting yourself at risk of HIV relates to both what you're doing and who you're doing it with. If you are having sex without a condom, you could be putting yourself at risk of HIV — but this risk increases if your partner is sleeping with more than one person, has HIV but doesn't know it, or has any other STIs. Take our 'Have you put yourself at risk?' quiz.

If you have shared a needle or injecting drug equipment when injecting drugs, you have put yourself at risk of HIV (and other serious viruses) and should definitely have an HIV test (as well as getting tested for other infections such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C).

If you think you have put yourself at risk of HIV infection, you should go and get a free and confidential test at your local sexual health clinic. If you know you have put yourself at risk and it is within 72 hours of possible exposure to HIV, you can ask for Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) treatment from a sexual health clinic or A&E. PEP is not guaranteed to prevent HIV infection but the sooner it is taken the more effective it can be.

During sex, it is not an automatic consequence that HIV will transmitted. Compared with some other infectious diseases, risk of HIV infection from a single act of sex is usually low. But of course repeated acts of sex increase probability of transmission which is why it is important to have safer sex. Condoms are highly effective at preventing HIV from being passed on so condoms should always be used during sex to avoid HIV and other STIs.

There are other factors which can increase and reduce the risk of having sex with someone with HIV, but a condom is the safest and easiest way to prevent transmission and stay safe.

There are varying degrees of risk in relation to HIV transmission, depending on the sexual activity and how much HIV is in the body of the person with HIV (the 'viral load').  

If a person is recently infected with HIV, or has HIV and doesn't know it,  the level of HIV in their body will be high and the chances of passing HIV on to another person are therefore higher.  

If a person is diagnosed with HIV and is on treatment, the levek of HIV in their body will be greatly reduced and in most cases will reach what is clinically referred to as an 'undetectable viral load'.  This means the chances of passing on HIV to another person are very unlikely.  However, HIV treatment should not necessarily be viewed as a replacement for condoms and there are a range of factors to consider. A person with HIV can discuss these with their doctor for further information.  

HIV can be transmitted through both anal and vaginal sex, but in some circumstances there is greater risk involved in anal sex. This is because anal sex carries a greater risk of trauma (such as tearing of the skin and bleeding) which makes it easier for the HIV infection to get through.

If you have an STI this may make you more vulnerable to HIV transmission since STIs can cause ulceration and other harms to bodily tissue - which make it easier for HIV to be passed on.  

If someone with HIV also has an STI this can increase the amount of virus in their body. The more virus there is, the greater the risk of transmission to another person, so it is a good idea for sexually active people to get regular sexual health check-ups for both HIV and other STIs. 

There is research showing male circumcision can reduce risk of HIV transmission to the circumcised male during heterosexual sex. In countries with high rates of HIV and heterosexual epidemics, such as Sub-Saharan African countries, male circumcision is recommended at a population level as an HIV prevention tool, as part of wider prevention strategies (education, promotion of safer sex practices, correct and consistent condom use). However, in the UK, male circumcision is not recommended to individuals as a method of HIV prevention as there is better access to condoms, testing and treatment, and sexual health information. There is also no evidence to suggest male circumcision prevents HIV transmission during anal sex. The best way to prevent HIV transmission during any penetrative sex is to use a condom.

The most common symptoms of early HIV infection, usually occurring around ten days after infection, are fever, rash and severe sore throat all occurring together. This combination of symptoms is unusual in healthy people and indicates the need for an HIV test.  70-90% of people experience symptoms of early HIV infection but some do not experience any. After two-three weeks these symptoms disappear, and someone with HIV may then live for many years without any further symptoms or indicators that they are HIV positive.

If you experience the symptoms of early HIV infection — fever, rash and severe sore throat occurring at the same time — then you should get an HIV test as soon as possible. It could be just a bad case of flu, but there is also a risk it could it be the early signs of HIV infection so it always best to know for sure by getting tested.

There are four stages of HIV infection. The first stage is the when the infection enters the body and takes hold, sometimes referred to as 'seroconversion', and possible symptoms of this include a severe flu-like illness along with a rash. This may disappear after a few weeks and even if you see a doctor they may fail to recognise the signs of HIV infection, so an HIV test is always recommended if you've put yourself at risk (had sex without a condom or shared injecting drug equipment).

The second stage of HIV infection is the 'asymptomatic' stage, and as the name suggests there are generally no symptoms in this stage, often for as long as ten years.

The third stage of HIV infection is the symptomatic stage, where the body's immune system has become so damaged that it becomes susceptible to a range of 'opportunistic' infections that would normally be prevented by the body's natural defences ('opportunistic' means the infections take advantage of the weakened immune system in a way they wouldn't normally be able to in an otherwise healthy person). These infections include bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and blood poisoning, fungal diseases such as oral thrush, and viral diseases.

The final stage of HIV infection is when the immune system has been so weakened that it can no longer fight off a range of increasingly severe illnesses, eventually leading to an AIDS diagnosis.

After the first stage of HIV infection, the following stages can be halted and slowed down by highly effective HIV medication which will prevent the HIV infection from damaging the immune system so severely and can stop stages three and four from taking place.

No - HIV is not passed on through fingering, hand-jobs, or any form of mutual masturbation.

No - HIV can not be passed on through saliva, sweat or urine, because these bodily fluids do not contain enough of the virus to infect another person.  The only bodily fluids which can transmit HIV are semen, vaginal fluids, blood, breast milk and rectal secretions.

The most common place to go to for an HIV test is a local sexual health clinic but you can also get tested in a range of other locations, such as at your GP or private doctor's surgery, in hospital or in a local community setting.  HIV tests are also now available by post and over the counter at some pharmacies but will you have to pay for these.

Generally no – all NHS services are free of charge and this includes HIV tests in a sexual health clinic or GP surgery.    

Anywhere from 20 minutes to two weeks, depending on the type of test you have.

A blood sample – either through a needle or finger-prick – is the most common way to test for HIV but you can also now test for HIV through saliva.

There are traces of HIV in saliva which can be picked up in an HIV test, but there is not enough of the virus present to infect another person.

HIV tests are extremely accurate and 'false positives' are very rare (although slightly more common in rapid tests — where results are almost immediate). But all HIV positive test samples are sent for a second, lab-based test for confirmation — so a person would never incorrectly be diagnosed with HIV.

HIV will also not be detected during the 'window period', the small window of time (around four weeks) straight after infection where signs of HIV cannot be picked up during screening.

If you think you have put yourself at risk, do not hang around waiting for the window period to pass — speak to your local sexual health clinic as soon as possible to discuss the best course of action.

Finding out early if you have HIV has two vital benefits. Firstly, you will be able to start treatment as soon as you need it, which makes it more effective in helping you live a long, healthy and active life. Secondly, if you know you have HIV you can take the right steps to prevent passing it on to others by practicing safer sex.

Although HIV is now a long-term, manageable condition and not a death sentence, it is still a serious issue in the UK. More people than ever before are living with HIV in the UK and 6,000-7,000 people are diagnosed every year.

Today there are more people than ever before living with HIV in the UK, but fewer people report knowing someone with HIV. As a result of improved treatment, people with HIV generally look healthy and a quarter of people with HIV are unaware they have it. Many HIV positive people do not find it easy to tell other people about their condition, so you may not realise if someone you know is HIV positive.

Unfortunately in today's society there is still a lot of stigma around HIV and many people hold myths and misconceptions about HIV and how it is transmitted. Some people also hold prejudicial views about people living with HIV. This means many HIV positive people find it difficult to tell others about their HIV because they have fears about how people will react and think it will be easier if they kept it to themselves.

It is true there are extremely effective treatments for HIV which enable people to live a long life, but there is still no cure and HIV is a condition you have to live with every day for the rest of your life. Whilst HIV needn't be feared the way it was decades ago, it remains a serious, long-term condition with life-limiting consequences. Treatment must be taken everyday and can cause side-effects and sadly there is still a lot of stigma and discrimination around the condition. Everybody should take all the steps possible to avoid HIV transmission, such as using a condom during sex.

HIV treatment has become extremely effective in the last 15 years and an HIV positive person on treatment can now lead a full and active life and live a near normal lifespan.

There may be some side effects from treatment, but these are less severe than in the past and are increasingly well managed. Many people living with HIV also experience problems which can't be helped by their HIV treatment (such as emotional and pychological difficulties) but the benefits of being on treatment are huge and ultimately HIV treatment is the difference between staying well and becoming extremely ill and possibly dying early. This is why it's always best to know your HIV status and get tested if you've put yourself at risk.

HIV treatment also has preventive benefits. HIV treatment works by reducing the level of HIV in the body (clinically referred to as an 'undetectable viral load') and when this happens, the chances of passing HIV on to a partner are significantly reduced. This does not mean that HIV treatment is a replacement for condoms, but it does give HIV positive people more options for safer sex and reduces overall risk of onward tranmission.

The reduction of infectiousness as a result of HIV treatment is also how mother-to-child HIV tranmission is prevented - in the UK today, most women with HIV will give birth to HIV negative babies because of interventions of HIV treatment.

New rules from the Government, which came into effect from from October 2012, mean that HIV treatment is provided for free on the NHS to everyone who needs it.  Before this important rule change, some migrants faced extensive bills for the HIV treatment they accessed.  

Effective HIV treatment means most people diagnosed nowadays with HIV are able to work just like everyone else. In a recent NAT survey among people living with HIV in employment, 70% of respondents had taken no HIV-related sick days in the last 12 months.

Because HIV affects the immune system, people living with HIV can be susceptible to certain illnesses - particularly if they haven't yet been diagnosed. These include bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), pneumonia and blood poisoning, fungal diseases such as oral thrush, and viral diseases.

There are also certain illnesses which HIV positive people are prone to being co-infected with, and these include hepatitis B and C. There is a vaccination against hepatitis B which all HIV positive people should receive but there is no vaccination against hepatitis C. Having both conditions at the same time can have severe health implications, with liver disease caused by hepatitis B and/or C is a leading cause of serious illness and death in people with HIV.

Comprehensive sex and relationships education (SRE), which includes information about HIV, is not compulsory in all schools, so many young people are not being given the information they need to protect themselves from HIV infection and other STIs.

It is true that in the UK a person can go to prison for recklessly or intentionally passing on HIV to another person. There has never been a case of anyone being convicted for intentionally passing on HIV but there have been several convictions for reckless HIV transmission, which involves a person knowing they were HIV positive but not taking the necessary steps to protect their sexual partner. Find out more about criminal prosecutions for HIV transmission here.