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The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first recognised in 1981. It is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Since 1981 AIDS has grown to be the second leading cause of disease burden world-wide and the leading cause of death in Africa, where it accounts for over 20% of deaths.

HIV is present in blood, semen and other body fluids such as breast milk and saliva. Exposure to infected fluid leads to a risk of creating infection, which is dependent on the integrity of the exposed site, the type and volume of body fluid, and the viral population. HIV can enter either as free virus or within cells. The modes of spread are sexual (man to man, man to woman and oral), injectable roots (blood or blood product recipients, injection drug-users and those experiencing occupational injury) and vertical (mother to child). The transmission risk after exposure is over 90% for blood or blood products, 15-40% for the vertical route, 0.5-1.0% for injection drug use, 0.2-0.5% for sex organ mucous membrane spread and under 0.1% for other mucous membrane spread.

Now have a look to this short chart below about major spreading pathway of AIDS. I think it will be very helpful for you to remember before being engaged to any risky behaviour mentioned here:

Vertical transmission: Older gestational age; prolonged rupture of fetal membranes; any injury to the fetus; elective caesarean delivery; twin fetus

Breastfeeding: Longer duration feeding; Young motherhood; breast infection
Sexual transmission: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) especially sex organ ulcers; any form of anal sex with or without condoms; Rectal or vaginal injury; sex during menstruation; Male-male or male- female sex; Non-circumcised penis; increased number of sex partners; Linked commercial sex

Injection drug use transmission: Sharing equipment; Frequency of use; Intravenous use; Cocaine use

Occupational transmission: Deep injury and then Visible blood on device; use of previously used arterial or venous device.

World-wide, the major route of transmission (> 75%) is heterosexual. About 5-10% of new HIV infections are in children and more than 90% of these are infected during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. The rate of vertical transmission is higher in developing countries (25-44%) than in industrialised nations (13-25%). Of those infected vertically, 80% are infected close to the time of delivery and 20% in uterus. In developed nations, because of routine antibody screening, the likelihood of acquiring HIV from blood products is now less than 1:500000. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that because of the lack of adequate testing facilities in resource-poor countries, 5-10% of blood transfusions globally are with HIV-infected blood. There have been approximately 100 definite and 200 possible cases of HIV acquired occupationally in health-care workers. Infection related to health-care settings is substantially higher in developing nations, where it is estimated that 40% of syringes/needles used in injections are reused without sterilization.