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Can HIV spread through hugging or shaking hands?
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AIDS
Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 virions (green) budding from a cultured lymphocyte. Multiple round bumps on the cell surface represent sites of virion assembly and budding.
No, HIV cannot be spread through casual contact such as hugging or shaking hands.123
The virus is fragile and cannot survive for long outside the human body. HIV is transmitted only through the direct transfer of specific bodily fluidsāincluding blood, semen, vaginal or rectal fluids, and breast milkāfrom an infected person to an uninfected person. Common routes of transmission involve unprotected sexual contact, the sharing of contaminated needles or syringes, or transmission from a parent to a child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.123