HIV is a virus passed through certain bodily fluids that attacks the immune system if it is not treated. Sex is one route. Shared needles are another. Modern antiretroviral treatment can bring the virus to undetectable levels, and undetectable in that sense means untransmittable through sex. That science should be common knowledge and still is not.

Condoms, PrEP for people who are negative and at risk, and treatment for people who are positive are the practical toolkit. Testing belongs in ordinary adult life, not only in scare posters. Early infection can look like a flu and then vanish into a quiet years-long stretch.

Stigma still does harm that the virus itself no longer has to do in places with access to care. Asking someone’s status is reasonable. Treating them as untouchable if they are positive and treated is leftover panic.

If you think you had an exposure, clinics know what to do in the first hours and days. Do not wait for a forum consensus.