8 health tips for managing hiv living with hiv requires taking care of yourself and taking extra precautions to ensure your health such as preventing stds and other infections. The prognosis for infection with human immunodeficiency virus hiv is no longer a death sentence in the united states most people who test positive for hiv in developed countries live long and healthy lives this is thanks to highly effective antiretroviral medications that prevent the virus from destroying the immune system or even in most cases doing enough damage to allow for the . Human immunodeficiency virus hiv is a blood borne virus typically transmitted via sexual intercourse shared intravenous drug paraphernalia and mother to child transmission mtct which can occur during the birth process or during breastfeeding hiv disease is caused by infection with hiv 1 or hiv 2 which are retroviruses in the retrovir. Guidelines for managing advanced hiv disease and rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy 20 july 2017 guidelines on the public health response to pretreatment hiv drug resistance supplement to the 2016 consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing hiv infection second edition june 2016 20 july 2017 2016 consolidated guidelines on hiv prevention . Can hiv affect my diet and nutrition people with hiv sometimes face issues that can affect their nutrition changes in your bodys metabolism medicines that can upset your stomach opportunistic infections that can cause issues with eating and swallowing foods that can affect hiv treatment like raw meats and fish