Abstract Bloodborne infections are infectious ailments that can be transmitted from one person to another through contact with infected blood or body fluids. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a common example of a blood-borne disorder that is a public health concern globally. HIV is a retrovirus that attacks white blood cells, particularly CD4 cells, thereby lowering the body’s capacity to fight infections. The disease is spread through unprotected sexual encounters with infected people, mother-to-child transmission, sharing of needles among drug users, transfusion with contaminated blood, or transplants with infected organs. The major symptoms of HIV infection include fever, headaches, muscle pain, and swollen lymph nodes. These symptoms are characteristic of a process known as seroconversion when the body reacts to the virus. The diagnosis of HIV infections involves the detection of antibodies in the blood. There is no cure for this bloodborne infection. However, patient compliance with antiretroviral therapy is helpful and can help infected people to live healthy, productive lives. Introduction A bloodborne infection can be defined as a contagious disorder that is disseminated through making contact with contaminated blood. Body fluids may also be responsible for the spread of bloodborne infections. Common examples of bloodborne infections include hepatitis B, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C, and viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Marburg, Ebola, and yellow fever, and Lassa (Fernando, 2018). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the HIV virus as an example of bloodborne infection. The mode of spread, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of the disease are also explained. The HIV Virus HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system and changes it, thereby leading to increased susceptibility to other infections. The disease may proceed to an advanced state known as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if the infected person does not undergo treatment. It takes approximately 10 to 15 years for an untreated, infected person to develop AIDS (Maartens, Celum, & Lewin, 2014). HIV targets specific cells of the immune system known as CD4 cells, which are part of T-helper cells. The purpose of T cells is to identify aberrant cells and infecting microorganisms. Therefore, HIV infection hampers the functioning of these cells and predisposes the affected person to opportunistic infections. HIV is a ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus belonging to a family known as retroviruses. The genes of retroviruses are encoded in RNA instead of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). When retroviruses attack the host cell, they inject a copy of their genome into the new cell and alter its genome (Mailler et al., 2016). Reverse transcriptase, which is an enzyme that converts RNA to DNA, is then used to change the viral RNA to DNA. The new viral DNA is then integrated into the host DNA. As a result, the virus can multiply within the cell. Therefore, the life cycle of the HIV virus is grouped into seven key phases: binding, fusion, reverse transcription, integration, replication, assembly, and budding as shown in Figure 1 (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). Figure 1: The life cycle of the HIV Virus (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). In the