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Contact Sports
 Can children with HIV/AIDS play contact sports?
 HIV-infected children can be allowed to play contact sports. Exercise is always encouraged. The health care team should discuss with the child and parents what type of exercise would be best for the child based on the child’s physical and mental status.
The risk of transmitting HIV while engaged in contact sports is extremely remote. Boxing is the only sport with a higher than normal risk of transmission of HIV because it is common for cuts to occur and for the boxers to bleed on one another. In a study published in 1995, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the odds against contracting HIV during other types of sporting events are greater than one million to one.1 No cases of HIV transmission from participation in contact sports have been reported. Despite this fact, it is always important to teach the child, his teammates, and coaches to follow standard precautions when coming in contact with blood.
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse. HIV/AIDS and sports, April 1996.
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