"134 Figure 3. Direct person - to - person transmission of infection. (a) Contagion and sexual transmission. (b) Mother - to - child transmission. Figure 3 represents the three ways in which pathogens can be transmitted by direct person - to - person contact. They are: • Contagious infection, when touch, such as a handshake, transfers pathogens to a susceptible person; they may enter the new host through a cut or graze, or be transferred from hand to mouth. • Sexually transmitted infection (or STI) involving infected semen, vaginal secretions, saliva or blood transmitting pathogens to the infected individual’s partner during unprotected sex. This is the most common route for the worldwide spread of HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus), which causes AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Sexual transmission is more likely if the partner’s genitals, mouth or rectum are inflamed, for example, by another STI such as gonorrhea [gonn - or - ree - ah] o r syphilis [siff - ill - iss]. • Mother - to - child transmission, when pathogens pass from mother to baby during labor and delivery, or via breast milk. Section"