AIDS and HIV – Facts that could save your life
By: Flora Earl | Posted: 07th November 2006
A guide to the basic facts surrounding HIV and AIDS and the infection routes of which every adult and child needs to be aware
The terms, AIDS and HIV, have been common currency for over twenty years and in many parts of the world it can appear that the threatened crisis never happened. You may not be aware that more than one million adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS in the United States alone. That figure is alarming but it pales in comparison with sub-Saharan Africa, where the number affected is more than 25 million adults and children.
Here are some facts on AIDS and HIV that everyone needs to understand. AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome:
• Acquired means you can get infected with it
• Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body's fight against disease.
• Syndrome means the symptoms that make up a disease.
AIDS is caused by a virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). If you get infected with HIV, your body tries to fight the infection by producing "antibodies". When you have a blood test for HIV, it looks for the presence and concentration of these antibodies. As the HIV disease continues, the immune system becomes weaker and, normally harmless viruses, bacteria and fungal infections can cause more sickness than if you had been healthy. You can get infected with the virus in a number of ways:
• Having sex with an infected person
• Sharing a needle with an infected person
• Being born from an infected mother
• Drinking human milk from an infected woman
• Blood transfusion with infected blood
The symptoms of HIV start with fever and headache, similar to influenza. The virus can meanwhile multiply in the body, damaging your immune system and making the recovery longer and longer. HIV later becomes AIDS, when the immune system is severely diminished with serious weight loss, brain tumours and other infections. There is no cure for AIDS. The drugs that are currently available simply slow the HIV damage to the Immune System.
SAFER SEX
HIV infection can be transmitted during sex via blood or sexual fluids from one infected person to another.
Unsafe sex has a high risk of spreading HIV. When blood or sexual fluids touch the soft, moist mucous membranes inside the rectum, vagina, mouth, nose or at the tip of the penis, the HIV can enter the body.
The use of condoms is vital to stop the spread of the HIV. Cuts, sores or bleeding gums increase the risk of being infected. Lubricants can increase sexual stimulation; but oil based lubricants like petroleum jelly, oils or creams can damage condoms and other latex barriers and make them ineffective as a barrier to infection.
Oral sex has a high risk of transmitting HIV, especially if sexual fluids get in the mouth and there is bleeding, sores or mouth ulcers. Condoms without lubricants are best for oral sex. If you are not infected, sex with just one partner, who is also uninfected, is the safest way to stay healthy!
About the Author
Shashi Gossain is a Pharmacist, a Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and a Member of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists. She owns the PharmaClinix Health and Beauty Clinic in London. Using the latest scientific research in the beauty industry, she created the PharmaClinix.com range of cosmeceutical creams, available online, and has written "The Ultimate Anti-Ageing Book." To learn more about the book and products, call 020 8969 0063. Shashi has launched two specialist Introduction Services for Indian Professionals and Professional Muslims Worldwide
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Tags: immune system, human immunodeficiency virus, hiv and aids, blood test, hiv aids, antibodies, influenza, fungal infections, blood transfusion, living with hiv, human milk, immunodeficiency virus hiv, sub saharan africa, immune deficiency