AIDS
AIDS in bird’s eye view
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is the advanced stage of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is a virus that badly affects the cells of body’s immune system that defense against intruders. It can either kill or damage the cells of the body's immune system. The progression of HIV destroys the ability of body to fight the infections with the passage of time and a number of cancers. The advance stage of HIV infection is referred by the term AIDS.
HIV can transfer from one person to another by many common ways:
o Having unprotected sex with a person who is infected with HIV;
o The use of a needle or syringe that is already used by a person who is infected by HIV;
o If a person transplant organs or receives blood from an infected person;
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o The virus can be transferred from infected mother to the child during birth or even breast feeding
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The risk of transmitting HIV during sexual intercourse multiplies in case you have acquired the virus sexually. No evidence support that the HIV can spread with saliva or with casual contact or sharing food or/and clothes or from swimming pools, toilets or telephones. The virus is not transmitted from insects like bugs, flies and mosquitoes.
Flu like symptoms and swollen glands are the initial signs of HIV infection. Such symptoms may appear in the initial stages of the infection and will disappear within one month or two. Many symptoms may not appear on the screen for a long time. Unfortunately, there is no cure to AIDS. However, there are medicines that can help in fighting the infection and avoiding those diseases especially cancer that accompany the virus.
Treating AIDS:
The advancement humankind has made in the field of treatment has improved the survival rate of AIDS patients. The progression of AIDS in developed states such as United States has also depreciated as the antiretroviral drugs are available.
If you need additional information then you can visit the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases at NIH. NIH is governing a number of trials and researches on HIV/AIDS to test the validity of treatment. Institute like NICHD sponsors such trials.
AIDS affecting women
Around the world 19.2 million women are living with AIDS/HIV as per the estimation of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). It is also observed that the ratio of HIV infection spreading among the women was higher in certain places and groups than others. HIV is dramatically increasing among the Hispanic and African American women. About 80 per cent of the HIV infection is transmitted through vaginal intercourse (heterosexual sex) and women are more vulnerable to acquire the virus than men.
Most of the symptoms of HIV infections are same among men and women however there are some signs that are specific in females.
Some of these signs are:
• Those women who are infected with HIV infection are difficult to operate if they inculcate a vaginal yeast infection as compared to normal women.
• The infection of the reproductive organs of the women, the pelvic inflammatory disease will be severe and more frequent in women that have HIV infection.
• HPV infection (human papilloma virus) is the cause of genital warts is mostly observed in the women with HIV positive. It can also lead to –pre-cancerous wounds of cervix or the cervix cancer.
Preventing the transfer of HIV
Mother can transfer the HIV virus to her babies during pregnancy, birth and breast feeding. However, there are a number of ways that can help in reducing the risk of virus transmission.
• Anti-HIV drugs can be inhaled during pregnancy. The drugs will help in reducing the risk. Mother can go through highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in which zidovudine or AZT is alone or in combination with other drugs is used.
• Delivering the baby by cesarean section is also a remedy to avoid the HIV transfer during natural delivery. Cesarean can be done before the uterine membrane of mother naturally start to rupture.
• The HIV infected mother must avoid to feed her child with breasts as the breast milk is infected by the virus.
It is estimated that one forth to one half of the pregnant women that have HIV but are not treated will pass the HIV to their babies. IN United States newborns are rarely discovered with HIV because HIV infected women take anti-HIV drugs during pregnancy and cesarean is used for delivery.
AIDS in children & adolescents
In the United States about 10000 children are living with HIV. The number of babies born with HIV infection transferred from their mother has significantly decreased from 2000 a year to the 200 annually.
On contrary the number of infants born with HIV infection in developing countries is very large. In developing countries most of the mothers are not screened for HIV virus, the unavailability of anti-HIV drugs and the absence of alternate of breast feeding results in the birth of 700000 children with HIV infection.
In youngsters the main reason of getting the HIV infection is detected to be unprotected sex and the use of drugs with infected injections.
Unfortunately there is no cure to virus and all that an HIV positive person can do is to either live with it as long as possible or die with it. Another option is also available and that is to save others by keeping the HIV to only one’s self.
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