HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a worldwide crisis that presently impacts roughly 40 million people globally. When a man or woman is infected with HIV, the disease slowly starts to demolish that person’s immune system. The speed of this process may vary from individual to individual based on other health attributes. Treatment with HAART can help reduce or stop damage to the immune system.
Once the immune system is severely damaged, that person has AIDS, and is now vulnerable to bacterial infections and malignancies that most healthy adults would never get. The antiretroviral treatment can be very effective, even at that stage of the sickness.
Did You Know?
- Circumcised men are less likely to acquire and transmit HIV. The foreskin of uncircumcised men can harbor dangerous pathogens.
- More than 18,000 people with AIDS still die each year in the US.
- Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are strongly affected by the epidemic and represent the majority of persons who have died from the disease.
- Through 2007, more than 576,000 people with AIDS in the US have died since the epidemic began in 1981.
Symptoms
Symptoms may not appear for up to 8 years after initially contracting the disease. Some people experience flu-like symptoms, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, and enlarged lymph nodes. HIV can remain dormant for years. Symptoms may disappear after 1 month. The disease, even during dormancy, continuously weakens the immune system.
Treatment
Several antiviral type medications are used to prolong the life of the infected person. Unfortunately, there is still no cure for the disease.
Transmission/Causes
- Vaginal, oral or anal sex with an infected person.
- Blood-to-blood contact with infected person.
- Mother to child infection through breastfeeding.
Diagnosis
The most common ways to diagnose HIV is by testing the individual’s blood or saliva. These tests search for the presence of antibodies virus. Blood, urine and saliva tests are not able to accurately detect infection if the infection occurred recently because it takes between 12 weeks and up to 6 months for an individual’s body to develop the HIV antibodies.
Recently, a new antigen testing method has proven to detect HIV within days of infection.
Data/Statistics
AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among people ages 25 – 44 in the United States, down from number one in 1995.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 25 million people worldwide have died from this infection since the start of the epidemic in 1981.
In 2008, there were approximately 33.4 million people around the world living with HIV/AIDS, including 2.1 million children under age 15.
Consequences of the Disease
HIV develops into AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). AIDS can lead to death.
Prevention
The riskiest sexual behavior is unprotected receptive anal intercourse. The very least risky sexual behavior is receiving oral sex. Performing oral sex on a man is associated with some risk of HIV transmission, but this is less risky than unprotected vaginal intercourse. Female-to-male transmission of the virus is much less likely than male-to-female transmission. Performing oral sex on a woman who does not have her period has a low risk of transmission.
HIV-positive patients who are taking antiretroviral medications are less likely to transmit the virus. For example, pregnant women who are on effective treatment at the time of delivery, and who have undetectable viral loads, give HIV to their baby less than 1% of the time, compared with about 20% of the time if medications are not used.
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