FACTS ABOUT AIDS

 

 

 

The facts about AIDS it is the most serious stage of the HIV infection and it is the result of the destruction of the infected person’s immune system.

 

The immune system of a person acts as their body’s defense system with the cells of their immune system to fight off infections and other diseases.  If your immune system is not working well you are at risk of getting serious life threatening infections and cancers. 

 

With HIV it attacks and destroys the CD4 T cells which are a type of white blood cells that fight infection.  This leaves the body infected with the HIV in a weakened defense against infections and cancer.

 

 

AIDS Diagnosis

 

The diagnosis of AIDS is not a diagnosis that you can make by yourself, it is usually only diagnosed when the immune system is severely weakened.  The AIDS symptoms will show if you are infected with HIV when your CD4 count drops below 200 cells/mm3 or if you develop an AIDS defining condition, you then have AIDS.

 

 

Treatment of HIV AIDS

 

HIV treatment is the use of medications that will help to keep a person infected with HIV healthy.   Treatment can help people with all stages of the HIV disease, although the anti HIV medications can treat an HIV infection; they can not cure an HIV infection.

 

 

Transmission of AIDS

 

HIV transmission may occur when blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum), vaginal fluids or breast milk from an infected person enters the body of an uninfected person.

 

HIV can enter the body through an injection into a vein, the lining of the anus, lining of either the vagina or cervix, the opening of the penis, other mucous membranes, or cuts or sores.   Healthy intact skin provides a excellent barrier against HIV and other viruses and bacteria.

 

The following are the most common ways that HIV is transmitted from one person to another:

 

• Through having sex (anal, vaginal, or oral) with an HIV infected person.
• Through sharing needles or sharing injection equipment with a drug user who infected with HIV.
• Through HIV infected women to their babies before or during birth, or through breast feeding after birth.

HIV in the past had also been passed through transfusion of infected blood.  Since 1985 all blood that is donated in the United States is checked for HIV.  Thus the risk of getting HIV infection through a blood transfusion is extremely low.