HIV
stands for
Human
Immunodeficiency Virus.
HIV is a virus that takes over certain immune system cells
to make many copies of itself. HIV causes slow but constant
damage to the immune system.
AIDS
stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
AIDS is the condition diagnosed when there are a group of
related symptoms that are caused by severe HIV infection.
AIDS makes the body vulnerable to life-threatening illnesses
called opportunistic infections.
How does
HIV affect the body?
Normally, the human immune
system is the body’s protection against bacteria, viruses,
etc.; it is like a coat of armor. When HIV enters the body,
it starts poking holes in the armor. Eventually, the armor
becomes very weak and unable to protect the body. Once the
armor is very weak or is gone, the person is said to have
AIDS. An AIDS diagnosis is generally made when either the
body's protective T-cells drop below a certain level, or the
HIV-positive individual begins to experience
opportunistic infections. An opportunistic
infection is an infection that would not normally affect an
otherwise healthy person. Oftentimes, it's these infections
that are the cause of illness or death in HIV-positive
individuals - not the virus itself. If people do not get
any treatment for HIV disease, it takes an average of 8-10
years to progress from HIV to AIDS.
How is HIV
transmitted?
HIV is transmitted through four
body fluids: blood, semen, vaginal fluid, and
breast milk. In order to pass HIV from one person
to another, HIV-infected fluid from one
person needs to get into the bloodstream of
another person. HIV is usually transmitted through sharing
needles, unprotected anal, vaginal, and sometimes oral sex,
and from mother to infant before or during delivery or while
breastfeeding..
There is no
risk of transmission through:
·
Donating blood when
sterile needles are used.
·
Embracing or
cuddling .
·
Kissing without
exchange of saliva .
·
Sharing utensils .
·
Touching an HIV
infected person .
or through touching objects
such as:
·
clothes .
·
door knobs.
·
toilet seats .
How can I
prevent myself from contracting HIV?
Becoming educated about HIV and
understanding how it is transmitted is the first, and
perhaps the most important way to prevent the spread of HIV.
Abstaining from sex and
needle
sharing is the most
effective way for people to protect themselves from HIV and
other sexually transmitted diseases. However, abstinence is
not a realistic option for everyone.
Collected by: Moza Ali Ahmed Al Saadi ( A career Councilor)
Shinas
School for Girls, Grades (11-12)
____________________________________
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency
syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or
Aids) is a
set of symptoms and infections
resulting from the damage to the human
immune system caused by the
human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV). This condition progressively reduces the
effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals
susceptible to
opportunistic infections
and
tumors. HIV is
transmitted through direct
contact of a
mucous membrane or the
bloodstream with a
bodily fluid containing
HIV, such as
blood,
semen,
vaginal fluid,
preseminal fluid, and
breast milk. This
transmission can involve
anal,
vaginal or
oral
sex,
blood transfusion,
contaminated
hypodermic needles,
exchange between mother and baby during
pregnancy,
childbirth, or
breastfeeding, or other
exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.
Most researchers believe that
HIV originated in
sub-Saharan Africa during
the twentieth century. The disease was first identified by
the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in 1981 and its cause identified by
American and French scientists in the late 1980s. AIDS is
now a
pandemic. In 2007, an
estimated 33.2 million people lived with the disease
worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million people,
including 330,000 children. Over three-quarters of these
deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding
economic growth and
destroying
human capital. Although
treatments for AIDS and HIV can slow the course of the
disease, there is currently no vaccine or cure.
Antiretroviral treatment
reduces both the
mortality and the morbidity
of HIV infection, but these drugs are expensive and routine
access to antiretroviral
medication is not available
in all countries. Due to the difficulty in treating HIV
infection, preventing infection is a key aim in controlling
the AIDS epidemic, with health organizations promoting
safe sex and
needle-exchange programmes
in attempts to slow the spread of the virus.
Symptoms
A generalized graph of the
relationship between HIV copies (viral load) and CD4 counts
over the average course of untreated HIV infection; any
particular individual's disease course may vary
considerably. CD4+ T Lymphocyte count
(cells/mm³) HIV RNA copies per mL of
plasma
The symptoms of AIDS are
primarily the result of conditions that do not normally
develop in individuals with healthy
immune systems. Most of
these conditions are infections caused by
bacteria,
viruses,
fungi and
parasites that are normally
controlled by the elements of the immune system that HIV
damages.
Opportunistic infections
are common in people with AIDS. HIV affects nearly every
organ system. People with
AIDS also have an increased risk of developing various
cancers such as
Kaposi's sarcoma,
cervical cancer and cancers
of the immune system known as
lymphomas. Additionally,
people with AIDS often have systemic symptoms of infection
like
fevers,
sweats (particularly at
night), swollen glands, chills, weakness, and
weight loss.[10][11]
The specific opportunistic infections that AIDS patients
develop depend in part on the prevalence of these infections
in the geographic area in which the patient lives
Pulmonary infections
X-ray of
Pneumocystis jirovecii
caused pneumonia. There is increased white (opacity) in the
lower lungs on both sides, characteristic of Pneumocystis
pneumonia
Pneumocystis
pneumonia (originally known as Pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia, and still abbreviated as PCP, which now
stands for Pneumocystis pneumonia) is relatively rare in
healthy,
immunocompetent people, but
common among HIV-infected individuals. It is caused by
Pneumocystis jirovecii.
Before the advent of effective diagnosis, treatment and
routine
prophylaxis in Western
countries, it was a common immediate cause of death. In
developing countries, it is still one of the first
indications of AIDS in untested individuals, although it
does not generally occur unless the CD4 count is less than
200 cells per µL of blood.[12]
Tuberculosis (TB) is unique
among infections associated with HIV because it is
transmissible to immunocompetent people via the respiratory
route, is easily treatable once identified, may occur in
early-stage HIV disease, and is preventable with drug
therapy. However,
multidrug resistance is a
potentially serious problem. Even though its incidence has
declined because of the use of directly observed therapy and
other improved practices in Western countries, this is not
the case in developing countries where HIV is most
prevalent. In early-stage HIV infection (CD4 count >300
cells per µL), TB typically presents as a pulmonary disease.
In advanced HIV infection, TB often presents atypically with
extrapulmonary (systemic) disease a common feature. Symptoms
are usually constitutional and are not localized to one
particular site, often affecting
bone marrow,
bone, urinary and
gastrointestinal tracts,
liver, regional
lymph nodes, and the
central nervous system.[13]
Prepared
by: Almoumina School for GirlsC3
________________________________
Aids: Unfinished story
AIDS was first reported June 5,
1981, when the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention recorded a cluster of
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
(now still classified as PCP but known to be caused by
Pneumocystis jirovecii) in
five homosexual men in
Los Angeles. In the
beginning, the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) did not have an official name
for the disease, often referring to it by way of the
diseases that were associated with it, for example,
lymphadenopathy, the
disease after which the discoverers of HIV originally named
the virus. They also used Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic
Infections, the name by which a task force had been set up
in 1981. In the general press, the term GRID, which stood
for
Gay-related immune deficiency,
had been coined. However, after determining that AIDS was
not isolated to the
homosexual community, the
term GRID became misleading and AIDS was introduced at a
meeting in July 1982. By September 1982 the CDC started
using the name AIDS, and properly defined the illness.
A more controversial theory
known as the
OPV AIDS hypothesis
suggests that the AIDS epidemic was inadvertently started in
the late 1950s in the
Belgian Congo by
Hilary Koprowski's research
into a
poliomyelitis
vaccine. According to
scientific consensus, this
scenario is not supported by the available evidence.
A recent study states that HIV
probably moved from
Africa to
Haiti and then entered the
United States around 1969.
The cause
AIDS is the most severe
acceleration of infection with HIV. HIV is a
retrovirus that primarily
infects vital organs of the human
immune system such as
CD4+ T cells (a subset of
T cells),
macrophages and
dendritic cells. It
directly and indirectly destroys CD4+ T cells.
Once HIV has killed so many
CD4+ T cells that there are fewer than 200 of these cells
per
microliter (µL) of
blood,
cellular immunity is lost.
Acute HIV infection
progresses over time to clinical latent HIV infection and
then to early
symptomatic HIV infection
and later to AIDS, which is identified either on the basis
of the amount of CD4+ T cells remaining in the blood, and/or
the presence of certain infections, as noted above.
In the absence of
antiretroviral therapy, the
median
time of progression from HIV infection
to AIDS is nine to ten years, and the median
survival time after developing AIDS is only 9.2 months.
However, the rate of clinical disease progression varies
widely between individuals, from two weeks up to 20 years.
Many factors affect the rate of progression. These include
factors that influence the body's ability to defend against
HIV such as the infected person's general immune function.
Older people have weaker immune systems, and therefore have
a greater risk of rapid disease progression than younger
people. Poor access to
health care and the
existence of coexisting infections such as
tuberculosis also may
predispose people to faster disease progression. The
infected person's
genetic inheritance plays
an important role and some people are
resistant to certain
strains of HIV. An example of this is people with the
homozygous
CCR5-Δ32 variation are
resistant to infection with certain
strains of HIV. HIV is
genetically variable and exists as different strains, which
cause different rates of clinical disease progression.
Epidemiology
Despite recent, improved
access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions
of the world, the AIDS pandemic claimed an estimated
2.1 million (range 1.9–2.4 million) lives in 2007 of which
an estimated 330,000 were children under 15 years. Globally,
an estimated 33.2 million people lived with HIV in 2007,
including 2.5 million children. An estimated 2.5 million
(range 1.8–4.1 million) people were newly infected in 2007,
including 420,000 children.
Aids distribution around the world
|
 |
Sub-Saharan Africa
remains by far the worst affected region. In 2007 it
contained an estimated 68% of all people living with AIDS
and 76% of all AIDS deaths, with 1.7 million new infections
bringing the number of people living with HIV to
22.5 million, and with 11.4 million AIDS orphans living in
the region. Unlike other regions, most people living with
HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 (61%) were women. Adult
prevalence in 2007 was an
estimated 5.0%, and AIDS continued to be the single largest
cause of mortality in this region.
South Africa has the
largest population of HIV patients in the world, followed by
Nigeria and
India.
South & South East Asia are
second worst affected; in 2007 this region contained an
estimated 18% of all people living with AIDS, and an
estimated 300,000 deaths from AIDS. India has an estimated
2.5 million infections and an estimated adult prevalence of
0.36%.
Life expectancy has fallen
dramatically in the worst-affected countries; for example,
in 2006 it was estimated that it had dropped from 65 to 35
years in
Botswana.
Almumina School C3
Prepared by: Peer educators group
________________________________
There is still
hope
IS THERE A CURE FOR AIDS?
There is no cure for
AIDS.There are drugs that can slow down the HIV virus, and
slow down the damage to your immune system. There is no way
to "clear" the HIV out of your body.
Other drugs can prevent
or treat opportunistic infections (OIs). In most cases,
these drugs work very well. The newer, stronger ARVs have
also helped reduce the rates of most OIs. A few OIs,
however, are still very difficult to treat.
WHAT DOES "AIDS" MEAN?
AIDS stands for Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome:
Syndrome means a group of
health problems that make up a disease
AIDS is caused by a
virus called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
The history
Most researchers believe
that HIV originated in sub-Saharan Africa during the
twentieth century. The disease was first identified by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1981 and
its cause identified by American and French scientists in
the late 1980s. Africa, retarding economic growth and
destroying human capital.
AIDS is now a pandemic. In
2007, an estimated 33.2 million people lived with the
disease worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million
people, including 330,000 children. Over three-quarters of
these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan.
Symptoms
The symptoms of AIDS are
primarily the result of conditions that do not normally
develop in individuals with healthy immune systems. Most of
these conditions are infections caused by bacteria, viruses,
fungi and parasites that are normally controlled by the
elements of the immune system that HIV damages.
Opportunistic infections are common in people with Aids.
HIV affects nearly every
organ system. People with AIDS also have an increased risk
of developing various
Kaposi's sarcoma,
cervical cancer and cancers of the immune system known as
lymphomas. the geographic area in which the patient lives.
Additionally, people
with AIDS often have systemic symptoms of infection like
fevers,
sweats (particularly at
night), swollen glands, chills, weakness, and
weight loss. The specific
opportunistic infections that AIDS patients develop depend
in part on the prevalence of these infections in the
geographic area in which the patient lives.
How do you get aids?
Most people get the HIV
virus by:
-
having sex with an
infected person
-
sharing a needle
(shooting drugs) with someone who's infected
-
being born when
their mother is infected, or drinking the breast milk of
an infected woman
Almumina School C3
Prepared by: Peer educators group
________________________________
Handbook on AIDS
