KNOW AIDS - NO AIDS
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, life-threatening disease caused by a virus called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus and the infection are known as HIV. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a term used to refer to the later stages of the infection.
Your body’s Immune System protects you from diseases. But when the HIV virus attacks your body’s Immune System it damages and/or destroys the Cells of your Immune System making you easily prone to various infections.Your body loses its ability to fight off viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause infections and disease.
Your body’s Immune System protects you from diseases. But when the HIV virus attacks your body’s Immune System it damages and/or destroys the Cells of your Immune System making you easily prone to various infections.Your body loses its ability to fight off viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause infections and disease.
Causes of HIV HIV spreads through sex—oral, anal or vaginal—with an infected person or through blood when you share a needle used by an infected person for injecting yourself with drugs. Most commonly, the virus passes from person to person through body fluids such as blood, vaginal fluids and Semen. Babies born to infected mothers are also at a high risk of getting infected during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding. But if women receive treatment for HIV infection during pregnancy, the risk to their babies is significantly reduced. | ||||||||
Who is at risk? If you feel you may be at risk (see Box), get yourself screened to rule out the possibility. Most HIV antibody tests done are accurate if they are done 3–6 months or even longer after you think you may have been infected. It takes this long for the antibodies to appear in the blood. HIV cannot survive for long outside your body. It needs mediums to get into your body like semen, vaginal fluids and/or blood. | ||||||||
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Signs and symptoms The symptoms of HIV and AIDS differ, depending on the stage of the infection. Initially with HIV, there may be no symptoms at all, although one of the most common symptoms is mild fever 3–6 weeks after getting infected. Sometimes symptoms can show up after 8 or 9 years or more. Some of the symptoms of HIV infection are fever, sore throat, headache, swollen lymph glands, rash, cough,diarrhea and weight loss. |
You cannot get HIV by:
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Complications of HIV Because of the damage HIV can cause to your immune system, you will be more prone to various fungal, bacterial, viral and parasitic infections. Cancer is also a possibility. However, with recent advances in medicine and research on the subject, the available treatment options play a major role in reducing the incidence of various opportunistic infections such a Pneumonia or Meningitis.
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Finally… It is not easy to receive a diagnosis of being HIV positive—it is devastating. But the situation today is unlike the one that existed 30 years ago. Treatment options are better, support groups are many and quality of life can be better with proper treatment. So, live your life to the fullest and lend a soothing hand to others like you who also yearn for support and solace. |
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