AN INTRODUCTION TO HIV & AIDS

Cause

The virus responsible for AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It is important to understand that HIV is the actual virus or cause, whereas AIDS is what happens when a person is infected with HIV.

AIDS is a set of diseases and symptoms that a person gets years after being infected with HIV. Even though there are two pictures at the beginning of this page, not everyone who has an HIV infection may have these diseases and symptoms. They might get other ones, though. AIDS is also called HIV disease because people often mix up the cause (the HIV virus) with the symptoms (sickness).

HIV has the ability to wipe out your immune system. Normally, your immune system fights off bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and cancer cells that try to grow in your body. When HIV destroys your immune system, all these invaders can now easily grow inside you. All these invaders cause diseases that are lumped together and called AIDS, which is a 'syndrome'. A syndrome, in this case, is a set of opportunistic infections and symptoms. The HIV virus itself doesn't kill people--these other infections do!

Incubation period

It takes between three and ten years for a person infected with HIV to develop AIDS. Some people take even longer (up to 15 years) to develop any symptoms.

People who are infected with HIV are said to be "HIV-positive" . So how do you know if you're HIV-positive? Getting tested is the best way. There's a blood test, and also a saliva test that is just as reliable. However, there is a window period of three to six months. This is the amount of time it takes before the blood test will really tell the truth. That's because if you were exposed to HIV, it would take your body at least that long to make detectable antibodies.

So you can't have unsafe sex one day and go in the next day to get tested. You have to wait. And if you do get tested, your results are only valid for all the times you messed around before six months ago.

Transmission

HIV is found in most bodily fluids, including blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk. These fluids with HIV in them have to find a way of getting into your blood. It is present in saliva and tears, but there's NOT enough HIV to cause infection. In fact, saliva has at least two different types of proteins in it that neutralize HIV. So, you won't get it by dry-kissing someone with AIDS. And the test for HIV mentioned before tests for antibodies, not the virus itself.

Sharing drug-needles between people is very high-risk for transmission. Unprotected insertive or receptive anal and vaginal sex are risky because you can get tiny cuts on your genitals that allow the virus to seep in from the semen or vaginal fluids.

Insertive oral sex isn't that risky, but receptive oral sex can be extremely risky if you already have cuts in your mouth (for example, from brushing your teeth), and if your partner's bodily fluids get on those cuts. And most of the time, you don't even know if you have these cuts in your mouth, so be aware of your health.

People used to get HIV from receiving infected blood during blood transfusions, but the blood supply is cleaner nowadays. The risk is about 1 in 250,000 transfusions. You CAN'T get HIV from donating blood.

What to look for

So how do you know if you're HIV-positive? Besides getting tested, there are signs you might be suspicious of. Symptoms that show in the first few months of infection are: fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, swollen glands, and rashes.

Once HIV infection changes into AIDS, patients have a wide variety of diseases they have to deal with. Instead of listing all the names, here are some of the common symptoms of AIDS: brown and purple bumps on the skin (cancer), extreme weight loss, white patches in the mouth, swollen glands, difficulty breathing... the list goes on. People with AIDS die about two years after the symptoms begin to show if they are not treated. Treatment with the newest medications has allowed many to live pretty normal lives. But they have to take tons of pills throughout the day. The medications have a lot of side effects, too.

Treatment

There is a lot of medical treatment available to slow down the virus, but there is no cure. Vaccines are being developed, but none have worked well on humans yet. A lot of treatment around HIV used to involve making life easier by dulling the pain, boosting energy levels, and dealing with the symptoms, rather than their cause. However, new drugs have recently been created that have been shown to vastly improve a person's condition. However, we don't know if they'll work in the long run. And just because there may be better treatments, doesn't mean that HIV won't develop resistance. The drugs themselves can cause a lot of medical problems, and are complicated to take. We can't ever let down our guard and think we've got something beat...We've just got to keep fighting.

Complications

AIDS IS complicated. Preventing it is NOT. Every opportunistic infection is a complication of HIV infection.