Also
known as: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, Human Immunodeficiency
Virus
Myths dispelled
Here are some facts to clear up some common misconceptions.
Where to start? The following are all myths:
.That HIV/AIDS is a gay disease.
.That women can't get HIV from sex with women.
.That you can get it from a toilet seat, a hand-railing, etc.
.That you can get it by sharing a glass, or by being coughed or
sneezed on.
.That HIV is transmitted through the air or by insect bites.
.That people are regularly infected by maniacs who leave HIV infected
needles in movie seats, the coin return slots of pay phones and
so on.
Intro
In our understanding of HIV and AIDS, we've come a long way from
the early 1980s, when doctors and scientists first noticed a baffling
increase in the cases of uncontrollable pneumonia and rare cancers
(so-called "gay cancer"). AIDS has transformed American
culture. It has galvanized the community of gay men -- and to
some extent, lesbians -- and brought them to the attention of
mainstream culture with both good and bad results. Public perception
has changed a great deal over the decades -- although not enough
-- and treatment has too. While the prognosis for people with
HIV used to be very grim, the advent of HAART (highly active antiretroviral
therapy) has altered everything. It is now possible for people
with HIV to hold off further damage to their immune systems and
lead relatively normal lives. Since 1996, the number of deaths
from AIDS has been dropping dramatically.
But
it's not all rosy. HAART is not a cure. And treatment is very
expensive, which prevents it from being available to everyone.
Although AIDS deaths are down, the number of HIV infections are
growing in certain populations, especially among African-Americans,
Latinos and women. Adolescents of both sexes and teenage men who
have sex with men are developing HIV at alarming rates. According
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the HIV
epidemic is the second leading cause of death among adults between
the ages of 25 to 44.
What
is it?
You've probably heard this before: HIV is the virus that causes
AIDS. It is spread through contact with an infected person's blood,
semen, vaginal fluids, or breast milk. It's not the most hearty
virus -- it dies quickly outside of a person -- and it needs more
than casual contact to spread from one person to another. HIV
has to get into your bloodstream to infect you.
Once
it does get in there, it begins to attack a certain class of white
blood cell, the T-lymphocyte cell, or T-cell. Of this class, the
virus targets primarily the helper T-cells, which are also known
as CD4+ cells. Since white blood cells naturally fight off infection,
the virus slowly weakens your body's immune system. AIDS is an
advanced stage of HIV infection, when the virus has so drastically
reduced the number of white blood cells that your body is no longer
able to defend itself from opportunistic infections. These infections
are frequently caused by commonplace bacteria and viruses that
healthy people fight off naturally. But they can ravage the body
of a person with an extremely weakened immune system. When people
die from AIDS, they usually are dying from one of these infections
and not from the virus itself.
A
doctor will diagnosis you with AIDS when you have come down with
one of these typical opportunistic infections or when a blood
test indicates that your CD4+ level is below 200. If your CD4+
count was below 200 but then increased as the result of successful
treatment, you are still considered to have AIDS. There's no going
back.
Symptoms
Many people who are HIV positive do not exhibit any symptoms for
years after they are infected. Only a test will tell you for sure
if you have HIV. Symptoms of HIV include: weight loss, swollen
lymph nodes, recurring fever, fatigue, yeast infections, thrush,
diarrhea, pneumonia, blotches on or under the skin or inside the
nose, mouth, or eyelids, memory loss, depression, and other neurological
disorders. There are no particular symptoms for AIDS, but the
opportunistic infections that people with AIDS contract have many
different symptoms. Even people without symptoms can spread the
virus.
Diagnosis
A simple blood test or oral swab can determine if you are infected
with HIV. The HIV tests find antibodies in your system that naturally
develop in response to contact with the virus. Usually, the antibodies
appear within three months of infection, but it can take up to
six. If you're worried that something you did might have exposed
you to the virus, you must take precautions to protect other people
until you know definitely that you're HIV negative six months
later.
How
Do You Get It?
HIV is spread through bodily fluids: blood, semen (including pre-seminal
fluid), vaginal fluid and breast milk. Although the virus is found
in saliva, tears, and sweat, the viral level is very low and there
are no known cases of infection by these liquids. Keep in mind,
however, that your saliva can contain blood.
HIV
is clearly a sexually transmitted disease. It can be spread through
any form of sex in which the bodily fluids of one person get into
the bloodstream of another. Although normal, healthy skin is a
good barrier to the virus, it can enter your body through tiny
abrasions and cuts, or through the mucous membranes of your rectum,
anus, vagina, eyes or nose. Some sexual acts are more risky than
others. Anal and vaginal intercourse can cause ruptures to the
skin that make it even easier for the virus to enter the bloodstream.
Oral sex between men or between a man and a woman is less dangerous
but still risky, since the virus could pass from the semen into
a tiny cut inside the mouth. The risk for women transmitting the
virus to women through sex is much smaller, but it is still possible.
HIV
is also spread by sharing needles with people infected with the
virus; it can live on the needle long enough to go from one body
to another. While the virus can be spread through blood transfusions,
it is extremely unlikely in countries, such as the United States,
that screen donated blood for the disease. A pregnant woman can
give HIV to her child while it is still in the womb. HIV does
not survive long outside a human body and it can't be spread by
coughing, sneezing, hugging or sharing a glass.
How
to treat it?
The prognosis for people with AIDS used to be pretty dire, but
HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy), a cocktail of different
drugs, has radically improved the outlook. As a result of HAART,
beginning in the late 1990s, the number of deaths from AIDS began
to decline for the first time. HAART is not a cure. The work to
develop a vaccine continues.
Prevention
Avoid
letting the fluids that can spread HIV -- blood, semen, vaginal
fluids, and breast milk -- into your bloodstream. Practice safer
sex. Use condoms for anal or vaginal sex. Use condoms or dental
damns for oral sex. Use gloves when you come into contact with
any fluids from a person who might be HIV positive. Don't share
a razor or toothbrush with someone who has HIV. It is theoretically
possible that HIV could be spread even through French or "deep"
kissing, and the CDC does not recommend deep kissing with an HIV
positive person; admittedly, there is no known report of anyone
contracting the disease from a kiss. Scientists have never discovered
evidence that HIV is spread through saliva, tears or sweat.
Incubation
period Immune Compromised
The incubation period varies. If you're newly infected, it can
take up to six months for antibodies to HIV to develop; these
antibodies are what indicate, in an HIV test, that you have the
virus. Once infected with HIV, you can have it for a long time
without the virus becoming AIDS. This is known as the latency
period. There are some people -- too few -- who have the virus
but never show any evidence of compromised immunity. These lucky
few are known as long-term non-progressors.
Sex
HIV is spread by bodily fluids like blood, semen, vaginal fluid,
and breast milk. If the virus in any of these fluids gets into
your blood stream, you could contract it. Thus, all sorts of sex
are potentially dangerous and you should play it safe. Use condoms
during vaginal, anal or oral sex with a man. Use dental damns
or regular plastic wrap when performing oral sex on a woman. Be
very careful if you are using sex toys together: the virus can
live long enough on the dildo -- or whatever you've got -- to
go from one person to another.
Prevalence
According to the CDC, as of 1999 the total number of people infected
with HIV in the United States is between 650,000 and 900,000,
or 1 in 300. About 40,000 people in the U.S. become infected each
year.
Print this page
Back
To Main Menu
