HIV/Aids
HIV is the acronym for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and is the virus eventually responsible for AIDS. This virus affects the body's immune system. This often goes unnoticed to start with but eventually the body's defences against disease are lessened considerably. All sorts of medical complaints can manifest themselves and only then is there talk of AIDS.
The HIV-virus is found in the blood, sperm, vaginal secretions and breast milk of the infected person and can be transmitted in various ways:
- unsafe sex
- blood transfusion
- infected hypodermic needles
- mother-to-child, during pregnancy or birth, via blood or via breast milk
A seropositive person need not show any signs of illness. You can not see just by looking at a person, whether or not they are infected. Some people have temporary complaints such as swollen glands, a temperature, diarrhoea, disturbed menses, fatigue, night sweats and weight loss. The disease may take 10 years after the infection to manifest itself. It is impossible to predict how long a person could be free of complaint and varies from person to person.
The virus increasingly affects the body's immune system. As the immune system weakens, infections and disease develop, such as skin complaints and lung infections and also memory loss (dementia). At this stage we call it AIDS (Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome).
A blood test can reveal an HIV infection. There is generally no point testing for HIV prior to three months after a possible infection. Tests held earlier than this can not reliably rule out any infection.
The spread of HIV world wide.
Treatment methods of an HIV infection have continued to improve these last years. There is as yet no drug that can kill the virus, but a long term, intensive course of treatment with various drugs helps to contain the virus in most patients.
When the drugs work well, patients can be symptom-free for a long time and live longer. These drugs do have some side effects and not a lot is known about long term usage.
Pregnant women infected with HIV can be treated with HIV-inhibitors and the ready availability of formula in Western, industrialised countries, almost always prevents babies being infected.
HIV-inhibitors are not readily available in African countries. The opportunity to feed babies formula is often not there either, due to a lack of resources, lack of knowledge, and the prevalence of taboos. The risk of mother-to-child transmission is therefore much greater. An average of 25-40% of the children in African countries is infected with HIV by their mother.
