HIV-An Overview What Is HIV?What Is AIDS?
The invader is tiny but lethal-so tiny that 16,000 of them could be accommodated on the tip of a needle.Yet, it has managed to drive fear through the hearts of billions of people around the globe.I am referring here to the human immunodeficiency virus(HIV), which causes the dreaded disease Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS).
This disease has killed millions of people within the course of a few decades. An Overview Of This Deadly Disease:
HIV attacks the human the human body's immune system.Since the immune system is responsible for fighting against various different organisms that invade our bodies, such as viruses, bacteria and parasites, it is no longer able to fight these infections afetr it has been crippled by an army of HIV. Even though a person may be infected with HIV, it may take several years for her or him to develop a full blown case of AIDS.People who are carriers of HIV, but who have not yet developed AIDS are termed as "HIV-Positive".As the disease Progresses further, it erodes and finally destroys the afflicted person's immune system.Infections that the body would normally fight off as a matter of course become a serious threat to the patient's life, and usually, one or the other of these infections, since it cannot be stopped from developing into something nasty, leads to the infected person's death.A very large number if AIDS patients end up by dying of cancer, as a person with a greatly weakened immune system is extremely susceptible to developing a cancerous tumour in his body. ********************************************* How Is AIDS Passed On From One Person To Another?
Since the HIV thrives in bodily fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk, transmission of any of these fluids from an HIV-Positive person to a healthy person can lead to that person(to whom any of these fluids are transmitted)contracting the HIV.Finally, for a person to develop a full-blown case of AIDS, it is necessary that the HIV enters his or her bloodstream, as it is within the blood of such a person where this virus will get the opportunity to attack certain cells(known as T-helper cells), which play a major role in defending the body against attack from various potentially lethal diseases.
1.Blood:
The most common way in which HIV is passed on from one person to another via the infected person's blood is when a normal healthy(non-HIV-Positive) person undergoes a blood transfusion.In such a case, if the donor of the blood is HIV-Positive, then the recipient is at a very great risk.Also very vigorous mouth to mouth kissing, where both partners have cuts in thier oral cavities and one of them is HIV-Positive, could also pass on the virus, if his or her saliva finds its way into the injured person's bloodstream.HIV can survive in saliva too.
Another way in which HIV can be transmitted through a cut, is when a person goes to a hairdresser to get a beard shaved.If the razor(or the blade) being used on such a person contains traces of HIV-infected blood(of a previous patron), and if the hairdresser accidentally cuts the person being shaven, then the virus can be passed onto him.Thus insist on carefully sterilized blades or brand new ones.
2.Semen And Vaginal Fluid:
Unfortunately, one of the most pleasurable of human activities, sex, is one of the easiest ways to transmit HIV. During intercourse, if a man's semen finds way into his partners bloodstream, through a rupture in the vaginal canal(which can occur as a result of overly vigorous intercourse or due to lack of proper lubrication), then if that semen harbors the HIV virus, it can very easily be passed on to his female partner.The The chance of an infected woman passing on the HIV to a healthy male partner is only about one quarter of that of the reverse happening.This is obviously due to the fact that it is much easier for a mans semen to find its way into a woman's bloodstream than it is for a woman's vaginal secretion to enter her male partner's bloodstream through a cut in his genital area.Cuts in the male's genital region are much rarer than ruptures in a woman's vaginal canal.
3.Homosexuals-A High Risk Group:
Homosexuals, in addition to haemophiliacs(and drug addicts), are another high risk group.This is entirely due to the fact that such men indulge in anal intercourse, and unfortunately the walls of the rectum rupture much more easily than walls of the vaginal canal, since the rectum has not been designed by nature for intercourse.This greatly increases the risk of passing on HIV during such an act.
4.Breast Milk:
If an infant drinks the breast milk of an HIV-Positive mother(or nursemaid), he or she runs a very high risk of getting infected, as the milk that he drinks contains the HIV, and this milk will eventually find its way into the child's bloodstream, in the normal course of the digestive process.If the child is born while his or her mother is infected with HIV, then he or she may also be born HIV-Positive.
5.Drug Addicts At An Alarming Level Of Risk:
Drug addicts, since they are in the habit of sharing needles and syringes, are at a terribly high risk of acquiring HIV.Every time an addict uses a syringe, it enters his or her bloodstream, and if the syringe is shared with someone else, it enters that person's bloodstream too. ********************************************* |
