AIDS Awareness
Saturday 17 january 2009

What is AIDS?

AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. It is a disease that weakens the immune system. It is caused by the HIV virus.

What is HIV?

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficientcy Virus. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. If left untreatedHIV will lead to AIDS.

How is AIDS transmitted?

AIDS is transmitted in several ways. One way is by blood to blood, such as touching someone with aids blood or sharing a needle with someone who has aids. Before blood was widely screened for diseases it was possible to get aids through a blood transfusion, now that way of getting aids is practically nonexistent. Another way is through sexual contact. It is also possible for mothers to give it to their babies during delivery or breast feeding. There has been one case of a dentist giving AIDS to six patients. It is not possible to get aids from a mosquito.

How does it work?

Once AIDS has gotten inside of a person it will attack the t cells (white blode cells that protect against infection). It injects its genitic makeup into the cell then makes the cell make more viruses.

What are the symptoms of AIDS?

After the initial infection some people experence flu-like symptoms that usually disappear within a few weeks. After the immune system has been weakend the symptoms include lack of energy, weight loss, frequent fevers and sweats, persistent or frequent yeast infections, persistent skin rashes or flaky skin, short-term memory loss, and mouth, genital, or anal sores from herpes infections. In the advanced stages of AIDS the symptoms are cough and shortness of breath, seizures and lack of coordination, difficult or painful swallowing, confusion and forgetfulness, severe and persistent diarrhea, fever, vision loss, nausea, abdominal cramps, and vomiting, weight loss and extreme fatigue, severe headaches with neck stiffness, and coma.

How is AIDS diagnosed?

AIDS can only be diagnosed by a physician using specific clinical or laboratory tests. They test for HIV antibodies in the blood. The antibodies show up one to three months after infection. There are two types of test used to look for the disease. ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunoassay) is used as a screening test. The Western blot test is used to confirm that the patient has AIDS.

How is it treated?

There are a variaty of drugs that fight AIDS in several different ways. They include stoping the virus from coping it self at different stages and stoping it from getting in to the cell.

How is it prevented

The only effective means of prevention is to not put your self in positions that could get you infected. Latex condoms offer partial protection during sex.
- posted by Joe @ 8:24 PM