HIV can spread from person to person when infected drug needles are shared, or if an infected person has unprotected sex with another person. HIV can pass from a pregnant mother to her baby during childbirth or during breastfeeding.
What is AIDS?
AIDS, better known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a deadly disease contracted when HIV completely weakens your body's immune system. Your immune system is very important to fight illnesses. When your immune system is down, you are susceptible to any sickness and you can succumb to a illness as common as the flu!
Keep in mind that AIDS is not synonymous with HIV. AIDS results due to special damage incurred upon the immune system. And this can be triggered by any kind of infection or disease, one of them being HIV.
How do I know if I am infected with HIV?
One way to know whether you are infected with HIV is get yourself tested. You cannot depend on symptoms to find out whether you are infected or not. Many individuals infected with HIV do not show any symptoms for many years. Few warning signs of HIV infection:
- Dry cough that does not go away
- Rapid loss of weight
- Profound and unexplained fatigue
- Recurring fever or profuse night sweats
- Pneumonia
- Swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpits or neck
- Depression, memory loss, other neurological disorders
- Diarrhoea that lasts for more than a week.
- Unusual blemishes or white spots in the mouth, on the tongue, or in the throat
Remember This!
- HIV is spread when you indulge in unprotected sex-having sex without using a condom, and by sharing infected needles.
- HIV, the virus which is responsible for AIDS is found in vaginal fluids, semen, blood and breast milk.
- An HIV test is the only you can know whether you are infected with HIV.
- Abstaining from sex and not sharing needles are good ways to protect yourself from HIV infection.
- Practice safe sex by using a new condom with a water-based lubricant.
- HIV is not transmitted by shaking hands or sharing bathrooms.
Treatment for HIV/AIDS
Standard treatment for HIV involves a combination of medicines called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). These medicines can slow down the rate at which these viruses multiply. If you take these medicines, the amount of viruses in your body can be lowered enabling you to stay healthy. Two tests are conducted to monitor the HIV infection and its effects on the immune system:
- Viral load that shows the amount of virus in your blood
- CD4+ cell count that informs how well your immune system is working.
When you begin the treatment, make sure you take the medicines as prescribed by the doctor. If your treatment fails, then it is an indication that HIV has become resistant to the medicine.
What to do if you think you have HIV/AIDS?
- If you think you have the symptoms mentioned, it's time to get yourself checked! This is not the time to be embarrassed as HIV/AIDS is a deadly disease.
- There are many health departments in Australia with special clinics that treat STDs including HIV/AIDS. In case you don't know where to go, call your local family planning clinic for more information. No matter where you receive treatment, your case will be kept absolutely private.
- It's normal to panic when you are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and it may be difficult to go to the doctor or the clinic. But it is necessary to get yourself treated even though it is the hardest thing to do. There is no other way to recover.
- Don't forget to tell your sexual partner. Because, it is likely that your partner is infected too.