Comprehension: HIV/AIDS

          AIDS is a chronic potentially life-threatening condition caused by the Human Immune-Deficiency Virus (HIV) damaging your immune system. HIV interferes with your body’s ability to fight the organisms causing diseases. HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. It can also spread by contact with infected blood or can be passed on to a child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. HIV is not contracted by touching, shaking hands or eating with people. It can take years before HIV weakens your system to the point that you have AIDS. There is no cure for HIV/AIDS yet, but there are medications that can dramatically slow the progress of the disease. These drugs have reduced AIDS deaths in many developed nations. But HIV continues to ravage populations in Africa, Haiti and parts of Asia.

          When first infected with HIV, you may have no signs or symptoms at all, although you can still pass the virus to others. Later, the individual may develop mild infections and symptoms like swellings, diarrhoea, weight loss, fever, cough and shortness of breath. If you receive no treatment for your HIV infection, the disease typically progresses to full-blown AIDS. By the time AIDS develops, your immune system has been severely damaged, making you susceptiblelikely to suffer from a particular illness/disease or be affected by a particular problem. More to opportunistic infections – diseases that would not trouble a person with a healthy immune system.

          If you think you may have been infected with HIV or are at risk of contracting the virus, seek counselling as soon as possible. HIV is commonly diagnosed by testing your blood or saliva for the presence of antibodies.

          Although it is important to receive medical treatment for HIV/AIDS, it is also essential to take your own care by eating healthy foods, getting immunizations and staying positive. For now, there is no vaccine to prevent HIV infections, and no cure for AIDS, but it is possible to protect you and others from infection. This means educating yourself about HIV and avoiding any behaviour that can transfer infected fluids into your body.

(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research 1998 – 2010).