HIV / AIDS

HIV/AIDS stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. HIV is a virus which, if untreated, may later develop into the disease AIDS.
How do you get it?HIV is spread by exchanging infected body fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal discharge and anal mucous during sexual contact and/or sharing needles with an infected person, receiving a transfusion of contaminated blood, or between mother and infant before or during birth (perinatal HIV), or by breastfeeding. Testing of pregnant women, antiretroviral drug treatment provided during pregnancy, labor, and delivery and then to the newborn, as well as caesarean delivery where appropriate, can reduce the rate of perinatal HIV transmission.
HIV is not confined to the gay community, nor to injecting drug users or sex workers, and the infection rates among women are increasing rapidly. Of the 4.8 million new HIV infections in 2003, 2 million were women. Studies have shown that young people are at particular risk, partly because they think it can't happen to them. But about half all new infections are of people aged between 15 and 24 - that means six young people are being infected every minute. HIV is not spread by coughing, sharing eating utensils, shaking hands, hugging or kissing.
SymptomsYou can have HIV and have no symptoms. If you do have symptoms, these might be similar to those for glandular fever, including weakness, muscular pain, sore throat, headaches, diarrhoea, rash and recurrent shingles. If you develop AIDS, your system becomes vulnerable to various infections and cancers.
TestingPeople who come into contact with HIV develop antibodies (something the body makes to fight germs). Blood tests can detect the antibodies three months after infection. If you have the antibodies, you are 'HIV positive'.
If you are HIV positive it doesn't mean you have AIDS, although you do carry the virus and can pass it on.
TreatmentAntiretroviral drugs can be prescribed to manage the disease, but it can't be cured. People infected with HIV who can get treatment may have a normal life span, if the right drugs are available and used correctly. The medications often have side-effects that are difficult to live with and the long-term effects of taking these drugs is not known. So, don't assume that you can take risks and avoid the possible harmful consequences. Many researchers are currently trying to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV but this is expected to take years.
PreventionUse condoms and get tested (females, males) if you have sex with a different partner, or if your partner is also having sex with others. There is only a small chance that the virus can be passed on through oral sex except where there are cuts or sores in the mouth or on the genitals. Avoid taking semen, menstrual fluid or vaginal discharge into the mouth.
ConsequencesIt can take months or years after infection with HIV for AIDS to develop. AIDS is fatal, although better treatments developed in recent years may prolong life (see above).