HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks and weakens the immune system, the amazing way that your body resists and fights infection and disease. In order to fully understand HIV and AIDS, you should understand your immune system, how it works, and how it is affected by the virus.

Your immune system includes your spleen, which filters your blood, your lymph nodes, which filter the fluid in your lymph system, your bone marrow, which produces the cells of your immune system, and your thymus, which produces white blood cells. The immune system is in a state of constant alert against invaders or intruders such as parasites and bacteria that can make you ill or even kill you. It is able to detect if a particular cell belongs to your body or not. If it is part of your body, then the cell will be left alone; if it is not, your immune system will act swiftly to destroy or neutralize the “alien.”

HIV (or human immunodeficiency virus) weakens your immune system and therefore your body’s ability to mobilize its natural defenses in the fight against infections and disease. People who have acquired the virus are said to have an HIV infection. However HIV is not AIDS and not all although most HIV infected people will develop AIDS. When the HIV is left untreated, HIV will progress to AIDS. In other words, AIDS or the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is the advanced stage of an HIV infection.

In this stage, the number of white blood cells in your system drops radically (less than 200 CD4+ T cells vs. 1000+ per cubic millimeter of blood in a healthy individual). Due to the damage the virus does to the immune system, cancers and infections, which a person with an intact immune system can usually manage to fight off, appear and persist.

As early as 1981, the first cases of AIDS were reported in the United States. As of 2006, the total number of AIDS cases in this country alone has grown to 700,000 while there are 900,000 additional cases of HIV infections. By 1985, scientists were able to discover the HIV and confirm the fact that it is this particular virus that causes AIDS. Right now there is no known cure for both HIV and AIDS. These, and the fact that AIDS is life threatening, are the principal reasons why prevention is so important in the struggle to control the global AIDS epidemic.

Prevention is Priority

To prevent HIV-AIDS, you have to know how you can be infected with the virus and take the right precautions against infection. No, you cannot get the HIV by swimming in a public pool or sitting next to an HIV infected person. You can rest easy on that.

The ways that the virus can be transmitted are very specific. It is passed from one person to another through some body fluids — blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. However there is no evidence that it can be passed through other body fluids such as urine, sweat, tears and saliva. The most common way of transmission is when an HIV infected person has sex with an uninfected person, exposing him or her to semen or vaginal fluid or blood that contains the virus. The virus can penetrate through breaks in the lining of the genitals, the rectum and mouth and enter the body of the uninfected partner. Latex condoms, used regularly and correctly with water-based lubricants during vaginal, anal and oral sex protect you not only from HIV but also from other sexually transmitted diseases. This is important because it is easier to contract HIV if you also suffer from other STDs.

A number of people have contracted HIV because of transfusions of infected blood. However better methods of screening blood and treatments with heat have ensured that blood transfusions are now generally free from the virus. Another way is to inject your body with drugs, using needles that have been used by an HIV infected person and infected with his or her blood. The virus can also be transmitted by an HIV infected mother to her baby when she gives birth and the baby is exposed to her blood, and from her milk when she breastfeeds.

Some people who contract HIV may not exhibit any symptoms for years. Some may suffer from symptoms similar to flu shortly (a month or so) after contracting the virus, that is, fever, headache, aches and pains, fatigue, enlarged lymph nodes. Some people only exhibit symptoms about 10 years or more after being infected with the virus. Symptoms range from swollen lymph nodes, extreme fatigue, loss of weight and appetite, recurring yeast infections and pelvic inflammatory disease, depression, and memory problems.

There are three activities that are considered highly risky and may result in your contracting the virus. These are the shared use of needles to do drugs, anal intercourse without condoms, and vaginal intercourse without condoms. You should have yourself tested if you have indulged in these activities and exhibit some of the symptoms listed above. But why take a chance? You should protect your health and the health of the people around you, and have yourself tested even when you do not exhibit any symptoms. Remember, there is no cure for AIDS and AIDS can kill.

So take the test. Early testing means early detection. Early detection means the infected person can be treated while his or her immune system is still strong enough to put up the best fight possible against the HIV. It is also vital in getting help for the person who may have transmitted the infection and the other people who may have been infected. Although there is no cure for HIV and AIDS there are treatments available that can fight HIV-AIDS and HIV-AIDS related cancers and infections. These treatments can help prolong the life of an AIDS patient.

AIDS is now the leading health problem in the world. It affects not only the AIDS patient but whole families and communities, especially in poor and developing countries.

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