What Is Pep And How Does It Prevent Hiv
PEP stands for post-exposure prophylaxis. Its a series of pills you start taking after youve been exposed to HIV that lowers your chances of getting HIV. You have to start PEP within 72 hours , after you were exposed to HIV for it to work. The sooner you start it, the better. Every hour counts, so if you think you were exposed to HIV, call your nurse or doctor or go to the emergency room right away. PEP is only for emergencies it doesnt take the place of using condoms or PrEP. Read more about PEP.
Will Having Hiv Affect My Pregnancy
Babies can get infected with HIV during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding thats why its recommended that everyone get tested early in pregnancy. If you have HIV, antiretroviral medications greatly lower your chances of giving HIV to your baby. With treatment, less than 2 out of 100 babies born to women with HIV will be infected. Without treatment, about 25 out of 100 babies will be infected.
What Is Art And How Does It Help Prevent Hiv
Antiretroviral therapy is a combination of medicines that slows down the effects of HIV in your body and can help you stay healthy for many years. It can also lower or even stop your chances of giving HIV to anyone else.
ART lowers the amount of HIV in your body sometimes to the point where HIV wont show up on standard blood tests. If your HIV viral load is so low that certain tests cant see it, its called undetectable. When someone has an undetectable viral load, they cant spread HIV to others during sex.
Its important to remember that even with an undetectable viral load, HIV is still present in your body. If you stop treatment your viral load can go up, making it possible to pass HIV to others you have sex with. Your doctor or nurse can help you find the treatment thats best for you to help keep your viral load low, so you can stay healthy.
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How Can I Protect Myself From Getting Hiv
- get tested and find out if you or your sexual partner has HIV: if you have more than one partner , get tested regularly. The risk of getting HIV is higher the more sexual partners you have.
- use condoms
- get tested and treated for sexually transmissible infections . Having an STI increases your risk of getting HIV or giving it to other people. Ask your partners to get tested and treated for STIs too.
- ask your doctor about pre-exposure prophylaxis . PrEP is medicine to stop you getting HIV. It is for people who dont have HIV but have a high risk of getting it.
High risk means:
- people whose partner has HIV
- people who have more than one sex partner
- a man that has sex with other men
- people who dont use condoms every time
- people who share needles, syringes, water and spoons to inject drugs
How Are Hiv And Aids Diagnosed
- Screening tests are recommended for patients who are at risk for developing HIV and AIDS.
- Antibody tests were traditionally used to diagnose HIV.
- An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay blood test was used for screening for antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus as evidence of infection.
- Another blood test, the Western blot assay, was then used to confirm HIV infections.
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What Is The Treatment For Hiv Or Aids
Medication: The drugs used to treat HIV or AIDS are called antiretroviral medicines – HIV is classed as a retrovirus. These medicines are very powerful in controlling the virus and slowing the progression of the infection, but they do not cure it.
Treatment regimen: The recommended treatment for HIV is a combination of three or more medicines, and this regimen is called Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy .
Aids Diagnosis Is More Complicated
AIDS is late stage HIV infection. Healthcare providers look for a few factors to determine if HIV latency has progressed to stage 3 HIV.
Because HIV destroys immune cells called CD4 cells, one way healthcare providers diagnose AIDS is to do a count of those cells. A person without HIV can have anywhere from 500 to 1,200 CD4 cells. When the cells have dropped to 200, a person with HIV is considered to have stage 3 HIV.
Another factor signaling that stage 3 HIV has developed is the presence of opportunistic infections. Opportunistic infections are diseases caused by viruses, fungi, or bacteria that would not make a person with an undamaged immune system sick.
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Are Women More Likely To Get Hiv
Yes. Biologically speaking, a woman is more vulnerable to heterosexual transmission of the disease because the genitalia are easily exposed to seminal fluids.
Gender inequality has great influence on the spread of HIV/AIDS among women. In some cultures, many women and girls are often put in situations where they engage in non-consensual sex or have sex for money.
In the U.S., minority communities have been hit the hardest by HIV. African American and Hispanic women together represent less than 25% of all U.S. women, yet they account for more than 78% of AIDS cases reported among women in the country.
What About Existing Drugs
Scientists expect that recently approved antiviral drugs, such as Mercks pill, will work as effectively against the new variant because these drugs do not target the spike protein they work by stopping the virus from replicating. However, there is a bigger risk that monoclonal antibodies, such as Regenerons treatment, could fail or partially fail because they target parts of the virus that will have mutated.
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Is Hiv And Aids The Same Thing Hiv
- Slides: 44
Is HIV and AIDS the same thing?
HIV n n n Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome A specific type of virus HIV invades the helper T cells to replicate itself.
AIDS n Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome n HIV is the virus that causes AIDS n n Disease limits the bodys ability to fight infection A person with AIDS has a very weak immune system
Four Stages of HIV
Stage 1 – Primary n Short, flu-like illness – occurs one to six weeks after infection n no symptoms at all n Infected person can infect other people
Stage 2 – Asymptomatic n Lasts for an average of ten years n This stage is free from symptoms n There may be swollen glands n n The level of HIV in the blood drops to very low levels HIV antibodies are detectable in the blood
Stage 3 – Symptomatic n The symptoms are mild n The immune system deteriorates n emergence of opportunistic infections and cancers
Stage 4 – HIV AIDS n n The immune system weakens The illnesses become more severe leading to an AIDS diagnosis
Opportunistic Infections associated with AIDS n Bacterial Tuberculosis n Strep pneumonia n n Viral Kaposi Sarcoma n Herpes n Influenza n
Opportunistic Infections associated with AIDS n Parasitic n n Pneumocystis carinii Fungal Candida n Cryptococcus n
Modes of HIV/AIDS Transmission
Through Bodily Fluids n Blood products n Semen n Vaginal fluids n Breast Milk
Through IV Drug Use n Sharing Needles n n Without sterilization Increases the chances of contracting HIV
Through Sex
Treatment Options
Thank You!
How Is Hiv Treated
There are many ways to treat the different stages of HIV, but they usually involve a combination of two or three antiretroviral drugs . One focus of s work to date has been to make ARVs available to mothers in developing countries. To avoid passing HIV from mother to child, the World Health Organization recommends a regimen of three drugs during pregnancy and breastfeeding for the mother and a six-week course of a drug called nevirapine for their newborn babies.
These drugs can have side effects, including nausea, headaches, anemia and depression, but if treated, the life expectancy of an HIV positive person is comparable to someone whos HIV-free. If it isnt treated, the virus will lower a persons immunity, causing them to develop AIDS.
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What Conditions Are Considered To Be Opportunistic
Some of the most common of these OIs/cancers among HIV-positive people include:
Cancer: The types of cancers that are you are more likely to get if you have AIDs include lymphoma, Kaposis sarcoma, invasive cervical cancer, anal cancer, liver cancer, and cancers of the mouth, throat and lungs.
Candidiasis : This condition is caused by Candida fungus. It can happen in the skin, nails and mucous membranes throughout the body, such as the mouth or the vagina. The cases can be troublesome, but thrush is especially dangerous when it affects the esophagus or parts of the respiratory system .
Pneumonia: This respiratory condition is most commonly caused by _Pneumocystis jirovecii and the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae._
Salmonella: This infection is spread through contaminated food and water. It causes diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.
Toxoplasmosis: This disease is caused by a parasites that live in cats and rodents and other warm-blooded animals. The infection is spread through the feces. Toxoplasmosis can cause severe problems in the lungs, heart, brain and other organs. If you have a cat, wear gloves to change the litter and be thorough in washing your hands.
How Can I Protect Myself
The best way to protect yourself from HIV is to not have sex and not share needles.
If you decide to have sex, reduce your risk of getting HIV by:
- using a condom every time you have sex
- getting tested for HIV and making sure all partners do too
- reducing the number of sexual partners you have
- getting tested and treated for STDs having an STD increases the risk of HIV infection
Understanding how HIV spreads can help you make safer choices about sex. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions about HIV and if you want to get tested.
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Hiv Stigma And Discrimination
HIV can prompt intense feelings in people, regardless of their HIV status. It is sometimes viewed with a sense of unacceptability or disgrace. A person with HIV may feel shame and despair about their status. An HIV-negative person may be fearful or angry when they discover someone has HIV. The relationship of these feelings to HIV is referred to as stigma.Felt stigma refers to deep feelings of shame and self-loathing, and the expectation of discrimination. It can have serious negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV by discouraging them from getting tested, receiving support, or taking treatment. It may also lead people to engage in high-risk behaviours that harm their health, and contribute to new HIV infections.Enacted stigma is the experience of unfair treatment by others. For people living with HIV this can be in the form of being treated differently and poorly, or through rejection, abuse, or discrimination.HIV stigma is particularly harmful when it overlaps with other factors that are stigmatised such as if a person uses drugs, is a sex worker, is trans or gender diverse.Breaking down stigma is a community response where:
If you have experienced stigma or discrimination from a health care provider, and are unable to resolve your complaint with them directly, contact the Health Complaints Commissioner
Can Hiv Be Prevented
To reduce the risk of getting HIV, people who are sexually active should:
- use a condom every time they have sex
- get tested for HIV and make sure all partners do too
- reduce their number of sexual partners
- get tested and treated for STDs having an STD increases the risk of HIV infection
- consider taking a medicine every day if they are at very high risk of getting infected
For everyone:
- Do not inject drugs or share any kind of needle.
- Do not share razors or other personal objects that may touch blood.
- Do not touch anyone else’s blood from a cut or sore.
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How Likely Is It To Spread Around The World
So far, the majority of confirmed cases have been in South Africa, with a handful in Botswana and Hong Kong. A further case was detected on Thursday evening in Israel an individual who had returned from Malawi and two other cases are suspected in the country. On Friday, Belgium confirmed it had detected a case in someone who had travelled to Egypt and Turkey.
Nevertheless, given that there is community transmission in southern Africa, if there is a transmissibility advantage the new variant is likely to have already spread undetected to other countries.
Previous experience shows travel bans tend to buy time, but, short of taking a zero-Covid approach with hard lockdowns, these measures are unlikely to stop the spread of a new variant entirely.
How Often Do You Need To Get Tested For Hiv
How often you should get tested depends on your personal practices, risk behaviours, and how often you engage in them.
For most people, it is important to have a full sexual health test at least once each year. This testing includes:
- HIV
Even if you always use condoms, it is recommended you get tested annually as condoms dont provide 100% protection against HIV and STIs.
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How To Protect Against Hiv
There are several steps that can be taken to minimize the risk of being exposed to or infected with HIV. These include:
- 01Stay in a faithful relationship with a single uninfected partner.
- 02Use male or female condoms correctly each time you have sex.
- 03Do not share needles or syringes with anyone else.
- 04Do not share equipment used to prepare drugs for injection.
- 05Do not share razors or toothbrushes with others.
- 06Do not share any sex instruments.
How Hiv Infection Works
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The virus attacks and weakens the immune system, making it less effective. Without treatment the immune system eventually becomes so damaged it cant fight infections and diseases.
This is when someone is considered to have AIDS . Essentially AIDS is an advanced stage of HIV infection, which is why medical professionals sometimes refer to AIDS as late-stage HIV. At this stage even illnesses such as flu can prove life threatening.
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What Is Hiv And What Is Aids
Dr Kenny Win-Leung Siu, who works at specialist HIV hospital Mildmay, defines both HIV and AIDS in a simplified, understandable way.
“Human immunodeficiency virus is the virus that attacks a person’s immune system. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a state of untreated HIV. This is where a person’s immune system is unable to fight off illnesses that a healthy immune system would have defended against.”
HIV is most often contracted by having sex with a person who is HIV positive without using a condom. The virus does not spread simply like the common cold. HIV spreads via bodily fluids, such as semen, blood, vaginal fluids, menstrual blood and breast milk.
Where Can You Get Tested For Hiv And Seek Emotional Support
You should consult your GP if you have concerns about your sexual health. You can also make an appointment at your local sexual health clinic to be tested for HIV.
Additionally, Dr Win-Leung Siu recommends contacting specific HIV organisations such as Terrence Higgins Trust and Positively UK for information and support regarding HIV and AIDS.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Hiv
An early HIV infection is often marked by flu-like symptoms, including a headache, fever or rash. These symptoms are the bodys natural immune response to the virus. The T cell count drops very quickly, before leveling out a bit though not to previous levels. This is the best time to start treatment.
Reducing Hiv Risks From Chemsex And Drug Use
Some people use drugs such as ice , GHB, ecstasy , ketamine and cocaine) to enhance their sexual experiences . Chemsex can make you lose your inhibitions and be risky if you:
- Inject drugs.
- Forget to take your HIV medications.
- Are taking PreP it can be less effective if it is mixed with other drugs.
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