Is There Any Reason To Tell My Employer And Those I Work With That I Have Hiv
; If your job is such that there are occupational restrictions for people living with HIV then you need to disclose the fact that you have HIV. Else you do not have to tell your employer about it. Moreover, it is against the law for employers to ask you any questions about your health before they offer you a job. If in case you are asked to disclose your HIV status after you have been offered a job, think carefully about how you respond, for failing to disclose might result in termination of your job. At the end of the day, the decision is yours. After a certain period of time, you may feel comfortable disclosing your HIV positive status.;
What Does A Positive Hiv Test Result Mean
If you have a positive HIV test result, a follow-up test will be conducted. If the follow-up test is also positive, it means you are HIV-positive.
If you had a rapid screening test, the testing site will arrange a follow-up test to make sure the screening test result was correct. If you used a self-testing kit at home, a positive HIV test result must always be confirmed by additional HIV testing performed in a health care setting. If your blood was tested in a lab, the lab will conduct a follow-up test on the same sample.
If your follow-up test result confirms you are infected with HIV, the next thing is to take steps to protect your health and prevent transmission to others. Begin by talking to your health care provider about antiretroviral therapy . ART is the use of HIV medicines to treat HIV infection. People on ART take a combination of HIV medicines every day. ART can keep you healthy for many years and greatly reduces your chance of transmitting HIV to your sex partner if taken the right way, every day. Your health care provider will help you decide what HIV medicines to take.
If you have health insurance, your insurer is required to cover some medicines used to treat HIV. If you dont have health insurance, or you need help because your insurance doesnt pay for the treatment you need, there are Federal resources that may help you.
To lower your risk of transmitting HIV,
When Your Partner Is Hiv Negative
Finding out that you have HIV doesnt;mean an end to relationships with HIV negative partners. These relationships;are sometimes called serodiscordant.
Whether you were diagnosed with HIV during a relationship, or you knew you were HIV positive when the relationship started, its important for your partner to know their status too.
Remember that if youre on treatment and have an undetectable viral load, you can’t pass on HIV.
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Will My Partner Have The Same Results As Me
Dont assume that if you are positive, or negative, your partner will have the same result. It may be that your partner has a different test result to you. This is why its a good idea to encourage your partner to get tested too, whether your results are positive or negative. If youre worried about telling your partner that you are positive or asking them to take a test, speak to your healthcare advisor. They can often help you with ways to do this.
How Does One Get Hiv
; A person can get HIV from an infected person through direct contact with bodily fluids such as:
- breast milk
The highest concentration of the virus is found in blood, followed by semen, followed by vaginal fluids, and then by breast milk.
- any form of sexual contact that involves semen, pre-cum, vaginal fluids or blood.
- contact with infected blood, especially through sharing infected injections, or through blood transfusions.
- mother to baby during or before birth or while breastfeeding the baby, through breast milk.
The HIV virus basically attacks your immune system and impairs its functions. Once the immune system is seriously damaged, your body loses its ability to fight certain infections and cancers.
The count of CD4 cells in a human body shows the immunity level of the person. A person with a healthy immune system has CD4 counts between 500 and 1,600 cells per cubic millimetre. When the number of CD4 cells fall below 200 cells per cubic millimetre of blood, then the HIV infection has advanced to the final stage of AIDS.
Once a person has been diagnosed with AIDS, she or he is always considered to be an AIDS patient, even if that person’s CD4 count goes up again, or they recover from the disease that defined their AIDS diagnosis.
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How Does Being Durably Undetectable Affect My Risk Of Transmitting Hiv To A Sexual Partner
People living with HIV who take antiretroviral medications daily as prescribed and who achieve and then maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting the virus to an HIV-negative partner.;
Three large multinational research studies involving couples in which one partner was living with HIV and the other was notHPTN 052, PARTNER and Opposites Attractobserved no HIV transmission to the HIV-negative partner while the partner with HIV had a durably undetectable viral load. These studies followed approximately 3,000 male-female and male-male couples over many years while they did not use condoms. Over the course of the PARTNER and Opposites Attract studies, couples reported engaging in more than 74,000 condomless episodes of vaginal or anal intercourse.
Learn more about HIV treatment as prevention.
How Long Do I Need To Wait Before I Test
Thereâs a window period between exposure to HIV and a positive test because it takes time for your body to either build a response to the infection or for the virus to replicate enough for a test to detect it. HIV window periods can vary.
For example, if you have unprotected sex on a Friday night, and get an HIV test Monday morning, the test wonât be able to detect HIV or an immune response to HIV yet. There hasnât been enough time for a positive result, even if the virus is in your body.
To get the earliest, most accurate result, first consider when you were exposed and whether youâre showing symptoms.
- If you know exactly when you may have come into contact with the virus, take a test 3 months after that date. Tests 3 months after exposure should be 99% accurate.
- If you are having symptoms of HIV, see your doctor right away. Your doctor may want to use a test that can look for the virus directly in your body.
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Getting Pregnant When A Male Partner Is Hiv
If a male partner is HIV-positive, a procedure called sperm washing can be used to conceive. During this procedure a machine separates sperm cells from the seminal fluid, which can carry the virus. The washed sperm is then used to fertilise the womans egg using a special catheter inserted into the uterus.
If the male partner is on effective treatment and has a stable undetectable viral load, there is no risk of HIV transmission.
In-vitro-fertilisation may also be an option.
A Viral Load Test Will Let You Know If You Are Undetectable
If youre living with HIV and want to know if youre undetectable, the right test for you is Similar to nucleic acid tests to detect HIV infection, HIV viral load tests measure the number of copies of HIV in a milliliter of your blood. Its recommended that people living with HIV getHIV viral load tests generally every 3 to 6 months, in addition toother lab tests that measure your CD4 count and more.
The bottom line is that if youre living with HIV and have an undetectable viral load, you will still test positive for HIV if you get tested. But, this is expected, and doesnt mean that your treatment is not working or that you arent undetectable. As always, check with your HIV care provider if you have questions about what HIV test is right for you, or what types of tests will give you the answers you need to best care for your health.
San Francisco AIDS Foundation offers a variety of free, confidential sexual health services includingHIV and STI testing,linkage to HIV care,PrEP and more.
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Hiv And Planning A Family
, but for a woman who is; HIV-positive, or who has a male partner with HIV, planning a family requires extra consideration.
If you are in this situation, seek professional advice and find out as much as you can before you become pregnant. It may help to talk the issues through with:
- The doctor who is treating you.;
- Your HIV specialist, obstetrician or family planning specialist.;
- The Chronic Viral Illness Clinic at Melbournes Royal Womens Hospital; . CVI clinic staff are experienced and knowledgeable about HIV in pregnancy and can provide expert advice and assisted reproductive technology options for serodiscordant couples .
- A counsellor who specialises in this area.
Monogamous Relationships And Open Relationships
You should talk to your partner and agree whether your relationship will be monogamous or open .
There are risks in not discussing it and assuming that your partner agrees with you. Some people who think they are in a monogamous relationship find out that their partner has had sex with others.
Both monogamous and open relationships can bring benefits and challenges. For example, some couples in monogamous relationships say they enjoy feeling both physically and emotionally committed to only one person. However, they may feel frustrated if they have a higher or lower sex drive than their partner.
Some couples in open relationships say they enjoy the sense of freedom and variety it can bring, but it can also highlight any feelings of jealousy or insecurity within the relationship.
Mutual trust and honest communication are vital in both monogamous and open relationships.
If you both agree to be monogamous it’s important that you discuss what would happen if one of you broke this agreement. If either of you feels you must hide the fact that youve had sex outside the relationship, it can seriously threaten the relationship as well as both partners sexual health.
One advantage of monogamy is that sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and hepatitis C cannot come into the relationship.
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False Negatives After The Window Period
After the window period, in people who arent taking antiretrovirals, false negative results are extremely rare.
The accuracy of a single HIV test depends in part on characteristics known as sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity is an indication of test performance when testing people who do have HIV, whereas specificity reflects test performance in relation to people who do not have HIV. Many modern HIV testing devices are extremely sensitive and extremely specific in relation to long-standing HIV infection. Theres more information on sensitivity and specificity on another page.
To some extent, the chances of having a false negative result also depend on how common HIV is in your community. When very few people among those testing actually have HIV, it is even more likely that a negative HIV test result is accurate. This is expressed by something known to healthcare workers as the negative predictive value.
incidence
The proportion of people who acquire an infection or develop a condition during a specified period of time. Incidence reflects newly acquired infections and conditions. See also prevalence.
For example, take a test with 99.5% sensitivity and 99.5% specificity. If this test is used in a setting where 0.2% of people have HIV , the probability of a negative result being correct is 99.998%.
If the same test is used in a setting with a much higher HIV prevalence of 25% , the probability of a negative result being correct is marginally lower, at 99.832%.
What Causes False Positive Results
HIV tests are based on the detection of antibodies to HIV. These are proteins produced by the immune system in response to a foreign substance, such as HIV. The main cause of false positive results is that the test has detected antibodies, but they are not antibodies to HIV they are antibodies to another substance or infection. Tests are not meant to react to other types of antibodies, but it sometimes happens.
There are other reasons why a test may give a false positive result. Depending on the testing device, reading the test result may rely on subjective interpretation. When the result is borderline, experienced staff give more consistently accurate results. A false positive result could also be the result of a sample being mislabelled, mixed up with another persons, or some other clerical or technical error.
Less commonly, false positive results may occur in people who have recently had a flu vaccine, are taking part in an HIV vaccine study, or have an autoimmune disease .
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What You Can Do
If a healthcare provider makes an HIV diagnosis, they will help determine the best treatment. Treatments have become more effective over the years, making the virus more manageable.
Treatment can start right away to reduce or limit the amount of damage to the immune system. Taking medication to suppress the virus to undetectable levels in the blood also makes it virtually impossible to transmit the virus to someone else.
If a person receives a negative test result but isnt sure if its accurate, they should get retested. A healthcare provider can help determine what to do in this situation.
What Does A Negative Result Mean
If your HIV test result comes back negative it means that the test hasnt found signs of HIV infection.
However, if you have been at risk since your last test then youll need to test again. Also remember that most HIV tests can only detect HIV one to three months after exposure. If you were at risk more recently than this you will need to test again to be sure that your results are accurate.
Using a;condom; is the best way to protect yourself from HIV.
Be aware that testing negative for HIV doesnt mean that your partners are HIV-negative. HIV tests only apply to the person who took the test. If any of your previous or current partners are worried about HIV, encourage them to take a test.
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Initially Wondered How She Got Hiv But Then Felt The Question Could Not Be Usefully Answered
And I think oh my God. How can How did I get this thing? That’s what I said to myself. And then I said, ‘I’ll never know, really, wh- how I got it.’ Because I was once married. It could be that I had it even before the blood transfusion. It could be. It could be, it could be from my partner. Who knows? BecauseI don’t, I don’t know, really.;But we just thought probably it’s the blood. Because that, that did seem the obvious thing. But I’ll never know really the where it really came from. And I said to myself, by the way, ‘Even if I know where it comes from, where how I got it, it’s useless.’ There’s no point now. It’s too late now. I’ve just to think and get on with my life.
Hiv And Getting Pregnant
If you are HIV-positive and become pregnant, or would like to have a baby, it is strongly recommended that you talk to specialists.
If you live in Victoria, The Victorian HIV Service at the Alfred Hospital and the Chronic Viral Illness Clinic at the Royal Womens Hospital can provide you with more information.
At the Chronic Viral Illness Clinic at the Royal Womens Hospital you can discuss your options with doctors who specialise in HIV and reproductive health.;
This clinic specialises in helping serodiscordant couples to conceive safely.
Timing of sex to coincide with ovulation can be discussed with a healthcare provider to increase your chances of getting pregnant while reducing the risk of passing on the virus.
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What Does A Reactive Test Result Mean
A reactive test result is a possible positive result, but means that you will need to go back to test again to confirm this. The healthcare worker will talk you through everything you need to know and help you with;any worries that you may have.
You will need to give blood sample, which will then be sent to the lab for testing. At this stage, it’s very important to follow the advice of the healthcare professional.
Alzheimers Diseaseno Increased Risk
According to Professor Clifford, the elephant in the room related to serious, age-related cognitive decline is Alzheimers disease . While the prevalence of AD in the general population rises above age 70, it is logical that if there were an acceleration of AD related to HIV, it should be emerging in this population as approach 70. That was not seen. In support of this finding, Professor Clifford noted that there are actually only a very few case reports of documented AD in any HIV-positive patients.
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Exploring The Impact Of Aging On The Brains Of Hiv
- A French study compared neurocognitive function between people with and without HIV
- HIV-positive participants were more likely to have some degree of neurocognitive impairment
- However, most participants with impairment experienced mild or no symptoms
Cases of AIDS were first recognized in the early 1980s in North America and Europe. A key observation in those early years was that previously healthy young men had unexpectedly developed severe immune deficiency. As a result, bacteria, fungi and parasites would become opportunistictake advantage of weakened immunityand ravage major organ systems, including the brain.
However, in the early years of the pandemic there was no obvious cause for the cluster of brain issues that some people with HIV developed. This cluster of issues included challenges with concentrating, performing calculations, memory and thinking clearly. Eventually scientists were able to identify HIV infection as the underlying cause of these problems. As there was no effective HIV treatment in those early days, symptoms would steadily grow worse and additional problems could appear, including difficulty coordinating muscles and movement, severe changes in personality and, in extreme cases, dementia.