Is The World Making Progress In Its Fight Against Hiv/aids
The 1990s saw a substantial increase in the number of people infected with HIV and dying of AIDS.
Between 1996 and 2001 more than 3 million people were infected with HIV ever year. Since then the number of new infections began to decline and in 2017 it was reduced to below 2 million. The lowest number of new infections since 1990.
The number of AIDS-related deaths increased throughout the 1990s and reached a peak in 2005, 2006 when in both years close to 2 million people died. Since then the annual number of deaths from AIDS declined as well and was since halved. 2017 was the first year since the peak in which fewer than 1 million people died from AIDS.
The chart also shows the continuing increase in the number of people living with HIV. The rate of increase has slowed down compared to the 1990s, but the absolute number is at the highest ever with more than 36 million people globally living with HIV.
Hiv And Aids Diagnosis
HIV tests check your blood or fluid from your mouth for antibodies that your body makes in response to the virus. You can take them at a doctorâs office, a community health center, a hospital, or at home.
When you have HIV, your doctor will keep an eye on how much of the virus is in your system. You might hear them call it your âviral load.â Two things will tell them if your infection has become AIDS:
- Your CD4 count. A person with a healthy immune system has 500 to 1,600 CD4 cells in a cubic millimeter of their blood. A person with AIDS has fewer than 200. This number is called your âCD4 count.â
- AIDS-defining infections. These are also called opportunistic infections. These generally happen in people who have a CD4 count below 200. Viruses, bacteria, or fungi that donât usually make healthy people sick can cause these infections in someone with HIV or AIDS.
How long it takes HIV to become AIDS is different for everyone. If you donât get treatment, it might take 10 to 15 years. With treatment, you may never have AIDS.
Hiv/aids Is One Of The Worlds Most Fatal Infectious Disease
Almost 1 million people die from HIV/AIDS each year in some countries its the leading cause of death
HIV/AIDS is one of the worlds most fatal infectious diseases particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease has had a massive impact on health outcomes and life expectancy in recent decades.
The Global Burden of Disease is a major global study on the causes of death and disease published in the medical journal The Lancet.1 These estimates of the annual number of deaths by cause are shown here. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the change country toggle.
In the chart we see that, globally, it is the second most fatal infectious disease.
According to the Global Burden of Disease study, almost one million people died from HIV/AIDS in 2017. To put this into context: this was just over 50% higher than the number of deaths from malaria in 2017.
Its one of the largest killers globally but for some countries particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa, its the leading cause of death. If we look at the breakdown for South Africa, Botswana or Mozambique which you can do on the interactive chart we see that HIV/AIDS tops the list. For countries in Southern Sub-Saharan Africa, deaths from HIV/AIDS are more than 50% higher than deaths from heart disease, and more than twice that of cancer deaths.
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Hiv Is An Infection That Can Lead To Aids
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Its a virus that breaks down certain cells in your immune system . When HIV damages your immune system, its easier to get really sick and even die from infections that your body could normally fight off.
About 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, and more than 38,000 new infections happen every year. Most people with HIV dont have any symptoms for many years and feel totally fine, so they might not even know they have it.
Once you have HIV, the virus stays in your body for life. Theres no cure for HIV, but medicines can help you stay healthy. HIV medicine lowers or even stops your chances of spreading the virus to other people. Studies show that using HIV treatment as directed can lower the amount of HIV in your blood so much that it might not even show up on a test when this happens, you cant transmit HIV through sex.Treatment is really important . Without treatment, HIV can lead to AIDS. But with medicine, people with HIV can live long, healthy lives and stop the spread of HIV to others.
What You Can Do To Reduce Stigma
You can help reduce stigma by being respectful, compassionate and non-judgemental. Model this behaviour for others when you witness stigmatizing behaviours.
When talking about HIV, certain terms can be stigmatizing. Be thoughtful about the words you use when discussing the topic.
Learn more about the facts of HIV. Treatment can lower the amount of virus in a person’s blood to a level that’s too low to be measured on a standard blood test. This means it’s undetectable.
People living with HIV on treatment who maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their sexual partners.
Knowing and sharing these facts widely can help to reduce stigma. Share our Undetectable = Untransmittable infographic to help us raise awareness.
In addition, HIV is not transmitted through:
- healthy, unbroken skin
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What Is Hiv And Aids
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, which is the virus that causes HIV infection. The abbreviation HIV can refer to the virus or to HIV infection.
AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection.
HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells of the immune system. The loss of CD4 cells makes it difficult for the body to fight off infections and certain cancers. Without treatment, HIV can gradually destroy the immune system and HIV infection advances to AIDS.
Common Myths About Hiv/aids
When AIDS first made headlines back in the 1980s, there was plenty of misinformation surrounding the newly-discovered disease.
Today, despite all of the information made available about HIV/AIDS, there are still so many common misconceptions floating around.
Were here to set the record straight and answer questions you may be wondering aboutor are too afraid to ask.
Here are seven of the most common myths about HIV/AIDSand the facts to counter them.
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Hiv Vs Aids: Whats The Difference
Overview
It can be easy to confuse HIV and AIDS. They are different diagnoses, but they do go hand-in-hand: HIV is a virus that can lead to a condition called AIDS, also known as stage 3 HIV.
At one time, a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS was considered a death sentence. Thanks to research and the development of new treatments, people with HIV at any stage today are living long, productive lives. An HIV-positive person who adheres to regular antiretroviral treatment can expect to live a near-normal life span.
How Are Hiv And Aids Related To Cancer
People with HIV infection or AIDS can get cancer, just like anyone else. They are actually more likely to get some types of cancer than people who are not infected. In fact, some types of cancer occur so often in people with AIDS that they are considered AIDS-defining conditions that is, their presence in a person infected with HIV is a clear sign that full-blown AIDS has developed.
Some other cancers are also more common in people with HIV or AIDS than people who are not infected, but the reasons for the increased risk arent clear. It may be that some of these cancers are able to develop and grow more quickly because of a weakened immune system brought on by the infection itself. In other cases it may be because people with HIV infection or AIDS are more likely to have certain other risk factors for cancer, such as smoking.
Many cancers are no more or less common in people with HIV infection or AIDS than in people who are not infected.
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What Is The Difference Between Hiv Vs Aids
- The difference between HIV and AIDS is in the strict definition of both words. For example, HIV is defined as a virus that can be transmitted from person to person and damages the human immune system.
- AIDS is defined as a syndrome or condition that results when HIV damages the human immune system so severely that the person becomes very susceptible to additional problems, including infections like pneumonia or tuberculosis and/or the development of cancers like Kaposi’s sarcoma.
- HIV and AIDS are similar only because both of them involve the human immunodeficiency virus. Confusion exists between these two words because both the public and medical literature have tended to use HIV and AIDS interchangeably. Strictly speaking, the use of them interchangeably is incorrect. Consequently, for clarity, HIV should only refer to human immunodeficiency viruses and AIDS should only refer to the relatively end-stage syndromes that develop after HIV has extensively damaged a person’s immune system. For example, a person can have HIV, or better termed, an infection caused by the human immunodeficiency virus but not have AIDS. A person can have AIDS caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, but AIDS is a syndrome , and AIDS is not the human immunodeficiency virus .
How To Prevent Hiv From Advancing To Aids
AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV. The best way to avoid AIDS is to start antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible. Taken every day as prescribed, these drugs will keep you healthy and make your viral level so low, it canât be detected. Sticking to the right treatment can keep AIDS at bay for years and decades. It also practically eliminates the chances that youâll pass HIV to your sexual partners and others. Many HIV-positive people live normal life spans.
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How Is Hiv Spread
The spread of HIV from person to person is called HIV transmission. HIV is spread only through certain body fluids from a person who has HIV. These body fluids include:
- Blood
- Rectal fluids
- Breast milk
HIV transmission is only possible through contact with HIV-infected body fluids. In the United States, HIV is spread mainly by:
- Having anal or vaginal sex with someone who has HIV without using a condom or taking medicines to prevent or treat HIV
- Sharing injection drug equipment , such as needles or syringes, with someone who has HIV
The spread of HIV from a woman with HIV to her child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding is called perinatal transmission of HIV. For more information, read the HIVinfo fact sheet on Preventing Perinatal Transmission of HIV.
You cannot get HIV by shaking hands or hugging a person who has HIV. You also cannot get HIV from contact with objects, such as dishes, toilet seats, or doorknobs, used by a person with HIV. HIV is not spread through the air or water or by mosquitoes, ticks, or other blood-sucking insects. Use the HIVinfo You Can Safely ShareWith Someone With HIV infographic to spread this message.
What Is The Treatment For Hiv
Antiretroviral therapy is the use of HIV medicines to treat HIV infection. People on ART take a combination of HIV medicines every day.
ART is recommended for everyone who has HIV. ART prevents HIV from multiplying, which reduces the amount of HIV in the body . Having less HIV in the body protects the immune system and prevents HIV infection from advancing to AIDS. ART cannot cure HIV, but HIV medicines help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives.
ART also reduces the risk of HIV transmission. A main goal of ART is to reduce a persons viral load to an undetectable level. An undetectable viral load means that the level of HIV in the blood is too low to be detected by a viral load test. People with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative partner through sex.
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How Is Hiv/aids Diagnosed
Early HIV infection often causes no symptoms, and must be detected by testing a person’s blood for the presence of antibodiesdisease-fighting proteinsagainst HIV. These HIV antibodies generally do not reach levels high enough to detect by standard blood tests until 1 to 3 months following infection, and may take as long as 6 months. People exposed to HIV should be tested for HIV infection as soon as they think they may have been exposed to HIV.
When a person is highly likely to be infected with HIV and yet antibody tests are negative, a test for the presence of HIV itself in the blood is used. Repeat antibody testing at a later date, when antibodies to HIV are more likely to have developed, is often recommended.
What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Hiv And Aids
When first infected with HIV, a person may have:
- fever
- increased number of infections
- infections that are more severe than is typical
Without treatment, HIV can lead to a very weakened immune system and progress to AIDS. Illnesses that happen in AIDS are called “AIDS-defining conditions.”
AIDS-defining conditions include:
- very fast and severe weight loss
- a lung infection called pneumocystis pneumonia
- Kaposi sarcoma
- lymphoma
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Suspected Or Known Exposure To Hiv But No Symptoms
If you have not been tested for HIV, call your doctor if:
- You suspect that you have been exposed to HIV.
- You have engaged in high-risk behaviour and are concerned that you were exposed to HIV.
- Your sex partner engages in high-risk behaviour.
- Your sex partner may have been exposed to HIV.
- Your sex partner has HIV.
- You have any of the symptoms listed above.
Getting tested for HIV can be scary, but the condition can be managed with treatment. So it is important to get tested if you think you have been exposed.
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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Covid Is Being Criminalized
America not only blames people for acquiring illness, they also love to place blame on people who are already ill for getting other people sick. In the land of mass incarceration, illness is akin to a weapon. Despite the realities of pre-exposure prophylaxis , treatment as prevention, and other scientific advancements, several dozen states still criminalize people living with HIV for doing things that dont transmit HIV, like spitting. Other states dont have HIV-specific statutes, but will enhance criminal sentences if the person convicted is living with HIV.
There are already reports in America and in other countries of people being arrested and jailed for intentionally spreading coronavirus. In the United States, they could face criminal charges under federal anti-terrorism laws. A sick person is not a terrorist.
HIV criminalization laws are bad public health. They represent our worst fears and ideologies sanctioned by the state. They are a means to control marginalized peopleand these new ways to criminalize COVID will be used the same way. As we already know from the little data we have, Black communities are once again being ravaged by this health crisis. This will no doubt be used as an excuse to over-police communities of color, whether it be for sneezing, being unable to pay rent, or going to the supermarket.
How Hiv Is Spread
HIV is spread when blood, semen, or vaginal fluids from an infected person enter another person’s body, usually through:
- Sexual contact. The virus may enter the body through a tear in the lining of the rectum, vagina, urethra, or mouth. Most cases of HIV are spread this way.
- Infected blood. HIV can be spread when a person:
- Is accidentally stuck with a needle or other sharp item that is contaminated with HIV.
HIV may be spread more easily in the early stage of infection and again later, when symptoms of HIV-related illness develop.
A woman who is infected with HIV can spread the virus to her baby during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding.
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Myth #: Aids Is A Death Sentence
Not anymore. When AIDS was first discovered, there was no effective treatment availableand a diagnosis was ultimately considered a death sentence. Now, this is no longer true, thanks to the development of revolutionary treatment methods. Today, over 27 million people living with HIV are accessing treatment that allows them to live healthy, normal lives. Over the past two decades, the global rollout of treatment has saved nearly 17 million lives from AIDS-related deaths.