Is Hiv Bad To Have

Get Help For Alcoholism

Impaired Decision Making

Drinking alcohol can make it hard to think clearly and affect someones ability to make smart and responsible decisions. For example, an HIV+ individual that has been drinking might not use a condom or tell their partner that they are infected with the virus. In the United States, HIV is most commonly spread by having anal or vaginal sex with someone who has HIV without using a condom. Unprotected sex can also lead to sexually transmitted diseases, which can divert the immune systems resources away from fighting HIV and increase the chances of getting sick. Infections like herpes and gonorrhea tend to be more severe in people with HIV.

In addition to engaging in unprotected sex, drinking too much can make it hard for individuals to take their medications correctly. Research has shown that people with HIV who drink alcohol are more likely to miss doses of their treatment than those who dont. In one study of alcohol use and HIV medication adherence, it was found that on days in which participants drank, they were 9 times more likely to miss a dose, and that each drink they had increased the odds of their missing a dose by 20%.

Negative Psychological Effects

Reducing Transmission Risk During Labour

You have a choice about how to have your baby, although your doctor will advise about options for labour depending on your health and other factors.

The safest way to deliver your baby whether by vaginal or caesarean delivery depends on how much HIV is in your blood. In general, a vaginal delivery is preferred for both your safety and your babys safety if the risk of transmission of HIV is low.

If you have a high level of the virus in your blood, a caesarean section is recommended.

You can also have a planned caesarean if thats your wish.

What Else Should I Know

The two most important things you can do for your friend are to be there for support in whatever way feels natural and to keep your friend’s HIV diagnosis private. Just being there to hang out or eat lunch together can help keep things in perspective for everyone.

Life is for living. If friends know that you care about them for them â for the creative, smart, funny people they are â that can be the best thing you can do for a person living with any type of medical condition.

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The Death Toll From Aids Is Astronomic

Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in 1981, more than 70 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus, and approximately 35 million people have died from AIDS, including more than 675,000 in the United States, according to agencies such as the World Health Organization and the CDC. People in other parts of the world are much more severely affected in sub-Saharan Africa, almost 1 in every 25 adults has HIV. Overall, however, the rate of new HIV infections and diagnoses is now dropping in the United States, likely thanks to prevention efforts, the CDC reports. But progress has been uneven. Certain groups, such as Hispanic and Latino gay and bisexual men, have had rising numbers of infections and diagnoses.

Ongoing Stigma And Discrimination

Dr Neilsen says that Queenslanders who are HIV positive, like Nathan, can face ongoing stigma and discrimination, even if theyre taking medication that means they are not at risk of transmitting HIV to others.

Unfortunately, the stigma and discrimination still persist, he says. In recent years, I’ve still seen patients newly diagnosed with HIV experience awful discrimination. We still see rejection by family, rejection by their lovers and so on, at a time when that is really unjustified. It’s appalling. In that respect, HIV still has the potential to destroy relationships and cause major damage to people’s self-esteem.

Dr Neilsen finds this frustrating, particularly because modern treatments mean that people with HIV who are taking ART and have undetectable HIV viral loads in their blood results, are extremely unlikely to transmit the virus to others.

These days people are unlikely to get HIV from someone on HIV treatment, he says. The modes of transmission are well known, and people do not get HIV through normal social contact. If someone has a friend, family member or partner who is infected with HIV, they should be supportive and encourage them to seek treatment. People should be respecting and looking after each other as though they were not infected with HIV.

He thinks a lot of this discrimination comes from a lack of understanding in the community about what HIV actually is.

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What Can I Do

Think before you speak: You may not know it, but using certain phrases and language can lead to stigmatising people living with HIV. Questions like R U clean? fuel HIV stigma because of the negative connotations associated with HIV. Before you ask someone about their testing history, always consider the words you choose.

Arm yourself with knowledge: Its important to keep informed about what the HIV landscape looks like today by understanding how HIV is transmitted, the prevention methods available and the work being done to end HIV.

Hard Numbers Show Results On The Ground

UNAIDS is the lead multilateral organization coordinating the global HIV/AIDS response. UNAIDS brings together the efforts and resources of 11 United Nations organizations, 22 member states as well as civil society representatives involved in the HIV/AIDS response. Canada has contributed over $100 million to UNAIDS since its inception in 1996. With the support of Canada and other donors, the co-sponsors of the Joint Programme contributed to the following in 2015:

• The World Health Organization rolled out guidelines on key populations affected by HIV/AIDS in all regions and produced a guide to help countries to plan, develop and monitor services.
• UNFPA supplied 686.8 million male condoms and 14.7 million female condoms.
• 71% of 97 UNFPA-supported countries maintained adequate supplies of condoms in their inventories and experienced no out- of-stock periods.
• The UNAIDS Secretariat, together with UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA and UNICEF are collaborating on a campaign to end adolescent AIDS.

In research led by the World Health Organization overt five-thousand mother-infant pairs were enrolled in studies and a cumulative total of 3,399 health care workers were trained in three countries: Malawi, Nigeria and Zimbabwe since the inception of the project between 2011 and 2016.

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Stage : Acute Primary Infection

The early symptoms of HIV can feel like having the flu. Around one to four weeks after getting HIV, you may start to experience these flu-like symptoms. These normally dont last long . You may only get some of the symptoms and some people dont have any symptoms at all.

Symptoms can include:

• joint aches and pains
• muscle pain.

These symptoms happen because your body is reacting to the HIV virus. Cells that are infected with HIV are circulating throughout your blood system. In response, your immune system tries to attack the virus by producing HIV antibodies this process is called seroconversion. Timing varies but once you have HIV it can take your body up to a few months to go through the seroconversion process.

Having these symptoms alone does not mean you definitely have HIV. The only way to know if you have HIV is by taking a test. You should always visit your healthcare professional if youre worried about or think youve been at risk of getting HIV, even if you feel well and dont have any symptoms. They can then arrange for you to get tested.

HIV will not always show up in a test at this early stage, and you may need to test again later to confirm your result . Your healthcare professional will talk to you about the timing of your test and answer any concerns. Its important not delay speaking to a healthcare worker if you are worried about HIV.

How Is Hiv Treated

Antiretroviral treatment is used to treat people with HIV. ART stops the virus from multiplying and reduces a persons risk of developing AIDS.

While not a cure for HIV, ART treatments are so effective that, if taken properly, they can make the virus undetectable in a persons system. This means that HIV wont make the person sick, and that they have virtually no risk of transmitting HIV to other people, even sexual partners.

These treatments have revolutionised the way HIV is treated and drastically changed the prognosis for people diagnosed with HIV. For Nathan, its the difference between needing to self-inject medication, to taking just a few pills each day.

I spent about eight months on the injectable medication when I was only about 16. I was injecting the drugs twice a day in the stomach and having to do that all myself. Comparing that to what Im doing now, its so much easier. Now I’m even talking to my doctor about dropping tablets and going onto one or two tablet regimens.

Dr Neilsen has been working with patients with HIV for decades. He remembers how dire the disease was for his patients in the 1980s.

With modern treatments, it is expected that people with HIV will live normal, healthy lives, and never go on to develop AIDS.

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What Is The Outlook

No cure exists for either HIV or HPV at this time.

Most of the time, however, HPV causes no long-term health problems. The overall outlook depends on any conditions that result from HPV and screening frequency.

With current treatments, HIV can be managed and viral loads made undetectable. Effective medications and treatment now dramatically extend life expectancy.

A vaccine for HPV is available for both men and women.

People should get the HPV vaccine at age 11 or 12. People who receive the vaccine

Condom Availability And Use

Thailands 100% Condom Program, which began in 1991 to offer condoms free of charge nationwide, particularly to sex workers and brothels, is widely credited with averting a generalised HIV epidemic in the country.

Subsequent condom distribution and awareness campaigns have since run and often target young people. In 2016, health authorities launched a new, three-year condom campaign aimed at young people, distributing about 40 million free condoms per year.62 Despite this, condom use among this age group is low. For instance, Thailand has the second highest rates of teenage pregnancy in South East Asia.

Among adults of all ages, it is estimated that around two thirds use condoms with non-regular partners.63

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Stage : The Asymptomatic Stage

Once a person has been through the acute primary infection stage and seroconversion process, they can often start to feel better. In fact, HIV may not cause any other symptoms for up to 10 or even 15 years .

However, the virus will still be active, infecting new cells and making copies of itself. HIV can still be passed on during this stage. If left untreated, over time, HIV infection will cause severe damage to the immune system.

Treatment Can Reduce The Amount Of Hiv In The Blood To The Point Where It Isn’t Detected By Standard Testing Which Is Called Being Undetectable

ART reduces the viral load, or the amount of the virus in the blood and bodily fluids. Through proper treatment, the viral load is reduced to the point where it cant be detected by standard testing measures, Fauci says. But once the virus is undetectable, you still have to continue with treatment and get tested regularly to make sure your viral load stays low. And it definitely doesn’t mean you are cured. “Even when you are undetectable, there is still a latent ‘reservoir’ of the virus in their body, hiding in your immune cells and tissues, that we don’t know how to get rid of,” says Rizza.

However, it isn’t always easy to become and stay undetectable. “Only about 25% of people with HIV in the US have reached this stage we need to do a better job of making sure people get on the right drug therapy and take it consistently,” Johnston says. It’s especially difficult for people living in poverty, who face additional stigmas and barriers to care.

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Signs You May Have Hiv

Health Check Certified By: Dr. Gerald Morris

Human immunodeficiency virus is a devastating illness that affects over 1 million Americans. HIV may develop into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome . The symptoms of HIV are varied, and many people do not know they are infected until years after they have acquired it. HIV is spread through bodily fluids. The virus can pass through blood, semen, pre-ejaculate, and vaginal fluid. It may also be spread to children through breast milk.

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There is currently no cure for HIV, but scientists around the world are testing hopeful possibilities. To minimize your chances of contracting HIV, avoid blood to blood contact and practice safe sex by using condoms and having your partners tested for HIV.

If you are worried about your risk of infection, get tested by a healthcare professional. HIV testing is quick, simple, and accurate.

Thirteen signs and symptoms that you may have HIV are

Why Is Hiv In Africa So Severe

Many people have noticed that HIV in Africa appears to be extremely severe, and some have wondered why this is. There are a number of reasons why HIV in Africa is such a serious problem, ranging from interactions with other diseases present in Africa to social and cultural issues unique to Africa. It is important to remember that HIV/AIDS in Africa is not a single epidemic, as some African nations are managing the situation better than others, and different HIV clades are present in different regions, suggesting that several distinct epidemics are going on.

One of the main reasons that HIV in Africa is so prevalent is that the disease probably originated in Africa, according to the latest genetic research. Obviously, the longer a disease is present in a region, the more likely it is to infect a large proportion of the population. Especially since HIV can have a very long incubation period, Africans could be infected for years without knowing it until the disease emerged, spreading HIV all the while.

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Should I Take A Medicine To Help Prevent Hiv

PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV transmission but isnt necessary in a monogamous relationship if your HIV-positive partner is taking their medication as prescribed and has an undetectable viral load. In rare cases, says Wohlfeiler, hell prescribe PrEP in this situation after discussing pros and cons of the treatment and making it clear to them that from a medical perspective, they dont really need to go on preventive therapy.

If someone is not undetectable or for some reason cant take their HIV medications every day, I would definitely want the negative individual to be on PrEP, says Gandhi. Treatment as prevention relies on people taking their medications and staying undetectable.

Going on PrEP is also a good idea if your relationship isnt monogamous and youre regularly having sex with different partners, says Wohlfeiler. If youre going to have occasional encounters outside the relationship, he notes, condoms are just as effective at preventing HIV and also have the advantage of protecting you from other STDs.

The Medication Prep Reduces The Risk Of Getting Hiv From Sex By More Than 90%

Pre-exposure prophylaxis is when people who are at high risk for HIV take HIV medicines daily to lower their chances of getting infected or to stop HIV from spreading in the body. “There’s a misconception that PrEP isn’t effective but that’s not true. It’s not effective if you don’t take it correctly. But if you do take it properly and as prescribed, you will dramatically reduce your risk of HIV infection, often by about 95%,” Fauci says.

So if you are at risk, you should talk to your doctor about whether PrEP is right for you. “The data on PrEP for men is stronger but PrEP can be used by women as well” Fauci says. The risk of getting HIV from sex is even lower if you combine PrEP with condoms. “Of course, it isn’t 100% effective and some people who have taken it correctly have acquired HIV infections, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a very effective option to protect yourself,” Johnston says.

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Hiv And Aids In Thailand

KEY POINTS

• Thailand has one of the highest HIV prevalences in Asia and the Pacific, accounting for 9% of the regions total population of people living with HIV.
• Although the epidemic is in decline, prevalence remains high among key affected groups, with young people from key populations particularly at risk.
• Thailand is the first country to effectively eliminate mother-to-child transmissions, with a transmission rate of less than 2%.
• In 2018, Thailand began to scale up PrEP in order to make it nationally available to people at high risk of HIV, making it a leader in the region.
• Thailand hopes to be one of the first countries to end AIDS by 2030. However to achieve this, significantly more young people and key affected populations need to be reached.

Explore this page to read more about populations most affected by HIV, HIV testing and counselling programmes, HIV prevention programmes, , , , barriers to prevention, and the way forward for Thailand.

Of Thailands population of nearly 70 million, an estimated 470,000 people were living with HIV and 14,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2019.1 After East and Southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific is the region with the largest number of people living with HIV, with Thailand home to a large proportion of the regions HIV positive people.2

Young people from key populations are particularly at risk of acquiring HIV. In 2018, around half of new HIV infections in Thailand occurred among people aged 15-24.6