Tuesday, March 19, 2024

What Is The Treatment For Hiv Aids

How Do Hiv/aids Medicines Work

What is HIV and AIDS? | Transmission, Prevention, Treatment | Infectious Diseases | Don’t Memorise

HIV/AIDS medicines reduce the amount of HIV in your body, which helps by

  • Giving your immune system a chance to recover. Even though there is still some HIV in your body, your immune system should be strong enough to fight off infections and certain HIV-related cancers.
  • Reducing the risk that you will spread HIV to others

Treatment Options For Hiv

Treatment should begin as soon as possible after a diagnosis of HIV, regardless of viral load.

The main treatment for HIV is antiretroviral therapy, a combination of daily medications that stop the virus from reproducing. This helps protect CD4 cells, keeping the immune system strong enough to take measures against disease.

Antiretroviral therapy helps keep HIV from progressing to AIDS. It also helps reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others.

When treatment is effective, the viral load will be undetectable. The person still has HIV, but the virus is not visible in test results.

However, the virus is still in the body. And if that person stops taking antiretroviral therapy, the viral load will increase again, and the HIV can again start attacking CD4 cells.

Emergency Hiv Pills: Pep

72 hours should speak with a healthcare provider about PEP. This medication may be able to stop the infection, especially if a person takes it as soon as possible after the potential exposure.

A person takes PEP for 28 days, and a doctor monitors the person for HIV afterward. PEP is not 100% effective, so it is important to use prevention techniques, such as barrier protection and safe injection practices, including while taking PEP.

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How Is Hiv Diagnosed

A doctor may suspect HIV if symptoms last and no other cause can be found.

If you have been exposed to HIV, your immune system will make antibodies to try to destroy the virus. Doctors use tests to find these HIV antibodies or antigens in urine, saliva, or blood.

If a test on urine or saliva shows that you are infected with HIV, you will probably have a blood test to confirm the results.

Most doctors use a blood test to diagnose HIV infection. If the test is positive , a test to detect HIV DNA or RNA will be done to be sure.

HIV antibodies may show up in the blood as early as 2 to 4 weeks after contact but can also take as long as 3 to 6 months to show up in the blood. If you think you have been exposed to HIV but you test negative for it:

  • Get tested again. A repeat test can be done after a few weeks to be sure you are not infected.
  • Meanwhile, take steps to prevent the spread of the virus, in case you do have it.

You can get HIV testing in most doctors’ offices, public health units, hospitals, and HIV care clinics.

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What Is Hiv Treatment

HIV treatment involves taking medicines that slow the progression of the virus in your body. HIV is a type of virus called a retrovirus, and the combination of drugs used to treat it is called antiretroviral therapy . ART is recommended for all people living with HIV, regardless of how long theyve had the virus or how healthy they are. ART must be taken every day, exactly as your health care provider prescribes.

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

In 1996, highly active antiretroviral therapy was introduced for people with HIV and AIDS. HAART â often referred to as the anti-HIV “cocktail” â is a combination of three or more drugs, such as protease inhibitors and other anti-retroviral medications. The treatment is highly effective in slowing the rate at which the HIV virus replicates itself, which may slow the spread of HIV in the body. The goal of HAART is to reduce the amount of virus in your body, or the viral load, to a level that can no longer be detected with blood tests.

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How Do I Avoid Passing Hiv On To Someone Else

If you are infected with HIV, the best way to prevent spreading HIV infection to others is to:

  • take your medication as prescribed there is a very low risk of passing on HIV if your own infection is under control
  • use condoms and a water-based lubricant for anal and vaginal sex
  • never share needles, syringes and other injecting equipment

If you have HIV infection, you are expected to notify anyone who is at risk of exposure from you:

  • Tell people you have had sex or taken drugs with. Your doctor can help you decide who may be at risk and help you to contact them either personally or anonymously.
  • Tell anyone you intend to have sex with about your HIV status . This is required by law in some states.

If you are pregnant, talk to your doctor about starting antiretroviral treatment to prevent the infection passing to the baby during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Read more about HIV and pregnancy.

How Are Hiv And Aids Treated

What is HIV?

The most effective treatment for HIV is antiretroviral therapy . This is a combination of several medicines that aims to control the amount of virus in your body. Antiretroviral medicines slow the rate at which the virus grows. Taking these medicines can reduce the amount of virus in your body and help you stay healthy.

After you start treatment, it’s important to take your medicines exactly as your doctor tells you. When treatment doesn’t work, it is often because HIV has become resistant to the medicine. This can happen if you don’t take your medicines correctly.

Other steps you can take include the following:

  • Keep your immune system strong by eating right, quitting smoking, and learning how to avoid infection.
  • Monitor your CD4+ counts to check the effect of the virus on your immune system.
  • See a counselor to help you handle the strong emotions and stress that can follow an HIV diagnosis.
  • Reduce stress so that you can better manage the HIV illness.

Starting treatment

Medical experts recommend that people begin treatment for HIV as soon as they know that they are infected. Treatment is especially important for pregnant women, people who have other infections , and people who have symptoms of AIDS.

Research suggests that treatment of early HIV with antiretroviral medicines has long-term benefits, such as a stronger immune system.

Treatment to prevent HIV infection

Other treatments for HIV

Treatment for AIDS

Living with HIV

If your partner has HIV:

Recommended Reading: How Is Hiv Contracted Anally

General Assistance And Education

  • General assistance: Includes assistance with transportation, financial concerns, housing referrals, and medical marijuana applications
  • Insurance assistance: Includes assistance with patients insurance, Michigan HIV/AIDS Drug Assistance Program and other insurance assistance programs, dental assistance, cost of medications or medical care, Medicaid or DHS issues, financial barriers, Social Security, SSI, and FMLA papers
  • Educational programs and events about living with HIV: Includes Annual HIV Update and Long-term survivors of HIV

When Does Hiv Turn Into Aids

Without treatment, chronic asymptomatic HIV infection will progress to chronic symptomatic infection. Its at this point when the virus is replicating profusely, and your immune system is unable to fight off infections properly, that an HIV infection turns into AIDS. Your doctor will make an AIDS diagnosis based on how much of the virus is in your system , and how many T4 cells you have in your blood an important metric of how your immune system is functioning.;

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De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment: Viral $7 Acne Treatment Originally For Latinos

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In the vast market of skincare, it’s difficult if not impossible to find a solution that works for everyone, especially when it comes to acne treatments. Some make your spots dry and flaky, while others increase the grease in your face leaving you looking like an alcapurria straight out of the frier.

But the internet especially Reddit now claims that a $7 sulfur acne treatment is the cure to all our granos. This week, the De la Cruz Sulfur Ointment went viral on Reddit when a woman reviewed the product, saying, “To whoever recommended sulfur cream, freaking thank you.” Commenters quickly jumped on the post to ask for the product info and add similar experiences with the treatment.

DLC Labs, a Los Angeles-based beauty company created in 1963, is behind the De la Cruz Sulfur Ointment. What’s curious about DLC Labs is that, according to its website, the company originally “marketed to the Hispanic community in Southern California, and then throughout the West.” Among its selection, you can find natural dietary products, supplements, and essential oils. But the company’s mostly known for its hair and skincare products that range from cocoa and shea butter to arnica salves and vitamin E creams. Despite having its branding, descriptions, and instructions written in Spanish, it’s unclear whether DLC Labs was Latino-owned or why it marketed to the Latino community. However, we do know that Paul Cruz originally started the company.

What Are The Symptoms Of Hiv

HIV treatment

After the first month or so, HIV enters the clinical latency stage. This stage can last from a few years to a few decades.

Some people dont have any symptoms during this time, while others may have minimal or nonspecific symptoms. A nonspecific symptom is a symptom that doesnt pertain to one specific disease or condition.

These nonspecific symptoms may include:

  • headaches and other aches and pains
  • swollen lymph nodes
  • recurrent oral or vaginal yeast infections
  • pneumonia
  • shingles

As with the early stage, HIV is still transferable during this time even without symptoms and can be transmitted to another person.

However, a person wont know they have HIV unless they get tested. If someone has these symptoms and thinks they may have been exposed to HIV, its important that they get tested.

HIV symptoms at this stage may come and go, or they may progress rapidly. This progression can be slowed substantially with treatment.

With the consistent use of this antiretroviral therapy, chronic HIV can last for decades and will likely not develop into AIDS, if treatment was started early enough.

The cause of the rash determines:

  • how it looks
  • how it can be treated depends on the cause

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How Hiv Treatment Works

HIV treatment does not cure HIV, but it stops the virus from reproducing in your body. It can reduce the amount of virus in the blood to undetectable levels, meaning that you cannot pass on HIV.

Treatment with anti-HIV drugs is sometimes called combination therapy because people usually take three different drugs at the same time ;often combined into one tablet.

It’s also known as antiretroviral therapy , or highly active antiretroviral therapy – HAART for short.

How Do You Get Hiv/aids

HIV is both a bloodborne and sexually transmitted infection . Because of this, there are a few different ways of getting it. Mothers with HIV can transmit the virus to their children in utero or later while breastfeeding, which is called perinatal HIV transmission. Because doctors offer HIV screening to pregnant women in Canada, perinatal transmission accounts for a very small number of new HIV cases here.

Injection drug use is one of the major pathways of infection for HIV in Canada data shows that approximately 10% of people who inject drugs are HIV positive. While PWIDs are 59 times more likely to get HIV than those who dont use injection drugs, however, sharing needles isnt the only way HIV spreads.

Unprotected sex is the primary driver of HIV transmission in Canada, and around the world. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up just over 50% of HIV cases in Canada. They also accounted for just over 50% of new HIV infections in 2018 , despite making up only 3-4% of the adult male population. GbMSM who engage in unprotected sex may have a higher risk of contracting HIV because it spreads through both blood and semen. This makes activities like unprotected anal sex much riskier. But gbMSM arent the only individuals at risk of contracting HIV sexually. Heterosexual sex accounted for just over 33% of new HIV cases in Canada in 2018.;

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What Should I Do Until Theres A Cure For Hiv

For now, the best thing to do for your health is to test regularly for HIV. Testing is the only way to know for sure if you have the virus.

If youve already tested and your result is positive, youll be advised to start antiretroviral treatment as soon as possible. Treatment is the only way to manage HIV and prevent it from damaging your immune system. It also reduces the risk of passing HIV on to your sexual partners. With treatment, people living with HIV can have long and healthy lives.

Whats The Difference Between Hiv And Aids

A Cure For HIV Is Possible

You often see or hear HIV and AIDS mentioned together, but theyre not interchangeable terms. To help clear up the confusion between the two, its useful to know what each stands for. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, meaning its a virus that attacks your immune system. If you have HIV and dont treat it, it eventually weakens your immune system and progresses to late-stage HIV infection. This is the disease called AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. With proper treatment, you can live a long life in good health as an HIV-positive person, and you may never develop AIDS. Without treatment, however, HIV usually progresses to AIDS within 10-15 years. If left untreated, AIDS is usually fatal within two years.;

Also Check: How Many Ppl Have Hiv

How Is It Treated

The standard treatment for HIV is a combination of medicines called antiretroviral therapy, or ART. Antiretroviral medicines slow the rate at which the virus multiplies.

Taking these medicines can reduce the amount of virus in your body and help you stay healthy.

To monitor the HIV infection and its effect on your immune system, a doctor will regularly do two tests:

  • Viral load, which shows the amount of virus in your blood
  • CD4+ cell count, which shows how well your immune system is working

After you start treatment, it’s important to take your medicines exactly as directed by your doctor. When treatment doesn’t work, it is often because HIV has become resistant to the medicine. This can happen if you don’t take your medicines correctly.

Changing Attitudes About Hiv

When someone is diagnosed with HIV, other people may have negative attitudes and beliefs about that person’s behaviour, lifestyle or circumstances in life. These negative associations form what’s called stigma, an experience that can decrease quality of life because it includes:

  • judging

Efforts to end stigma will help to:

  • prevent new infections
  • ensure that people living with HIV receive the care, treatment and support they need

Recommended Reading: What Are The Early Signs Of Hiv In Females

Risks And Side Effects

HIV medicines can sometimes cause side effects. Some side effects happen for a short time. Other side effects can cause long term health problems. Tell your healthcare provider about any side effects you are having. Do not stop taking your medicine without first talking to your healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider may tell you tips to help you cope with the side effects. Your healthcare provider may also tell you to take different medicines.

  • This page does not give the specific side effects and warnings for each HIV medicine.
  • Talk to your healthcare provider about the side effects and warnings for the medicines you take.
  • Check the FDA Web site to find more HIV medicine information.

My Regimen

It is important that you take your HIV medicines just as your healthcare provider tells you. Your medicines may not work if you skip a dose or do not stick to your schedule. Over time, you can get sick if you do not take your medicines as directed. Your HIV may become resistant to your medicines. This means your medicines could stop working and more HIV could build up in your body.

Here are some tips to help you remember when to take your HIV medicines.

  • Use a schedule or planner.
  • Set the alarm on your watch or phone.
  • Use a pillbox to help you organize your pills.
  • Ask a friend or family member to help you.

Chart to help you remember when to take your HIV medicine

Time

IMPORTANT TIP

How Hiv Is Spread

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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.

Also Check: How Easily Is Hiv Transmitted From Female To Male

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