Contents

What is Aids *
Causing *
How long does HIV take to become AIDS *
Types of HIV *
Diagnoses *
Transmission *
Symptoms *
Curing (Treatments) *
Preventing of the disease *
AIDS : stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

Acquired
means you can get infected with it

Immune Deficiency
.means a weakness in the body's system that fights diseases

Syndrome
means a group of health problems that make up a disease
 Causing

AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV, the Human

.Immunodeficiency Virus

If any body get infected with HIV, his body will try
.to fight the infection

It will make "antibodies" which is special molecules

to fight HIV
?How long does HIV take to become AIDS

Without drug treatment, HIV infection

usually progresses to AIDS in an average of
.ten years

This average, though, is based on a person

.having a reasonable diet

Someone who is malnourished may well

.progress to AIDS and death more rapidly
 Types of HIV

Types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2 There are two

Both types are transmitted by sexual contact, through blood,

and from mother to child, and they appear to cause
.clinically indistinguishable AIDS

It seems that HIV-2 is less easily transmitted, and the period

between initial infection and illness is longer in the case of
HIV-2

The relatively uncommon HIV-2 type is concentrated in West

Africa and is rarely found elsewhere
 HIV Diagnosis
A person's blood is tested for the disease-fighting proteins
 .(antibodies) to HIV

Two types of antibody tests – ELISA

and Western Blot - are used to
 .identify HIV infection

Saliva and urine can also be tested

 .for HIV

A person who is tested for HIV should also receive counselling

.from a trained HIV/AIDS specialist
 Transmission
Infected with HIV from anyone who's infected, even if they don't look sick and even if they
.haven't tested HIV-positive yet

The blood, vaginal fluid, semen, and breast milk of people infected with HIV has enough of
.the virus in it to infect other people

:Most people get the HIV virus by

having sex with an infected person

sharing a needle (shooting drugs) with someone who's infected

being born when their mother is infected, or drinking the breast milk of an infected woman

Getting a transfusion of infected blood used to be a way people got AIDS, but now the blood
supply is screened very carefully and the risk is extremely low

There are no documented cases of HIV being transmitted by tears or saliva, but it is possible
to be infected with HIV through oral sex or in rare cases through deep kissing, especially
if you have open sores in your mouth or bleeding gums
 Symptoms
unintentional weight loss

chronic diarrhoea

skin rashes, especially on your face, genitals or anus

ulcers or infections in your mouth and genitals

sweats, especially at night

unusual tiredness

nausea or loss of appetite

swollen lymph glands in the neck, groin or armpits

These symptoms can all be caused by conditions other than HIV, and do not mean
you have AIDS
Avoid unprotected sex with people whose sexual
history is not known to you

Do not share needles or syringes

Use condoms every time you have sex, no matter

what kind of sex - spermicides can be used in
addition to condoms in vaginal sex; anal sex,
which causes bleeding, is very risky, as the virus is
most easily spread through blood
 Cure for AIDS
.There is no cure for AIDS

There are drugs that can slow down the HIV virus, and slow down the
.damage to your immune system

There is no way to "clear" HIV from the body

.Other drugs can prevent or treat opportunistic infections (OIs)

.In most cases, these drugs work very well

.The newer, stronger ARVs have also helped reduce the rates of most OIs

A few OIs, however, are still very difficult to treat