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CURRENTS
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HIV/AIDS 101: An Overview of HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS is a disease and an epidemic. It infects and affects men, women, and children of every nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, and economic status. Every year, millions of people are infected with the HIV virus and millions of people die from AIDS. In 2004 alone, 4.9 million people became infected and 3.1 million died worldwide. There is no cure, but there is hope. It is crucial to educate people about HIV/AIDS prevention, as the disease has no cure. However, awareness and education efforts can be achieved through an understanding of the virus itself. Only through this awareness and understanding can the world begin to confront the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus. A virus is an agent that infects cells in biological organisms such as humans. Once the virus has infected a cell, it grows by invading and controlling other cells around it. Most viruses attack specific parts of the body, such as they do with ear infections, chicken pox, or the common cold. HIV is a virus that infects cells of the body’s immune system though. The immune system defends, protects, and heals the body from viruses, diseases, infections, and cancers. By attacking cells in the body’s immune system, HIV destroys the body’s ability to fight infection. HIV and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (AIDS) is not the same thing. When the immune system is weak because of HIV, a person becomes susceptible to a number of severe illnesses, also known as opportunistic infections. When this happens, along with at least one of 26 other defining conditions, a person is considered to have progressed to AIDS. It is from these opportunistic infections, not the AIDS diagnosis that people die. It is important to note, however, that although there is no cure for HIV, many opportunistic infections are treatable and a person who has progressed to an AIDS diagnosis can return to HIV status with successful treatment of the opportunistic infection and rebuilding the immune system. It is also important to note that not all people with HIV will develop AIDS. In the United States, HIV/AIDS has become a chronic disease. This means that
although there is no cure, a person can live a full, healthy life with HIV by
controlling and suppressing the virus through highly active antiretroviral (HAART)
medications and by monitoring a person’s white blood cell (CD4) count
and viral load (the amount of virus in the body). In other parts of the world,
where these medications are not widely available and treatment options are limited,
HIV/AIDS remains a life-threatening disease. Knowing the ways in which the virus can be transmitted means it is possible
to protect oneself against it. It is important to understand that anyone can
become infected regardless of race, sexual orientation, age, etc. Therefore,
just because people look healthy, does not mean they are not infected. The only
way to know of one’s status for sure is to take a blood test, which is
completely confidential. Now that we know what HIV is and how it is not transmitted, we can learn how to prevent HIV transmission. Practicing safe sex with condoms and dental dams, using new syringes after every injection or triple cleaning syringes with water and bleach after every use, not sharing needles/syringes with others, and seeking proper medical treatment during pregnancy can all reduce the risk of infection.
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An epidemic is an
outbreak of a disease that spreads rapidly and widely. HIV was first discovered
in March1981, when eight men in New York were diagnosed with a rare form of
Kaposi's sarcoma (a relatively benign cancer that usually occurs in older people)
and numerous cases of a rare lung infection called pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
(PCP) started popping up in New York and California among homosexual men. By
1983, it became clear that the disease could be passed heterosexually as well,
as women were also being infected. That same year, accounts of a similar virus
were reported across Europe and Africa, making it clear that HIV/AIDS was a
worldwide phenomenon. 