All You Need To Know About HIV In A Video

What About HIV?

1. What is HIV/AIDS?


Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.) This virus attacks the body's immune system and makes it difficult to fight off diseases, bacteria, virus and infections. HIV is a lot like other viruses, including those that cause the "flu" or the common cold. But there is an important difference – over time, your immune system can clear most viruses out of your body. That isn't the case with HIV – the human immune system can't seem to get rid of it. That means that once you have HIV, you have it for life. We know that HIV can hide for long periods of time in the cells of your body and that it attacks a key part of your immune system, your T-cells or CD4 cells. Your body has to have these cells to fight infections and disease, but HIV invades them, uses them to make more copies of itself, and then destroys them.


2. How does HIV attack the white blood cells?

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects the cells of the immune system. In particular, HIV attacks and destroys the T helper lymphocytes, or T-cells, which are crucial to the immune system and immune response. (These cells are also called CD4-positive lymphocytes because HIV uses the protein CD4, present on the surface of the cell, to attach itself and pry its way into the cell.) Each day, your body produces millions of CD4+ T-cells to help maintain your immunity and fight off invading viruses and germs. Once HIV is in your body, the virus is able to copy itself over and over, increasing its ability to kill CD4+ T-cells. Soon, infected cells outnumber healthy T-cells.
The lower a person’s CD4+ T-cell count goes, the more susceptible the person is to viruses and infections that an otherwise healthy body could fight. In the initial stages of the infection, the decline in T-cell count is gradual. The first few months and years after a person is infected, T-cell counts may remain very near normal or only slightly decreased. It’s when T-cell numbers begin to dip dramatically that patients with HIV begin noticing additional, worsening symptoms of the infection.


3. How do I know I have it?

Many people who have HIV don't even know it because they don't show any symptoms for years. Even though you don't show any symptoms, you can still pass on the virus to someone else. However, once the symptoms start to show, this disease is now known as AIDS.


4. How do I get it?

You can get HIV through high-risk activities where you come into contact with infected blood, semen and vaginal fluids. HIV is spread by having unprotected sex such as vaginal, anal or oral with someone who has HIV. HIV can also be spread by sharing needles, syringes and other drug injecting equipment that is contaminated with HIV. Moreover, using tattooing and body piercing equipment, including the ink, that isn't sterilised or properly cleaned and is infected with HIV. Unfortunately, HIV can even be transmitted from a woman with HIV to her baby, before or during birth and by breastfeeding.
However, not everything can cause the transmission of HIV. For example, touching, shaking hands, hugging, coughing, sneezing, giving blood or sharing food utensils and bed linen would not transmit HIV.


5. Symptoms of AIDS for males and females: 

While both men and women experience many of the same symptoms, women frequently must contend with some distinctively female signs of HIV infection such as:

• Persistent or severe vaginal infections particularly vaginal yeast infections.
• Pap smears that indicate cervical dysplasia or other abnormal changes.
• Pelvic infections such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID.)

Although women with HIV frequently experience these women’s health conditions, women without HIV also experience vaginal infections, abnormal Pap smears, and pelvic infections.

Other signs and symptoms that may indicate HIV infection include:

• Genital warts
• Genital ulcers
• Severe mucosal herpes infections

Frequently, within a few weeks of infection, both men and women experience flu-like symptoms. Others do not experience signs or symptoms of HIV or AIDS until several years later. This makes HIV testing imperative for those with current or previous high risk behaviors. Other symptoms often experienced as HIV/AIDS progresses include:

• Swollen lymph glands in the neck, underarm area, or groin
• Frequent fevers that include night sweats
• Rapid weight loss without dieting
• Constant fatigue
• Decreased appetite and diarrhea
• White spots or abnormal blemishes in the mouth

6. How to protect yourself from getting HIV/AIDS

 To reduce your chances of getting HIV, you should use lubricated condoms for vaginal sex and use non-lubricated condoms for oral sex on a man. Also, you could use a latex barrier or a non-lubricated condom cut length-wise for oral sex on a woman. By using condoms with extra lubricant for anal sex and limiting the number of sex partners, you could also reduce your chances of getting HIV. You could also avoid sharing needles, syringes, drug injecting equipment or sex toys. Abstinence is also a way to prevent HIV transmission. Abstinence is a total withdrawal from any sexual intercourse.

7. How do I get tested for HIV?

 A simple blood test that checks for HIV-antibody is all that is required to determine whether you are infected. This test detects the presence of antibodies produced by the body in an attempt to fight HIV. If you believe HIV exposure has occurred, or you just want to be cautious, talk to your healthcare provider about HIV testing. While the average length of time from exposure to the presence of detectable HIV antibodies is 20 days it can take as long as 6-12 months in some cases before antibodies are present. Your healthcare provider may recommend testing at one month, three months, six months, and one year after exposure.

Biblography: 

 http://womenshealth.about.com/od/aidshiv/a/hivaids_2.htm

      http://www.healthline.com/health/hiv-aids/how-hiv-affects-the-body

                          

Pictures

Symptoms:

 

* in the two pictures above, there are diagrams of the male and female bodies, showing us the various different symptoms of HIV at different parts of the body.

Effects on the body: 

A picture of the HIV virus

Ulcers during the early and late stage

KS Lesions

Posters:

               

Biblography:

www.google.com

Has There Ever Been Anyone Who Was Cured Of AIDS?

Given how much the phrase "HIV cure" has been thrown around lately by the media, you might start to think that there might actually be a cure. Sadly, however, there is not. 

The "Berlin Patient"

In the beginning, there was Timothy Ray Brown. An American living in Berlin, Brown was diagnosed with HIV in 1995 -- and with advanced leukemia in 2006. His prognosis had become grim.

A German oncologist, Gero Hütter, M.D., decided to try the medical equivalent of a Hail Mary pass: A never-before-attempted stem cell transplant in which the donor had a rare mutation making him essentially immune to most forms of HIV.

The procedure was extremely risky -- and stunningly successful. Seven years later, Brown's leukemia remains in remission, and there is still no sign of active HIV anywhere in his body, though he has been off of HIV medications since shortly after his operation.

The Boston Duo

The success of the "Berlin patient" *as shown above* got researchers wondering: How easy might it be to replicate this miracle?

 Not easy. The stem cell transplant procedure is very dangerous for the recipient, and is awfully expensive to boot. Nonetheless, in certain cases it may be deemed worth the risk. In 2012, researchers reported thecases of two HIV-positive men who had received stem cell transplants similar to the one Brown received. Unlike Brown, though, the donor cells they received were not resistant to HIV; finding a genetic match for such a rare mutation is extremely difficult. However, the two men stayed on HIV treatment throughout the transplant process, which appears to have kept any remaining HIV in their bodies from infecting the new donor cells. While both men have thus far remained on HIV meds as a precaution, at last report they showed no traces of active HIV in their blood.

The VISCONTI Cohort

For some time now, many HIV experts have had a hypothesis: If people can be started on HIV treatment early enough -- very shortly after they are infected -- it might be possible to prevent HIV from establishing a permanent foothold in their body.

The VISCONTI study is one high-profile attempt to test this hypothesis. Fourteen people who started HIV treatment during acute (early-stage) infection were kept on medications for at least a year before stopping.

Surprisingly, researchers found that once they stopped treatment, these people were still able to control the virus -- their HIV viral load remained undetectable without them having to take meds, as though their immune system had been "trained" to be similar to that of the extremely small number of people who appear to have a natural ability to fight off the virus.

Much like people who receive successful cancer treatment are said to be "in remission," doctors are referring to these two people as being in "long-term functional remission" of their HIV infection.

The Mississippi Baby

The most recent story of a "cured" HIV-positive person came in March 2013. That's when we learned about a baby from Mississippi who had HIV at birth, but whose infection appears to have subsequently been wiped out.

Similar to the VISCONTI group, the key to success in this case appears to have been starting HIV treatment very early with the most potent drugs available. This is not the typical approach for babies born to HIV-positive mothers, in part because mothers have almost no chance of passing HIV to their children if they receive proper care before giving birth.

Nonetheless, the story of this baby provides additional hope that extremely early HIV treatment may help prevent HIV from gaining a foothold in a person.

The Wisconsin Pre-Teen

In April 2013, news arrived about a 12-year-old boy in Minnesota who had received a stem cell transplant using HIV-resistant donor cells to treat his HIV and leukemia.

 It is the same procedure Timothy Ray Brown underwent, with one key difference: Instead of using bone marrow, the doctors used umbilical cord blood, which is easier to find a donor match for.

The procedure went well, in that the transplant operation itself was completed without complications. Now all we can do is sit tight and wait for word on whether the boy's HIV and leukemia have been functionally cured in the same manner as Brown's was.

Biblography:

 http://www.thebodypro.com/content/71446/the-only-people-who-have-ever-been-cured-of-hivaid.html?getPage=1

If you are interested in more information on the process of finding a cure for HIV, feel free to click on the links below:

http://www.thebodypro.com/content/69595/toward-an-hiv-cure-overview-and-latest-strategies.html

http://www.thebodypro.com/content/71111/croi-2013-the-latest-on-hiv-cure-research-video.html