Information on HIV/AIDS
Statistical Information on HIV/AIDS
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is an infectious virus that invades the body's immune system. It causes the infected person to be susceptible to diseases that are rare in healthy people. These diseases often signal the onset of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). Since it causes AIDS, HIV is often called the AIDS virus.
In many cases, it takes more than 10 years for an infected HIV person to develop the signs and symptoms of AIDS. Many people with HIV can look and feel healthy for many years and still infect other people.
During the 1980's, the HIV infection, the cause of AIDS, emerged as a leading cause of death among persons between the ages of 25-44. Today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 1 million people in the United States are infected with HIV.
How Do You Get HIV?
HIV is spread from one person to the other through anal, vaginal or oral sex (semen, vaginal fluid), blood, or from mother to baby. You can get HIV if you have sex with someone who has the virus, or if blood from someone who is infected gets into your bloodstream. This can happen if you share "dirty" needles and equipment used to inject drugs with a person who has the HIV disease. Receiving tattoos from a non-sterilized tattoo needle is also a high-risk activity. Some people have been infected by blood transfusions received before 1985. Now federal law requires that all blood, obtained from donors, be screened for the HIV virus.
Pregnant females can transmit the HIV virus to their unborn child during delivery or through breast milk if the mother is breast-feeding.
You CAN NOT get the HIV virus from:
- Food or drink
- Shaking hands, hugging, touching
- Giving blood
- Telephones, hot tubs, swimming pools, towels or mosquito bites
HIV is not easily spread. It is very weak outside the body. Heat, dry air, and chemical cleaners easily kill it.
Can you identify someone with HIV by his or her appearance?
NO! You can not tell by looking at someone if he/she has HIV. A person can be infected with the virus and feel and look healthy, but may have symptoms such as swollen lymph glands in the neck, armpit, or groin area; night sweats and fever; diarrhea and decreased appetite; white spots (leukoplakia) in the mouth; and rapid weight loss.
Testing for HIV
The decision to be tested is the first step in the testing process. When a person is tested for HIV, a small amount of blood is drawn from the arm and tested in a sterile laboratory environment.
The first test performed on the blood sample is a screening test called the ELISA/EIA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). If the first ELISA test is positive for HIV, a second ELISA/EIA is performed. If the second test is also positive for HIV, a confirmatory test called a Western Blot or IFA (immunofluorescent assay) is performed. If the Western Blot is positive, the tested person is diagnosed with HIV infection.
Even if a test shows no signs of HIV in the blood, there is a possibility that there was not enough HIV virus to test positive if the person has recently been infected. In cases of a NEGATIVE test result when there is concern about a recent exposure, it is recommended to be re-tested again approximately 3 months later.
How to Avoid Getting HIV
The safest way to avoid becoming infected with HIV is abstinence. Not having sex at all is the only 100% sure way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. The more sex partners, the higher the risk of becoming infected with HIV. If abstinence is not an option; don't have sex without a latex condom and a spermicide that contains nonoxynol-9. If your partner shoots drugs, or if he or she has had other sex partners, your risk of getting HIV is high.
If you have a drug habit, do not share drug needles or syringes. Use only clean, brand-new syringes and throw them away after one use. Better yet, get help and stop using drugs.
The best way to avoid HIV:
- Not have sex with more than one partner
- Not using I.V. drugs
- Have sex with only one lifelong, faithful, non-HIV infected partner
- Adhere to strict universal precautions and infection control procedures if you work in a health-care setting