Health Advice and Information on HIV & AIDS

Therapists who help heal and deal with HIV AIDS
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HIV and AIDS

Recent research revealed that a quarter of 16-20 year-olds have unprotected sex. In order to reduce your chances of contracting HIV and developing AIDS, it's important to be aware of the risks of unprotected sex and of the other ways the virus can be spread. You might also be interested in understanding exactly what the HIV virus is and how it affects your body.

Facts:

• By the end of this decade, the global number of HIV positive people is expected to be around 85 million.



• More than half of those are under 24.



• The number of straight HIV infections diagnosed per year is now greater than the number of gay cases. This is mostly amongst African people.



• In the UK the number of people with diagnosed HIV is set to rise by 47% between 2000-2005.



• Over 300 HIV-infected pregnant women give birth in the UK each year.



• Drug users under 25 are more likely to share needles, which shows the potential for further spread.



• More people are dying from AIDS than ever before. There were 3.1 million AIDS-related deaths worldwide last year.



• Southern Africa has been the worst hit by the AIDS disaster, and this year's World AIDS Day campaign aims to raise awareness of the problem, which affects people everywhere.

Statistics

An estimated 58,300 adults were living with HIV in the UK at the end of 2004, of whom 19,700 (34%) were unaware of their infection.

In 2004, there were at least 7,275 new diagnoses of HIV, contributing to a cumulative total of 74,977 reported by the end of September 2005. The 2004 figure is likely to rise as further reports are received.

There have been 21,732 diagnoses of AIDS in the UK. It is known that at least 13,282 of these people have died. It should be noted that the difference between these figures does not provide a very accurate estimate of the number of people living with AIDS in the UK: the figure will inevitably include some people who have moved abroad after diagnosis as well as some records belonging to the same person which have not been successfully matched.

UK AIDS cases by exposure category, all years until the end of September 2005

How HIV infection was probably acquired Male Female Total % Sex between men* 12,750 0 12,750 59% Sex between men and women 2,918 3,103 6,021 28% Injecting drug use 885 346 1,231 6% Mother to infant 307 292 599 3% Blood/tissue transfer or blood factor 753 118 871 4% Other/undetermined 230 30 260 1% Total 17,843 3,889 21,732 100% Percentage total 82% 18% 100%

* Includes 333 men who had also injected drugs

If you are infected, or think you may be infected with HIV, or have any worries or concerns about these issues, there is a lot of support, advice and medication available that can greatly help. You can be tested for free at your local GUN clinic and you may find it very helpful to talk to a therapist alongside the conventional medicine that is on offer. You can be refered to a therapist directly or choose the therapies and therapist yourself. As with all ilnesses, they not only can affect you physical health, but your total and holistic health, including spiritual, emotional & mental. There are many different solutions that can greatly ease these burdened areas and promote greater wellbeing and serenity. There are also groups that meet to support you and one another. Whatever you prefer, let it be known that you are not alone. Any fears and issues you have do not need to be faced alone.

What is it?

HIV is a viral infection that causes a chronic life-threatening condition acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS occurs when the HIV infection damages or destroys the cells of the immune system, reducing the body's ability to fight off bacterial, viral and fungal infections.

As the immune system fails, the person becomes vulnerable to illnesses they would normally resist (known as opportunistic infections), including infections such as pneumonia, meningitis, intestinal infection and certain types of cancers.

Causes

HIV is caused by a virus called the human immunodeficiency virus. It's most commonly spread among adults by sexual contact with an infected partner. It can also spread through infected blood and contaminated needles or syringes (for example in drug abuse or medical treatments).

In the majority of cases of children with HIV, the virus has been transmitted from the mother during pregnancy, delivery or through breastmilk.

Who's affected?

HIV was first reported in the early 1980s. Since then, it has spread worldwide. There are now an estimated 40 million people living with HIV, including about 2.5 million children under 15. Sub-Saharan Africa has been most severely affected by HIV/AIDS and many millions have died, but the AIDS epidemic is also growing fast in China, India, Indonesia, Russia and eastern Europe.

Symptoms

The initial infection with HIV may cause a brief flu-like illness two to six weeks after infection, with symptoms such as fever, headache, sore throat and swollen lymph glands. However, many people don't notice any particular symptoms and children are often infected while in the womb.

There follows a period in which people feel well and may not even be aware that the virus is multiplying inside them and damaging their immune system. After a time (sometimes many years) symptoms return.

There appear to be two general patterns of illness in HIV-infected children. About 20 per cent develop serious disease in the first year of life and most of these children die by the age of four. In the remaining 80 per cent, the disease progresses more slowly.

An HIV-positive child often fails to gain weight and doesn't grow properly. They may develop problems with walking, or show delayed mental development. They may also develop cerebral palsy. Like adults, the children are vulnerable to opportunistic infections and normal childhood infections can be severe.

Swollen lymph glands may be the first sign of AIDS. Other symptoms may include:

• weight loss
• diarrhoea
• fever
• cough
• weakness
• shortness of breath
• headaches
• night sweats
• visual problems
• dementia
• development of a variety of cancers
  

If untreated, these problems and related complications may be rapidly fatal.

Diagnosis and treatment

HIV is usually diagnosed using a blood test that detects antibodies to the virus. It may take up to 12 weeks after infection for these antibodies to be made, so an HIV test may initially be negative. However, all children born to infected mothers receive some of their mother's antibodies to HIV across the placenta. These may persists for up to 18 months, making antibody tests inaccurate. Newer blood tests can detect tiny quantities of the virus in the infant's blood, giving an accurate diagnosis in about 95 per cent of HIV-infected infants by three months of age.

AIDS is defined as a positive test for HIV combined with either an opportunistic infection (an infection that only occurs when your immune system isn't working properly, such pneumocystis carinii pneumonia) or an abnormally low level of a type of white blood cell called a CD4 lymphocyte (a count of 200 or less is abnormal - normal levels range from 600 to 1,000).

Drug treatments, using a combination of several drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, have greatly improved the outlook in AIDS. But drugs can't cure the infection and side effects and drug resistance are still a major problem. Other therapies can greatly improve quality of life.

Prevention of HIV and AIDS, Becoming aware that you are infected if you are at risk can help. Using condoms during sex, whether this be hetrosexual intercourse of same sex intercourse. Use of clean needles, not sharing needles when taking drugs such as heroin.
Screening during pregnancy affords the change for the correct medicines to be administered so as to greatly reduce the change of the unborn child being infected. Cesarian births and avoidance ofbreast feeding. Blood used for operations and transfusions in theUK isnow screened for the virus.

It is almost always impossible to tell if someone may be infected, and they may not be aware themselves. No one is immune to becoming infected. It is a good idea to always protact yourself and suggest that tests are performed before the risk can be eliminated.
For further information, advice and support please click on the apples at the top of this page to find the therapists in your area.

HIV is a virus. Viruses infect the cells of living organisms and replicate (make new copies of themselves) within those cells. A virus can damage the cells it replicates in, which is one of the things that can make an infected creature become ill.

People can become infected with HIV from other people who already have it, and when they are infected they can then go on to infect other people. Basically, this is how HIV is spread.

HIV stands for the 'Human Immunodeficiency Virus'. Someone who is infected with HIV is said to be 'HIV+' or 'HIV positive'.

Why is HIV dangerous?

The immune system is a group of cells and organs that protect your body by fighting viruses and infections. The human immune system usually finds and kills viruses fairly quickly.

So if the body's immune system attacks and kills viruses, what's the problem?

Different viruses attack different parts of the body - some may attack the skin, others the lungs, and so on. The common cold is caused by a virus. What makes HIV so dangerous is that it attacks the immune system itself - the very thing that would normally get rid of a virus. It particularly attacks a special type of immune system cell known as a CD4 lymphocyte. And on top of this, HIV has a number of tricks that help it to evade the body's defences, including very rapid mutation. This means that once HIV has taken hold, the immune system can never fully get rid of it.

There isn't any way to tell just by looking if someone's been infected by HIV. But a blood test can detect infection from about three months after the virus first entered the body. A person infected with HIV may look and feel perfectly well for many years and may not know that they are infected. But as the person's immune system weakens they become increasingly vulnerable to illnesses, many of which they would previously have fought off easily.

And what's AIDS?

A damaged immune system is not only more vulnerable to HIV, but also to the attacks of other infections. It won't always have the strength to fight off things that wouldn't have bothered it before.

As time goes by, a person who has been infected with HIV is likely to become ill more and more often until, usually several years after infection, they become ill with one of a number of particularly severe illnesses. It is at this point that they are said to have AIDS - when they first become seriously ill, or when the number of immune system cells left in the body drops below a particular point. Different countries have slightly different ways of defining the point at which a person is said to have AIDS rather than HIV.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is an extremely serious condition, and at this stage the body has very little defence against any sort of infection.

How long does HIV take to become AIDS?

Without drug treatment, HIV usually progresses to AIDS in an average of ten years. This average, though, is based on a person having a reasonable diet. Someone in a resource-poor area who might not be adequately nourished may well progress to AIDS and death much more rapidly.

HIV antiretroviral medication can prolong the time between HIV infection and the onset of AIDS. Modern combination therapy is highly effective and, theoretically, someone with HIV can live for a long time before it becomes AIDS. These medicines, however, are not widely available in many poor countries around the world, and millions of people who cannot afford or access medication continue to die.

How is HIV passed on?

HIV is found in the blood and the sexual fluids of an infected person, and in the breast milk of an infected woman. HIV transmission occurs when sufficient of these fluids get inside someone else's body. There are various ways a person can become infected

Ways in which you can be infected with HIV :

• Unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person
  Sexual intercourse without a condom is risky, because the virus, which is present in an infected person's sexual fluids, can pass directly into the body of their partner. This is true for unprotected vaginal and anal sex. Oral sex carries a lower risk, but again HIV transmission can occur here if a condom is not used - for example, if one partner has bleeding gums or an open cut, however small, in their mouth.
• Contact with an infected person's blood
  If sufficient blood from an infected person enters the body of an uninfected person then it can pass on the virus.
• From mother to child
  HIV can be transmitted from an infected woman to her baby during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding. There are special drugs that can greatly reduce the chances of this happening, but they are unavailable in much of the developing world.
• Use of infected blood products
  Many people in the past have been infected with HIV by the use of blood transfusions and blood products which were contaminated with the virus - in hospitals, for example. In much of the world this is no longer a risk, as blood donations are routinely tested.
• Injecting drugs
  People who use illegal injected drugs are also vulnerable to HIV infection. In many parts of the world, often because it is illegal to possess them, injecting equipment or works are shared. A tiny amount of blood can transmit HIV, and can be injected directly into the bloodstream with the drugs.

It is not possible to become infected with HIV through :

• sharing crockery and cutlery
• insect / animal bites
• touching, hugging or shaking hands
• eating food prepared by someone with HIV
• toilet seats