Symptoms Of Hiv

Causes and Risk Factors*
Written by Kimberly Dayton   
HIV  (human immunodeficiency virus) is not easy to transmit from one person to another.  The virus dies quickly outside the human body.    No animal -- insect, dog or monkey -- can infect a person with a bite, because HIV only survives inside the human body.  Nor can HIV travel between human hosts simply because they kiss, hug, shake hands, share a toilet seat, eat with the same forks and knives or drink from the same glasses.   

Indeed, the only way to infect some one with HIV is by exchanging bodily fluids such as blood, semen or vaginal fluid.    For this reason, there is only a short list of factors that cause HIV infection.  The list includes: 
  • Unprotected anal, vaginal or oral sex with HIV-infected people; 
  • Injection of drugs or steroids with syringes that HIV-positive people have just used;
  • Sexual contact with an HIV-infected person during an outbreak of other sexually transmitted infections, such as herpes, chlamydia, bacterial vaginosis, or syphilis, which cause blisters and sores and leave the skin vulnerable to infection; 
  • Infantile exposure to the blood, vaginal fluid or breast milk of an HIV-infected mother; or
  • Receipt of a blood or clotting factor transfusion between 1978 and 1985, in the United States, before laws were passed that prevented HIV-positive people from donating their blood to blood banks.  
A quick glance at this list will reveal that under the right social conditions, responsible HIV-negative adults in 2010 can easily protect themselves and their children from HIV infection.  Other things being equal, they need only follow these guidelines:
  1. Engage in sexual activity only with people whom they can be sure are HIV-negative;
  2. Avoid sharing syringes with any one;
  3. in cases where they cannot be sure of the HIV status of a partner,  engage only in safe sex -- that is, sexual contact that does not allow for the exchange of bodily fluids.  Condoms,  dental dams and other contraceptives that prevent fluid exchange can be used;  or sexual contact can be limited to touching healthy skin.
For people who are already infected with HIV,   it is still quite possible to avoid transmitting the virus to others.   The guidelines for them are similar, but not identical: 
  1. Engage only in safe sex,  as described above,  or have sexual relationships only with other HIV positive individuals:
  2. Never share syringes;  and
  3. When giving birth,  obtain high-quality prenatal care, which reduces the possibility of transmitting the virus,  and bottle-feed the baby after it is born. 
Some of these guidelines may appear to be easier said than done.   Skeptics might ask --  in the heat of the moment, is it always feasible to have protected sex?  Is it possible to trust any one enough to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are HIV negative? 

Perhaps not.  However,  HIV is ultimately a mortal illness,  and no one who truly loves and treasures their partners and their children wants them to be infected.    HIV infection does not destroy the power to love;  it does, however, demand a certain amount of painful honesty with loved ones.  Those who remain HIV negative need to ask difficult questions;  their HIV-positive partners need to provide the painful answers.  Once the truth is out, preventing the spread of HIV becomes much, much easier for every one.  

What if the HIV-positive person has no knowledge of his/her  own HIV status,  and infects others without realizing it?   In this case,  the path towards greater health and peace of mind is clear.   Knowledge is power;  when in doubt,  get tested! 

In the United States today,  HIV tests are cheap and widely available at any medical facility.  They are also 99.9% accurate,  and their results are confidential.  The only people with a legal right to know about the results are the health providers, and  all current and former sexual partners,  of HIV-positive people.   The CDC (Centers for Disease Control)  recommends an HIV test for any one who has
  1. shared needles, syringes and other machinery while injecting drugs or steroids
  2. had unprotected sex of any kind with more than one partner,  or with a partner they didn't know, or with a man whom they know to have had sex with other men,
  3. traded sex for money and/or drugs, 
  4. been diagnosed with an STD, or hepatitis, or tuberculosis
  5. had unprotected sex with any one who would answer yes to any one of questions 1 through 4,
  6. just become pregnant.  
HIV testing in any of these cases is essential for women who expect to get pregnant in the near future. 

The virus is a slow killer,  whose effects are not immediately apparent.  After the first five weeks of infection,  when the virus attacks and destroys many of the immune system cells inside the lining of the intestine,    it appears to lie dormant and may cause no discernible symptoms for as long as ten years.   However,  untreated HIV never stops killing white blood cells,  and after a time,  the immune system of its human host has become so weak that it can no longer fight against even the most innocuous infections.  At this point, HIV develops into full-blown AIDS -- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome,  and the patient has at most one more year to live. 

AIDS, however,  is only the last stage of HIV.  Since the virus does not cause symptoms in most infected people, most of the time,  there would seem to be little incentive to get tested, and lots of incentive to avoid testing.  Nobody wants to be stigmatized, or to give up a high-risk lifestyle that they find rewarding.   Thus, it bears repeating:   when in doubt,  get tested.  There is no justification at all for ruining any one else's life simply out of inertia or fear. 

It may be a source of comfort to HIV-positive readers of this article to know that  they are not alone.  According to CDC figures,  over a million people in the United States have the same condition.  About 200,000 of them do not know they're infected, and are unknowingly spreading the virus and making their  sexual partners sick.  Every year since the 1990s,  about 55,000 individuals have become infected for the first time.  Only 100-150 of them,  fortunately,  are the infant children of HIV-positive mothers.

However,  the disease continues to spread,  mostly as a result of the irresponsibility, ignorance and fear of people who live high-risk lifestyles and are either unaware they have the virus,  or knowingly spread the virus to others.   Get tested, get tested, get tested,  and if you're HIV positive,  tell your partners.  If you are HIV negative and you think your partner might be infected -- the responsibility is yours as well.  Stay safe,  and tell your partner to get tested, get tested, get tested. 

*This article is based on the information at http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets, http://www.hivla.org/factsheets/index.html, http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/default.htm, http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS/, http://www.avert.org/aids.htm ,http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hiv-aids/ds00005
 
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