Today people talk about HIV often, but most people have extremely superficial information about it. Everyone has heard something about the human immunodeficiency virus, but not everyone clearly understands what is the difference between it and AIDS, what are the main signs of HIV, how it can be transmitted and what not, etc. Before listing the main signs of HIV and ways of its transmission, it is worth characterizing the basic concepts.
HIV is nothing more than a human immunodeficiency virus. This virus belongs to the family of RNA-containing retroviruses. This virus is classified into a subfamily of slow infections. The disease that causes the human immunodeficiency virus is called HIV infection.
The last stage of this disease is AIDS. At this stage of the development of the disease, the immune system is affected to such a state that it is not capable at all of resisting any kind of infection. As a result, any, even a minor disease due to weakened immunity can lead to death.
How much does HIV manifest? One of the factors that make HIV an increasingly common disease is the time period during which the human immunodeficiency virus can appear. The fact is that the latent period of the disease can last a very long time. There are cases when signs of HIV have not manifested for 20 years. Of course, this does not always happen. In general, in the world according to various sources, there are about forty million infected. In Russia, in 2011, 664 976 cases of infection with this virus were officially registered.
Signs of HIV may appear soon after infection. In order to identify a person with HIV infection, a special analysis is performed. It consists in detecting antibodies to the virus in the blood. If antibodies are present in the blood, this indicates an infection. In the absence of antibodies, it is recommended to repeat the blood test after six months, since antibodies do not appear immediately after infection. When a positive result is obtained, a repeated check is usually carried out using another analysis - immunoblotting.
This check is due to the fact that false results are possible when a person who is not infected with the immunodeficiency virus receives a positive result. A few weeks after infection, a person begins a febrile phase of the disease, in which the following symptoms may occur:
- temperature rise,
- a sore throat,
- vomiting
diarrhea
- drowsiness,
- nausea
- malaise
- skin rash, etc.
In addition, the lymph nodes in HIV in a febrile stage increase for no apparent reason. These signs pass, and the asymptomatic phase sets in, which can last two months, and can, as mentioned above, last a very long time. After the asymptomatic phase, the advanced stage of HIV begins , which is called AIDS.
There are different signs of AIDS: weight loss, chronic colds, chest pain, shortness of breath, causeless diarrhea, herpes, pulmonary tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, inflammation of the oral mucosa, etc.
HIV can be transmitted in the following ways:
- during sexual contact, including oral contact;
- at the birth of a child by a mother infected with the immunodeficiency virus;
- when feeding a baby with breast milk by an infected mother;
- through the use of virus-infected syringes;
- through transfusion of infected blood;
- through damaged skin.
In addition, it is worth mentioning how it is impossible to get an infection. HIV cannot be infected: sneezing, shaking hands, living together, etc. Usually they list things through which you can not get HIV. This is, first of all, necessary so that there is no alienation and expression of hostility towards the people who are overtaken by this ailment.
Take care of yourself and try to protect your loved ones from misfortune.