Anyone can become HIV-infected , regardless of which social group he belongs to. Many do not suspect this, it is somehow not accepted to be tested in Russia, many also neglect protected sex. The HIV epidemic in Russia has become a reality. Prices for essential drugs in the country are rising. If they do not begin to decline, and citizens do not become more careful, the number of patients by 2020 will increase by 3.5 times.
HIV epidemic in Russia
For 30 years now, the HIV epidemic has been developing in Russia. Russia is now approaching the third stage, as Academician Vadim Pokrovsky stated. Although the epidemic is a conditional concept, it has not disappeared from Russia anywhere. If we divide the period into stages, then at this time we enter the third. At the initial stage of the epidemic, rare cases are imported from abroad, the second stage is concentrated (we have already registered infected 20% of drug addicts, 10% of homosexuals). Generalized stage - if 1% of pregnant women become carriers of HIV. The HIV epidemic in Russia is approaching this stage.
Many officials say that there is no epidemic yet, but if it has not yet been officially announced, this does not mean that the problem does not exist. The epidemic has been taking place for 30 years. Already 1% of the adult population is infected in the country, and this is only according to official data. Cases of virus infection in medical institutions have become more frequent, which causes extreme concern. Vigilance simply needs to be enhanced. Ten Russian regions already have a critical level of spread of the disease.
December 1 - AIDS Day
According to statistics from the World Health Organization, in 2015, 36.9 million people were already HIV-infected. In 2014, there were 2 million infected, and 1.2 million died of AIDS. According to WHO, only 50% of patients are aware of their disease, which means that the numbers in reality are much worse, at least twice. Every year since 1988, the entire planet celebrates World AIDS Day on December 1. The goal is to attract the attention of citizens of all walks of life to this global problem. Since 2011, the main goal of the program is to reduce HIV infections, stop all kinds of discrimination against patients, and reduce AIDS deaths. The question of whether the HIV epidemic is threatening Russia has long been open. But, according to activists of the AIDS movement, our state does not pay due attention to this problem.
AIDS story
It is widely believed that as early as the 1900s, a person could become infected with the virus from chimpanzees. First of all, African hunters became ill, who butchered the carcasses of killed sick animals or ate their meat for food.
In 1981, five young people died in the United States from fungal pneumonia; in the same year, several cases of very rare, aggressive Kaposi’s skin cancer were identified. These diseases occur in people with only a very weakened immune system. By the end of the year, the virus was already detected in 270 gay men, of whom 121 died in a year.
In 1982, the disease got its name AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). In 1983, two independent scientists from France and the United States discovered a retrovirus, which was the cause of the disease.
In the USSR, the first HIV case was registered in 1985 with a foreign student. Nobody then thought that once HIV epidemic would be declared in Russia, the trouble was not taken seriously. Already in 1987, the virus was found in a Soviet citizen, and by the end of the year, in 25 people who had contact with it.
In 1992, AIDS became one of the leading causes of mortality in the United States in the United States. In 1996, HAART therapy was already used in practice.
In 2001, there were already 10 million people infected with HIV in the world. Today, according to various sources, from 30 to 40 million people have already died from AIDS.
Does HIV threaten Russia
At the end of 2015, about one million HIV carriers were registered in Russia, and in the same year, 20 thousand deaths were registered. Since 1987, more than 200 thousand people have already died, and every year the percentage ratio is growing compared to the previous period. Is this not an epidemic? The authorities do not officially declare it, but it has long existed in our country. Only 25% of those who need it receive antiretroviral therapy. The Minister of Health confirmed that if the situation is not changed, by 2020 the number of cases will increase by 250%.
HIV in Russia. Planned control measures
In which city of Russia is the HIV epidemic the most common? Coverage of cities is unevenly distributed. Of the 85 regions, half of the infected live in 20. What is the reason? Most likely, with the place where at one time it was easiest and in large quantities to penetrate drugs. Drug trafficking took place in the Orenburg region; it was easier to sell goods in the Irkutsk, Kemerovsk, Samara and Sverdlovsk regions. Here already 1.5% of the population are infected. Things are not better in the Ulyanovsk, Leningrad, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen regions. Here, perhaps, there is no educational institution that would not be affected by HIV.
To prevent further development of the epidemic, measures are being developed:
- A bill was submitted to the State Duma, according to which, before the wedding, the couple must pass an HIV test.
- A program has been launched to support pregnant women infected with HIV, this will help to avoid infection of the child in some cases.
- It is planned to establish its own production of drugs in the country over a full cycle (from production to packaging).
- It is planned to increase funding for antiretroviral therapy.
The concept of HIV. AIDS concept
How to decrypt HIV?
- Virus (a parasite that destroys immune cells in the body).
- Immunodeficiency (decreased body resistance, suppression of immunity).
- A person (a person can be a carrier of this virus).
The virus settles in the body, a person becomes its carrier and begins to become ill. Before the complete defeat of the entire immune system, it can take from 2 to 12 years. For a while, a person looks completely healthy, but is a spread of the virus, sometimes without knowing it.
How to decrypt AIDS?
During the infection of the body, several stages of the disease develop, the last of which is AIDS:
- Syndrome (a combination of a number of symptoms, signs).
- Acquired (not congenital, but received in life).
- Immunodeficiency (lack of reaction in the body to the introduction of third-party infections and viruses, the inability to resist them).
So, the HIV epidemic in Russia has already shown that the disease is very scary, insidious, sparing neither children nor adults.
The development of the virus in the body
The clinical development of HIV has several stages:
- 1st stage . A sharp start. In some cases, the reaction of the body may resemble flu - fever, runny nose. But it should be noted that in 70% of cases, an acute onset is not observed. A person is a carrier of the virus and does not even suspect about it.
- 2 stage . Asymptomatic For several years (from 3 to 5) a person feels absolutely healthy, and only laboratory blood tests help to detect HIV.
- 3 stage . 3-5 years after the second stage, the time of persistent generalized lymphadenopathy comes. Immunity drops, various diseases are often manifested. Lymph nodes increase, skin lesions occur, intestinal upset occurs. Treatment only temporarily improves the condition.
- 4 stage . AIDS. The immune system is destroyed. The lymph nodes, respiratory, digestive, and visual organs are affected. Man dramatically loses weight. Periodically, the condition improves, but then it gets worse. Ultimately death occurs.
Numerous deaths of AIDS patients will answer the question of whether there is an HIV epidemic in Russia. It’s time to ring the bells, the problem has truly risen sharply, threatening the entire population of our country.
Who is at risk?
Everyone already knows that the main route of HIV infection is unprotected sex or blood transmission. Note that there is a risk of infection if blood is present in biological fluids (urine, feces, tears, saliva). If earlier it was believed that the causes of the HIV epidemic in Russia were only drug addiction and prostitution, now it has become clear that everyone is at risk. There are even cases of infection with the virus in medical institutions.
It is impossible to get infected in the following cases:
- Through a kiss, a hug, a handshake.
- Sneezing, coughing.
- Drinking with a carrier of HIV common drink, food.
- In the bath, sauna, pool.
- “Injections” in the subway, in the crowd (there are myths that infected people put needles on the seats).
In which case is a mandatory examination
- If there was unprotected sexual contact in any form with an unfamiliar partner.
- If you have been sexually abused.
- If your sexual partner has had external contact.
- If your partner is HIV positive.
- If you used used needles.
- If in contact with the blood of an HIV-infected person.
- If your partner has been exposed to all of the above risks.
- If any sexually transmitted disease is detected.