In recent years, HIV has moved from the infection at the back of the information field to the front pages. The news that the number of HIV-infected people in Russia increased significantly surprised, and when they presented the statistics, it was even shocking. People began to ask questions: if there are so many HIV carriers walking around the country, does this mean that among acquaintances, ordinary people there may be people with the virus? So is it worth it to panic and get scared ahead of time?
HIV and AIDS: what is the difference
HIV is a virus, a biological particle that, entering the body, attacks immune cells and destroys them. The presence of HIV in the blood will indicate that a person is a carrier of the HIV virus, and his status is positive. Carriage of HIV is a separate disease that is chronic and can take many years when taken with specific antiviral agents. An HIV carrier alone does not suffer from any terrible disease if he adheres to the prescribed therapy.
AIDS is the terminal stage of HIV infection. It occurs if a person for a long time ignores treatment and does not monitor the level of the virus in the blood. It is at this stage that a person begins to have problems with AIDS-related diseases. And since AIDS is precisely the extreme stage of carriage, it is incorrect to call anyone with a positive HIV status as AIDS patients. AIDS and HIV carriers can be completely different people.
HIV Epidemic in Russia: Should We Be Afraid?
Not so long ago, society learned that the number of people infected with the HIV virus is increasing at a tremendous rate, so large that we can talk about an epidemic. Many people have realized that the HIV carrier can be in the same room with them, and they will not know about it.
Should we be afraid of this epidemic? Answer: yes, it should. HIV is a serious and, most importantly, incurable virus. Infection with such an infection is a danger that should not be neglected. And because of the speed of the spread of the virus, an HIV carrier can infect a person without even realizing it.
However, we are still able to stop the spread of HIV among people and to stop the beginning epidemic. This requires comprehensive measures requiring the participation of both representatives of the authorities and the medical community, as well as ordinary people. Informing about the disease, spending health days, promoting safer sex, working with drug addicts all contribute to the fight against the spread of HIV.
HIV carriers
What is the difference between these people and others other than HIV status? In recent years, the portrait of a typical HIV-infected carrier has changed. If earlier it was mainly people leading an asocial lifestyle or homosexuals, now now virtually any person can be HIV-positive. According to statistics, there are more men among HIV carriers, as they have a greater number of sexual partners. It is an adult heterosexual man who is now the main carrier of the virus. In second place is the same heterosexual woman.
Among homosexuals, to the surprise of most people, only 14% are HIV-positive. Among injecting drug users there are much more - 59%. However, fortunately, there are few drug addicts in society, and they cannot make up the vast majority of people infected with HIV.
Many women first detect the virus when they are tested during pregnancy, and for most this becomes a real shock. Therefore, at the moment it is impossible to say for sure whether there are HIV carriers among any particular group of people. Unfortunately, the virus has spread everywhere.
Myths about HIV positive people
The first myth: if a person has HIV, then he is a drug addict or homosexual. This is absolutely optional. It was indicated above who a typical HIV-positive person is. Yes, there is still a high level of infected among drug addicts, but among all people with a positive status, they are not the majority. There are even fewer homosexuals in society than drug addicts, and therefore they also cannot constitute the backbone of those infected.
Myth two: the carrier and disseminator of HIV is one and the same. This is also not so. An HIV-infected person simply lives with the virus, takes medication and is absolutely not dangerous for other people. A distributor is one who infects others. This can happen unknowingly if a person does not know about his status, or purposefully. Currently, deliberate infection of a person with a dangerous infection is prosecuted under the law of the Russian Federation.
Myth Three: An HIV-infected person can infect through a kiss. In reality, the virus is not contained in saliva in such an amount that it could cause infection even if there are small wounds or ulcers in the mouth: this will require a large bleeding wound.
Myth four: the virus can be transmitted without direct contact with an infected person. Famous urban legends talk about some HIV syringes that infect people. In reality, this is nothing more than a horror story, and the virus breaks down outside the body in a short 5 minutes.
Myth five: HIV-infected people cannot reproduce due to the fact that the child will also be infected. In fact, HIV-positive couples successfully produce healthy children. Of particular importance is the administration of drugs by a woman during pregnancy and the artificial feeding of the baby after childbirth. There are even cases when a woman who is not receiving treatment successfully gave birth to a healthy baby. However, to reduce the likelihood of infection of the baby, you must drink antiviral drugs.
Is it possible to be a carrier and not know about it
People who tend to worry about their health are concerned about the question of whether a person can be HIV-infected without manifestations and not know about it. Yes, this is possible. HIV, like any other infection, has a so-called “window period”, when it is impossible to determine its presence even by laboratory methods because of the extremely low concentration of the virus in the blood. This period begins immediately after the viral particle enters the bloodstream and lasts, on average, 2-3 months. During this period, the virus actively multiplies, and therefore, after two months, it can already be detected in the laboratory.
However, even if a viral infection occurred long ago, a person may not know about it simply because of the lack of symptoms of the infection. HIV can be in the blood without manifesting itself, up to a year. At this time, the carrier and carrier of HIV will infect other people. This is the insidiousness of the virus.
If you had unprotected sexual contact and are not sure about your partner’s health, try to get an HIV test after the end of the potential window period. This can reassure you if the analysis turns out to be negative, and will help to take control of the disease in time if the virus is still found.
Testing for the virus can be done free of charge in special centers. Medicines are given there for those who need to take them.
How does infection happen?
Is it possible to get HIV from a carrier if he is taking drug therapy? It is almost impossible. The fact is that drugs suppress the virus in the blood, bringing its concentration literally to trace values that cannot be determined by any exact methods. Such a quantity of virus will not be enough for infection, even if it somehow enters the body.
But if a person does not take medicine, then this one with HIV is a carrier and a distributor at the same time. It is quite possible to get infected from such a person, and therefore it is necessary to avoid unprotected sex, if there is any doubt about the health of the partner or his honesty. Despite the fact that intentional infection is punishable by law, this is unlikely to compensate for the problems that will have to be solved after such contact.
It is also necessary to uncover the question of whether an HIV-infected person can infect someone not personally, but by introducing their biofluids in other ways. If this is not a situation in which blood is injected immediately with a syringe into the victim’s vein, then no. The HIV virus is extremely unstable and is rapidly destroyed outside the body. As a rule, 5-7 minutes are enough for him to completely lose his qualities. Therefore, infections through needle injections, blades, accidental scratches in the crowd are extremely unlikely.
Is HIV deadly?
Immediately after the start of its spread on the planet, HIV was definitely a deadly virus. It was impossible to suppress it with drugs that would not cause extremely serious side effects. The first antiretroviral drugs were extremely toxic, which frightened many patients, and they refused treatment. At that time, the carrier of HIV was doomed to painful death.
Further, the drugs began to improve, their intensity of side effects decreased, therapeutic activity increased, and pharmaceutical companies were actively looking for new formulas and developed antiviral drugs for combined use.
Modern medicine has begun to offer people new drugs, including combination ones. The need to take a handful of drugs several times a day is a thing of the past. The latest development available to most HIV-infected people is a pill that you can drink once a day and not worry about anything. It allows a person to lead an ordinary life and not limit himself to anything.
Antiretroviral therapy destroys the virus in the blood, and the host ceases to be infectious. In addition, the absence of HIV has a positive effect on the dynamics of the growth of immunity. The number of immune cells is growing, immunity is restored, and a person ceases to suffer from diseases typical of the late stage of HIV infection.
As a result, the patient who is committed to treatment has no diseases, immunity is normal, and therefore the danger of dying due to his carriage is reduced to zero. His risk of dying from any disease is absolutely equal to the same risk for a completely healthy person. But it should be repeated, this is true only for those who control their illness.
When to be tested for HIV
There are mandatory checks for dangerous infections, including HIV, for expectant mothers and people of certain professions. In this case, the person undergoes planned HIV tests and gets the result. But this does not mean that without a similar need to be tested for the virus is not worth it.
In view of the current situation with the spread of the virus throughout the country, it must be understood that the responsibility for the health of every person now lies, first of all, with him. The main methods for preventing infection with the immunodeficiency virus are to avoid taking drugs and unprotected sex, and also to be tested for the virus on time. If unprotected sex still happened, then you need to wait 2 months and pass an analysis. The result usually comes in a few days.
You should also pay attention to the state of your health: if the patient notices that he has become more likely to get colds, and also sees rashes of unknown origin on the skin, then he needs to take an HIV test. Despite the fact that even suspicion of HIV is a strong stressful factor, a person must understand the responsibility for what happens to his body. His actions will decide how much his health will be maintained.
Do HIV-positive people have a duty to warn others about their status
No, there is no such obligation. HIV infection in the modern world is a common chronic disease. No one, including medical workers, should disclose information about the patient’s HIV status, as this is a direct violation of medical ethics and medical secrecy. It is also forbidden to require a disease report at work, with the exception of some professions. The patient has the right both to keep information about his disease in secret, and to independently talk about it.
But you also need to remember the article for intentionally infecting another person. If an HIV-positive person has found a mate, then he will have both moral and legislative obligations to inform his partner about the illness before unprotected contact occurs.
For the disclosure of someone else’s medical information, only people who are prohibited from such disclosure can be held accountable: doctors and paramedical personnel. Therefore, each person needs to think several times before communicating his diagnosis to people whom he does not trust enough. In our time, the stigmatization of HIV-positive people has remained (friends who have learned about HIV have turned their backs on many people), so it should be understood that publicity of the status often leads to the severance of some contacts, sometimes even very close ones.
Is HIV curable, is treatment being developed
Almost 40 years have passed since the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus. During this time, medicine has gone a long way from a completely incurable, deadly virus that takes life to a chronic disease that is suppressed with the help of several or one pill. Pharmaceutical companies are developing both in the search for new ARVT drugs and in the study of the virus itself.
To know about the structure, types and behavior of the virus is extremely important for understanding the mechanism of its work in the body. The more a person knows about an infection, the higher the likelihood that it will be defeated. Currently, several promising vaccines are under development, which, although they do not guarantee absolute protection, are a huge leap towards full protection against infection.
There are also several drug developments that, according to scientists, can extract the virus from reservoirs in the body, where it is stored outside the bloodstream and destroy, thus clearing it to the end. Some scientists promise to defeat the variability of the viral particle itself, so that it becomes easier to select therapy for a person.
Since progress in this direction does not stand still, in the fight against HIV, humanity, perhaps, can hope for a successful outcome.