HIV Infection And AIDS
By Dr
Jenny Low, Registrar
Dept of Internal Medicine, SGH
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is the final stage of HIV infection.
HIV can be passed from person to person through the following ways:
| 1. |
unprotected sexual intercourse with another infected person |
| 2. |
sharing of infected needles and syringes (e.g. injecting drug users) |
| 3. |
mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding |
| 4. |
transfusion with contaminated blood or blood products |
Most HIV infections are acquired sexually.
HIV infection CANNOT be transmitted through casual contacts such as shaking hands or sharing toilets, swimming pools and launderette. It is also NOT transmitted through insect bites and stings.
Many people do not have any symptoms when they first become infected with HIV. Some people however, may have a flu-like illness within a month or two after exposure to the virus.
Therefore, very often, a person who has HIV infection but not having AIDS can feel and look completely normal and healthy.
On the average, it takes about 8-10 years for a person to develop AIDS from the time he/she is first infected with HIV. At this stage, the person develops illnesses which an uninfected person is usually able to fight off, such as, Tuberculosis (TB) and Pneumocystic pneumonia. These infections are often severe and life threatening because the immune system is so weakened by HIV that the body cannot fight off certain bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and other microbes.
There are antibody tests available to test for HIV infection, however, it can take up to six months for a person to develop the antibodies against HIV after the infection has started. During the period before the antibodies are produced (the “window” period), a person can be infected with HIV and can infect others, but can still test negative on the HIV antibody test.
There is presently no cure for this disease but medications can slow down the progression of the disease and often restore the patient to good health. There are on-going studies and drug trials which may be helpful in the future.
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