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AIDS
What is AIDS?
AIDS is an abbreviation for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This is the condition caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). People who have a positive blood test for the virus are said to be HIV positive. People who have certain diseases associated with HIV infection due to a depressed immune system are said to have AIDS. Being HIV positive does not mean that you have AIDS.
What causes AIDS and who is at risk?
HIV is carried in certain body fluids including blood, semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk; contact with these fluids from an infected person through sexual contact, sharing needles, during birth or breast-feeding can lead to infection with HIV. HIV infects and destroys white blood cells called CD4+T cells which are cells of the immune system that protect against infections of all kinds. Once the immune system is weakened sufficiently, AIDS develops when the body succumbs to so-called opportunistic infections or cancers that take advantage of the body's lowered defences.
Although HIV was first identified among homosexual men in San Francisco in the early 1980s, it is now found throughout the world among both sexes. HIV is particularly prevalent in Africa and in many developing countries. In developed countries, it is found predominantly in:
People who indulge or have indulged in high-risk sexual behaviour such as having unprotected sex with sexually active homosexual men, prostitutes or the female sexual partners of bisexual men
People sharing the drug-taking equipment of intravenous drug users
People exposed to contaminated blood products in the early 1980s such as haemophiliacs
What are the common symptoms and complications of AIDS?
When a person is initially infected with HIV there are usually no symptoms for about three months until seroconversion occurs. This is when the virus starts reproducing at a rapid rate and the body mounts a strong immune response against it, as is the case in any viral infection such as 'flu. In fact this period is often marked by a brief 'flu-like illness. After this initial illness, the immune system continues to control the growth of the virus, while the virus continues to reproduce and infect the CD4+ T cells of the immune system. Eventually, in almost all cases, the immune system fails and AIDS develops; however, the length of time from the initial infection to the development of AIDS can vary from a few months to more than 10 years.
The early symptoms of AIDS may include:
Mild fever
Sweating
Enlarged tonsils
Weight loss
Enlarged lymph glands
Shingles
As the disease progresses, there is often a general failure to thrive and a wide variety of opportunistic infections strike which characterise the development of full-blown AIDS. These include:
A type of pneumonia called pneumocystis
Tuberculosis
A virus called cytomegalovirus that can infect the eye, lungs or gut
Numerous fungal and parasitic infections
Also typical of AIDS is a rare skin cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma.
How do doctors recognise AIDS?
A simple blood test detects the HIV virus by the presence of antibodies to it (antibodies are made by the immune system as a reaction to an infectious organism and define the seroconversion illness). People having an HIV test should always receive counselling before and after the test because of the implications of the result. There are also new tests that are becoming increasingly more common which detect the presence and amount of the virus itself. Once diagnosed, the number of CD4+T cells in the blood and the amount of virus present are used to monitor the infection and state of health of the individual.
What is the treatment for AIDS?
Self-care action plan
The best self-care for HIV and AIDS is the prevention of infection. Make sure you know how the virus can be contracted:
Unprotected sexual intercourse of any kind (ie, without a condom)
Sharing contaminated needles or syringes used for intravenous drug abuse
Blood transfusion with HIV-infected blood or blood-products (this is now very rare as almost all countries in the world screen donated blood)
An infected mother to her baby at birth or by breast feeding
HIV cannot be spread through everyday social contact. It cannot be passed on by the following:
Touching or hugging
Kissing
Coughs and sneezes
Crockery, cutlery or food
Toilet seats
Mosquito bites
People who are HIV positive should not donate blood, plasma, body organs, other tissues or sperm.
There has been some controversy over whether health care workers should be tested for HIV because of fears that they may pass on the virus to patients. In the UK there has never been a case of a patient being infected by an HIV positive health care worker.
Nursing care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy
Nursing care of AIDS patients depends on the individual's symptoms. The aims are to:
Control existing opportunistic infections and prevent new ones
Promote self-care and ensure adequate nutrition
Provide emotional support for the patients and their families
Medicines
Opportunistic infections are treated with a range of powerful antibiotics and cancers with chemotherapy (cancer-killing drugs).
There are many trials currently underway of new anti-HIV drugs which are being used in combination (triple therapy) with very encouraging results. In some individuals, the amount of virus becomes undetectable and the immune system can make a remarkable recovery. These drugs may have unpleasant side-effects such as nausea but as more is known about them, drugs are being refined to make them more effective and with fewer side effects. It is too early, however, to say whether a cure is in sight.
What is the outcome of having AIDS?
The most recent scientific trials of combination drugs have shown that the virus can be controlled so as to become undetectable in some individuals. In many people the illness may come to be regarded as a chronic rather than terminal condition. Although it is not known if a cure is near, the future is much more promising than when HIV was first discovered.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
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