HIV infection - does it threaten you?

According to the World Health Organization, 16,000 people are infected with HIV every day. Over 90% of them live in countries with a low level of economic development. Moreover, every tenth infected person is a child under 15 years old. The rest are adults, of whom almost 40% are women. And every second woman is between the ages of 15 and 24.

What are the signs of infection?
It is impossible in the appearance of a person to determine precisely whether his organism is infected or not. This is the danger of this disease. The infected person looks healthy and does not feel bad, but he can pass the virus on to other people. Is it worth to believe a word from someone who claims not to be infected? Not always. Many of the HIV-infected people do not even know about their illness. Those who know about infection sometimes hide it or do not tell the truth. There are sociological data of polls conducted in the USA among people infected with HIV: out of ten people, four did not warn their partners about the possibility of infection.

AIDS and HIV - how are they related?
The term "HIV" refers to the human immunodeficiency virus. This virus gradually destroys the natural protective barrier, designed to fight diseases - the immune system of the body. AIDS stands for "the syndrome of acquired immunodeficiency." This is a deadly last stage of the disease, which causes HIV infection. The very name suggests that the HIV virus, by inflicting a crushing blow to the immune system of a sick person, makes it completely helpless before infections with which a healthy person's body would have coped without difficulty.

What happens in an organism that has infected HIV?
From the moment of infection to the manifestation of the first symptoms passes from 6 to 10 years. During this period, a fierce war is taking place in the body. Viral particles, multiplying, kill cells of the immune system. The immune system strikes back. But viruses multiply, and a period comes when billions of viral particles completely suppress immunity. Drugs designed to support the immune system, were ineffective and even caused serious side effects, adversely affecting the patient's blood. A new class of drugs has now been developed - protease inhibitors. In combination with other antiviral drugs, these drugs stop the process of reproduction of viruses, although they are not completely killed. Such triple therapy is effective if treatment is started as early as possible, even before the symptoms that cause HIV infection.

Therefore, HIV tests are very important. And even if the virus was not detected from the first time, the test should be repeated later. This is especially important for those who are going to get married. After all, if it turns out later that the HIV test is positive, not only your life, but also the life of the spouse and children will be under threat.

Difficulty of treatment
Triple therapy has its difficulties:
• High cost of drugs
• Complex scheme of taking tablets
• Strict daily reception
• Dependence on the refrigerator in which the preparations are to be stored
• Complication of therapy when it is necessary to take medications from other diseases
• Danger of interrupting treatment so that viruses do not begin to multiply again

HIV prevention
On the basis of the statement of the League on the fight against AIDS, one can prevent infection. Until an effective remedy for this dangerous disease has been found, the only defense is knowledge. Parents should speak frankly about this danger with their children and with each other.

Nevertheless, despite a broad public education program, many are very careless about the risk of infection. High moral norms, matrimonial fidelity - these are the best means of protection for today.
While it is impossible to get rid of the disease that causes HIV infection, but it can be prevented. Is it worth it to risk your life? Agree that the prevention of infection is much better than the inability to recover!