How much does the HIV virus live in the external environment? At what temperature does HIV die? All about HIV

The syndrome of acquired immunity deficiency was identified as early as 1981 with the help of a group of scientists from America. The most correct name for a disease that people classify as AIDS is HIV infection. This disease is awakened by a virus that was studied back in 1983 in a company of American and French researchers. The HIV virus is very difficult to treat, or more accurately to say, almost incurable, so the problem of fighting this disease has been going on for a long time. All about HIV infection we will try to tell in this article. What it is? How does the infection spread? How much does the HIV virus live in the external environment? Is it possible to get infected in a domestic setting?

All about HIV

HIV is an immune deficiency virus that directly affects the body's immune system. When it is unstable, protection against external parasites, which constantly attack the body, disappears. In the absence of an immune response, other infectious diseases easily develop in the body. People with HIV infection become the most sensitive to the most elementary colds and even to those microorganisms that are absolutely harmless to an uninfected person. A person with a HIV virus in his or her blood is called HIV-positive or HIV-positive. This infection belongs to the family of retroviruses.

If there is an infection of HIV, this does not mean that a person has AIDS. From infection to infection to the stage of development of this terrible disease, there is a long time, about 10-12 years. How much does the HIV virus live in the external environment? This will be discussed later.

Impact on the immune system

The immune system of the body is designed to protect it from foreign organisms that create a potential biological threat to human life. They are not part of the human body, so when they penetrate they cause a certain (protective) reaction of the immune system: nausea, vomiting, fever and so on. All such symptoms will accompany the person and at a time when the immune system is trying to overcome a foreign microorganism. Various viruses, colds, bacteria, fungi, staphylococci, donor material or internal organs are all antigens.

The components of the immune system include some organs: the thymus gland, bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen, thyroid gland, as well as cells of lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages. In HIV infection, the most important role is played by T cells (lymphocytes), which recognize this and other viruses in the body. They accelerate their regenerative properties and induce other elements of the immune system to fight and suppress viruses, including HIV. It is the HIV virus that destroys lymphocytes, cells of the brain, intestines and lungs. This violates the protective properties of the immune system, and soon completely destroys it.

Quite often, a virus that penetrated the body can live there for 1 to 5 years without revealing itself, so to speak, in an inactive state. Those very T-cells contribute to the development of a certain number of antibodies, which determine the presence of the virus in the body. Once he has penetrated into the blood, a person automatically becomes his carrier and distributor, capable of infecting other healthy people.

The development of this disease is very slow and lasts for many years. The only signs that indicate the presence of the disease are the inflamed lymph nodes. At the end of the incubation period, HIV infection rapidly multiplies, destroying absolutely all cells of the immune system, thereby causing a disease called AIDS.

Danger of this virus

AIDS itself and HIV infection do not have fatal consequences, they only create conditions for this. With immunodeficiency, the body is not able to fight even the smallest and minor infections that penetrate it. This causes the development of severe forms of diseases with complications, which lead to serious consequences. If a person affected by an immunodeficiency virus captures another serious infection (Botkin's disease, Zek's virus), the body will not succumb to medical treatment and the disease will only progress.

Infection with HIV

The virus of immunodeficiency is transmitted through the blood or secretions, for example, from the genitals. In other words, the spreader of infection can only be a carrier of the disease. The HIV virus is contained in a patient in the blood, in breast milk, in the secretions of the genital organs (sperm).

At first the virus is absolutely not manifested and does not make itself felt, therefore very often the infected do not know about their condition.

Actually, the virus can be transmitted from person to person through blood or sexually.

Very often in practice there are cases of accidental infection. This occurs when you visit a dentist or a manicurist who had an infected patient before you, and the instrument was not disinfected properly, after the operation with an unsterile tool, other similar cases are possible.

But not always the virus is transmitted from a person, it can develop in the body and in a non-contact way. Quite often in the world practice there are cases when the virus of immunodeficiency has been caused by other severe viral diseases, such as extensive tuberculosis or viral hepatitis.

Many are afraid of bites of various animals and insects. It is worth saying that only people can tolerate the virus of immunodeficiency, animals are not distributors. Exceptions are only insects that feed on blood (mosquitoes are in our regions, and leeches can be added in Asian countries).

How is it impossible to get infected?

How much does HIV die in the external environment and is it possible to get the infection by domestic means? Outside the environment, the virus does not enter the human blood, but only the skin, so adherence to the rules of personal hygiene will be an excellent prevention of the disease.

Do not be afraid of people who are infected with HIV, they are not dangerous to others, if not to engage with them in sexual contact. The virus is also not transmitted by handshake. It is impossible to get infected even through your own use (combs, clothes, dishes, cutlery). Infection does not spread in saunas, swimming pools, sports and gyms, so do not be afraid to visit such places.

How to recognize the disease?

How much does the HIV virus live in the external environment and how does it spread? After infection, HIV infection does not manifest itself at all, and the patient does not experience any discomfort and, as a rule, does not even suspect that he is infected. In rare cases, months later, symptoms similar to the flu may appear, fever, shivering, fever, but there is no runny nose and a sore throat. The only symptom by which this infection can be identified is the rash on the skin in the abdomen. If you suddenly began to feel periodic weakness, nausea, food aversion, dizziness and all this is not related to poisoning or another disease, it is necessary to pass the test for HIV-AIDS.

The latent (latent) form of the disease develops over a fairly long period and the person does not feel any discomfort, but this does not mean that the body does not change. To determine the presence of the virus in the body will help test for HIV. This is a routine blood test for antibodies, which the immune system produces (as a reaction to the penetration of HIV into the body). How much does the HIV virus live in the external environment? Let's discuss this in more detail.

HIV virus: stability in the external environment

So, let's talk about the stability of this virus in the external environment. How long does the virus live outside the body? The HIV virus is very unstable and does not live long in the environment. Many scientists argue about the time during which the virus remains active in the home. Some claim that he lives only a couple of minutes, others state his life outside the body for several hours. Anyway, if HIV-infection could live outside the body for a long time, it would be possible to observe everyday ways of infection in the world practice of therapy of this disease, but they are absent. How long does HIV persist in the external environment? It is not a rod infection or a fungal spore, so the virus can not live in the soil, especially for a long time.

How stable is HIV infection in the external environment?

How long does the virus live outside the body? An entirely different case is when he is in an external environment along with DNA (a drop of blood, sperm). The length of his life in this case is affected by factors such as the amount of DNA and the temperature of the environment. Under stable conditions and a temperature regime, the HIV virus in DNA in the external environment can survive for more than 48 days. That is why non-sterile dental, manicure and surgical instruments, on which remains the drops of blood of an infected person, can infect healthy people for several days.

At what temperature does the virus die?

So, at what temperature does HIV die? He is not able to withstand high temperatures. Particles of the virus begin to die if they are heated for half an hour at a temperature ranging from 56 degrees Celsius, but this is not critical, since the most resistant cells will remain alive and eventually reborn.

If we talk about the virus in the form in which it is contained in the blood, then the process will take longer, and the temperature should be slightly higher. This virus has a protein envelope, and, accordingly, completely destroyed at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. If you hold the biomaterial at such temperatures for 40 minutes, the virus will die completely and irretrievably. So, you have learned how much the HIV virus lives in the external environment and whether it is possible to get infected in a domestic setting. Now you know that this terrible infection can be avoided. Health to you and your family!