FAQs


Frequent Asked Questions About HIV



HIV stands for Human immunodeficiency virus

AIDS stands for Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome. This is the last and most severe stage of the HIV infection.

Having HIV does not mean you have to die with AIDS with the help of drugs that slow the rate at which HIV infection progresses to AIDS.

What are some of the contractions of HIV or the AIDS virus?

· Unprotected sex with someone who is infected with the virus
· Sharing a needle with someone who is infected with the virus
· Having multiple sex partners or a man having sex with other men.
· Avoid oral, genital and anal contact with partner's blood, semen, vaginal secretions, feces or urine.

Can you catch it from Kissing, sharing a glass or touching someone with the virus? NO YOU CAN NOT

What are some of the symptoms of the HIV virus?

Exhaustion, weakness, weight loss, fever, night sweats, swollen lymph nodes.

When a part of the body is infected, the nearby lymph nodes become swollen as they collect and destroy the infecting organisms. For example, if a person has a throat infection, the lymph nodes in the neck may swell and become tender.
Cancer can spread through the lymphatic system


Mode of Transmission: Mainly through unprotected vaginal or anal sex as well as through breast milk and sharing drug needles with an infected person. May also be infected by performing oral sex on some who is infected or by sharing sex toys that have not been cleaned. While there was once concern about the possibility of infection through blood transfusions, strict screening procedures have been in place in North America and Europe for many years to prevent an infection from occurring this way. People living in other countries, though, may still be at risk of infection through blood transmission.
Symptoms: The initial symptoms of HIV are similar to the flu and include fever, swollen lymph glands, headaches, muscle aches, fatigue and fever. However, many people fail to notice any HIV symptoms. Although the virus can remain dormant in your system for many years, the virus will continue to weaken your immune system by attacking your CD4 cells. Once the viral load overwhelms your CD4 cells (or T4 cells), you will likely develop an opportunistic infection resulting in a diagnosis of AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).
Treatment:There is no cure for HIV or AIDS. HIV medications usually include antiviral drugs that are taken to hinder the growth and even kill off part of the HIV cells. Although this HIV/AIDS treatment does not work for everyone, they can help to keep you healthy and avoid the progression of the infection to AIDS.
Complications: The main complications associated with HIV are the increased risk of serious illness, developing AIDS, and dying of an AIDS-related complication.
Consequences in Infants: Approximately 25% of all babies born to women with HIV will also be infected and will develop HIV symptoms within their first year of life. However, the use of antiviral drugs during pregnancy can significantly reduce your risk of transmitting the virus to your baby.
Risk Factors: Failing to use a condom every time you have vaginal or anal sex, sharing needles and being infected with another sexually transmitted disease, like gonorrhea or chlamydia, can increase your risk of being infected with HIV.
Prevention: Abstaining from sex or having sex within a long-term, monogamous relationship with someone who has tested free of the HIV virus are the only sure ways to avoid being infected. If you are sexually active, it is important to use a condom every time you have sex. You should also avoid using illicit IV drugs and sharing needles.
Research: Many different research teams are working on creating an HIV vaccine as well as a cure for those already living with the infection. Work is also underway to create a vaccine for AIDS. Because many people form a resistance to their HIV medications, new drugs to treat HIV are also being developed.

All About Genital Herpes: If You Have or Are at Risk for HIV
Having genital herpes can increase the risk of being infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and it can cause serious problems for people living with HIV.
People who have genital herpes sores are more likely to be infected with HIV during intercourse. When you develop a sore, your immune system tries to heal it, so there are many immune cells concentrated in that spot. Those are the cells that HIV infects. If HIV in semen, vaginal fluid, or blood comes in contact with a herpes sore, the risk for infection is high.
The Compound Effect of Genital Herpes and HIV
HIV and the herpes virus are a troublesome duo. One can worsen the effects of the other. Research shows that when the herpes virus is active, it may cause HIV to make more copies of itself (the process called replication) than it would otherwise. The more HIV replicates, the more of the body's infection-fighting cells it destroys, eventually leading to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).
People infected with both HIV and the herpes virus may have longer-lasting, more frequent, and more severe outbreaks of herpes symptoms, because a weakened immune system can't keep the herpes virus under control as well as a healthy immune system can.
Treatment Issues
It's more difficult to treat genital herpes if you also have HIV. Higher doses of antiviral drugs are often needed to treat herpes in people with HIV. Also, many people with HIV have strains of the herpes virus that are resistant to treatment with the standard antiviral drugs.
If you take antiviral drugs for genital herpes and the treatment isn't working, your doctor can test the virus you have for resistance. If the virus is resistant, there are other possible treatment alternatives, including the drugs Foscavir and Vistide. These drugs can be given through an IV, or a Vistide gel can be applied to the herpes sores.
If you have HIV, ask your doctor if you should be tested for genital herpes. If you already know that you have herpes and HIV, discuss treatment options with your doctor.

Far too many Americans believe that the AIDS epidemic is over in the United States. Among minorities, women, and the poor in America, however, the worst may be yet to come.
African Americans represent 13 percent of the American population but approximately 50 percent of new HIV cases. Some 80 percent of all women infected with the virus are women of color. In addition, African American women are becoming infected at younger ages than their white peers, primarily through heterosexual contact. Latinos represent 12 percent of the population but about 20 percent of AIDS cases. The HIV infection rate among Native Americans is one and a half times that of whites. On average, Native Americans die from AIDS much faster than whites due to late diagnoses.
To be sure, infection rates among all populations may stem in part from the failure of personal responsibility and inattention to warnings from HIV/AIDS advocates, physicians, and community organizers. However, other circumstances play a much larger role in the devastation HIV/AIDS is causing in poor and minority communities. Lack of insurance, inadequate medical attention, general poor health, and a criminal justice system in which people of color are disproportionately incarcerated contribute directly to increased infection rates among these “vulnerable” populations and represent this country’s continuing failure to observe certain fundamental human rights principles that would protect them.
America’s incarcerated population stands at nearly 2.1 million, the highest incarceration rate in the world. Of that number, more than 65 percent are people of color. One out of four African American men has experienced some form of incarceration. The statistics are troubling not only in and of themselves, but because imprisonment increases the likelihood of contracting HIV. In fact, there are three times as many AIDS cases in state and federal prisons than there are in the general U.S. population. The increase in the number of African American ex-offenders living with HIV/AIDS corresponds with increasing infection rates for women, especially African American women, who often contract HIV through heterosexual relationships.
America’s first human rights failure in this regard, even in the absence of HIV, is to accept (if not tacitly promote) the culture of violence that foments the poor health, rape, and unprotected sex that characterize everyday life in many correctional facilities in the United States. Even in the face of HIV/AIDS, however, most state correctional facilities refuse to distribute condoms (because sex among inmates is illegal) and, although many federal and state facilities test for HIV upon entry, most require inmates to admit engaging in high-risk behavior before being retested (which, in any case, remains at the facility’s discretion). An inmate who tests negative for HIV upon his arrival at the facility could contract the disease while in prison and be released without being retested, leaving him and any future sexual partners (and, in turn, their future partners) unaware of his infection. Thus, the rising rate of HIV and AIDS within communities of color is but one part of a broken and abusive system of criminal justice administration.
Apart from this system, people of color living with HIV also have higher death rates due to lack of insurance and inadequate medical care. African Americans, for example, often receive inferior medical care compared to European Americans and have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, some forms of cancer, asthma, sexually transmitted diseases, and other illnesses that complicate treatment for HIV. Moreover, HIV-positive African Americans and Latinos are less likely than HIV-positive whites to receive life-sustaining medications.
As is true of the international pandemic, the conditions in which the American HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to thrive are a function of the degree to which human rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled in the United States. Basic human rights for all people—regardless of race, sex, or other status—are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the UN General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS of June 2001. Yet inadequate adherence to the principles proclaimed in these instruments, particularly with respect to vulnerable populations in the United States, contributes substantially to HIV’s disproportionate impact on those populations.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, for example, to which the United States is a party, requires that all people deprived of liberty—that is, prisoners—be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. Yet such a standard is almost laughable in many American prisons. Further, the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS describes HIV/AIDS as “one of the most formidable challenges to human life and dignity, as well as to the effective enjoyment of human rights,” and identifies several human rights issues that are particularly relevant to minorities with HIV/AIDS in the United States. It recognizes poverty, for example, as one of the principal contributing factors to the spread of HIV/AIDS. It also acknowledges that the lack of affordable medications and health systems stands in the way of an effective response to the pandemic, “especially for the poorest people.” Like the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which the United States has signed but not ratified, the UN declaration therefore recognizes the “right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” This declaration also stresses that gender equality and the empowerment of women are essential to reducing the vulnerability of women and girls to the disease. Stigma, silence, discrimination, and lack of confidentiality continue to undermine prevention, care, and treatment, as does the lack of access to condoms, antiretroviral therapies, and diagnostics (testing), which are equally crucial to dealing effectively with HIV/AIDS.
Yet despite the UN Declaration’s well-known, broadly accepted, and legally and morally sound prescription for dealing with HIV/AIDS—much of which flows from principles and values that the United States long has championed—minority and poor Americans, especially women, remain vulnerable to HIV infection, are denied access to treatment, and suffer AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in disproportionate numbers. Without intervention, the American epidemic will only worsen.