Is HIV dangerous?

How do you think?

Why is HIV dangerous?

Different viruses attack different parts of the body - some may attack the skin, others the lungs, and so on. The common cold is caused by a virus. What makes HIV so dangerous is that it attacks the immune system itself - the very thing that would normally get rid of a virus. It particularly attacks a special type of immune system cell known as a CD4 lymphocyte.

HIV has a number of tricks that help it to evade the body's defences, including very rapid mutation. This means that once HIV has taken hold, the immune system can never fully get rid of it.

There isn't any way to tell just by looking if someone's been infected by HIV. In fact a person infected with HIV may look and feel perfectly well for many years and may not know that they are infected. But as the person's immune system weakens they become increasingly vulnerable to illnesses, many of which they would previously have fought off easily.

The only reliable way to tell whether someone has HIV is for them to take a blood test , which can detect infection from a few weeks after the virus first entered the body.

The immune system is a group of cells and organs that protect your body by fighting disease. The human immune system usually finds and kills viruses fairly quickly.

So if the body's immune system attacks and kills viruses, what's the problem?

Get info on the next posting!

Woman & Aids

Worldwide, the face of AIDS increasingly has become female. Globally, women now comprise 50 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute 59 percent of all people living with the virus, a figure that rises to 76 percent among young people aged 15 to 24. In the U.S., girls make up 43 percent of people aged 13 to 19 with new HIV infections, and AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African-American women aged 25 to 34.

Both domestically and globally, women contract HIV/AIDS primarily through heterosexual sex. Biological susceptibility, economic instability, gender inequality, and violence are some of the risk factors associated with increased HIV/AIDS rates among women and girls. Lack of integrated prevention and treatment services, ineffective intervention programs, and a dearth of female-controlled prevention methods have contributed to this increased risk. A failure to fully examine the relationship between injection drug use and heterosexual sex has additionally led to increased rates of HIV/AIDS among women.

Women and men experience HIV differently in a number of important ways. In the biological and physiological realms, women are at least twice as likely to acquire HIV from men than vice versa during a single act of intercourse, and there are a number of HIV-related conditions that occur solely or more frequently in women. In the social and cultural realms, women have less economic power than men, are often forced to marry at a young age, and are more likely than men to be victims of sexual violence, including rape—factors that all confer added vulnerability to HIV infection. Thus, efforts to address the increasingly disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls must take into account the complex interplay of biological and social forces that fuel the epidemic.

In order to address the alarming rates of HIV/AIDS among women and girls in the U.S. and internationally, amfAR has launched the Women, Sexual Health, and HIV/AIDS initiative. The primary goal of the initiative is to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic among women and girls, and to promote research, education, and policy activities to address it.

Specific components of amfAR’s initiative include research fellowships and small grants for innovative projects in the biomedical and social sciences; a symposium and briefing series to highlight research findings and their application to policies and programs; public and professional education events for HIV care providers and community members; and advocacy work in coalition with other organizations to support sound public policies affecting women and girls.
http://www.amfar.org

India tops world HIV/AIDS cases

Mumbai, India — Pink baby dresses ribbed with lace hang in a well-lighted room where prostitutes learn to sew as their children doze, sheltered from Bombay's sweltering heat.

Outside, women stand with their hands on their hips, trying to catch the eye of any passing man in the Kamathipura red-light district, where about half of Bombay's 10,000 prostitutes work.

Shehnaz Begum knows the place well. She spent 10 years on its streets, fleeing only when the prospect of AIDS grew too terrifying.

For years, Indian health activists and officials argued about the number of people infected with the AIDS virus, debating whether the situation was stabilizing in India or about to explode.

On Tuesday, UNAIDS issued a report saying India has world's largest number of people living with HIV. With an estimated 5.7 million infections, the country has surpassed South Africa's 5.5 million.

The 630-page report documents countries' progress and failures, and projects what must happen to keep some regions from experiencing disaster. The agency report was released a day ahead of a high-level meeting on AIDS in New York, and a week prior to the 25th anniversary of the first documented AIDS cases on June 5, 1981.

“I think we will see a further globalization of the epidemic spreading to every single corner of the planet,” UNAIDS head Dr. Peter Piot said in an interview.

Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.

The epidemic still remains at its worst in sub-Saharan Africa, where per capita rates continue to climb in several countries. A third of adults were infected in Swaziland in 2005. By comparison, India's per capita rate is low, at 0.9 per cent of its 1.02 billion people.

Dr. Piot said one of the report's most disturbing findings was how few babies are being protected against infection. Only nine per cent of pregnant women in poor countries are receiving services, such as access to drugs, to help prevent mother-to-child transmission, despite a UNAIDS goal of 80 per cent coverage.

Women's vulnerability to the disease continues to increase, with more than 17 million women infected worldwide, nearly half the global total, and more than three-quarters of them living in sub-Saharan Africa, the report found.

In India, there are signs of hope despite the huge numbers of infections.

Intensive AIDS prevention efforts among prostitutes and the men who frequent them have pushed down HIV infections dramatically in four south Indian states, according to a recent University of Toronto study.

The study found a 35 per cent drop in HIV among people aged 15-24 years because of efforts by authorities and non-governmental groups to educate sex workers. Places like Kamathipura are now dotted with posters, street theatre performances and educators, all offering information about AIDS and HIV. Bombay is in Maharashtra state, one of the four states where the study found the decline.

“HIV remains a huge problem in India,” said Rajesh Kumar, an author of the study. “We're not saying the epidemic is under control yet; we are saying that prevention efforts with high-risk groups thus far seem to be having an effect.”

Mr. Begum, 48, has seen the changes. A seamstress, ex-prostitute and informal AIDS educator, she is in the forefront of the fight to slow the spread of HIV.

Bending over a sewing machine, Mr. Begum adjusts her spectacles as she teaches younger women, all current or former prostitutes, the finer points of dressmaking and gives them a chance to talk about HIV. She left “the business,” as she calls it, four years ago.

“Women are smarter now. They insist customers wear condoms. They know you have a man for six months, then he moves on and you can be left with the disease. Then who will look after your children?” she says.

The women crowding around her chime in.

“Very few women will go with a customer if he doesn't wear a condom,” said Chandi Sayeed, 39, who was sold into prostitution at age 16 and got out of the life in 2001. “We tell them to always wear a condom.”

Studies by PSI, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, have shown a fall from a 65 per cent HIV-positive rate five years ago among Bombay prostitutes to 50 per cent today, said Shilpa Merchant, the group's AIDS co-ordinator.

Intensive education appears to have driven down infection rates, but many people are still at risk, Ms. Merchant said. While many “core transmitters,” such as truckers and prostitutes, have been reached, the “bridge” population, such as truckers' wives, have received little attention, she said.

“At least 80 per cent of sex workers use condoms compared to the 1990s when they hadn't even heard of condoms,” she said. Many in the other groups, though, still “think this is a disease other people get.”

RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM,2006

HIV Transmitted

How is HIV transmitted? HIV can be transmitted from an infected person to another through:Blood,semen.vaginal secretions and breast milk.

Blood contains the highest concentration of the virus, followed by semen, followed by vaginal fluids, followed by breast milk.

Activities That Allow HIV Transmission

• Unprotected sexual contact
• Direct blood contact, including injection drug needles, blood transfusions, accidents in health care settings or certain blood products
• Mother to baby (before or during birth, or through breast milk)

Sexual intercourse .In the genitals and the rectum, HIV may infect the mucous membranes directly or enter through cuts and sores caused during intercourse (many of which would be unnoticed). Vaginal and anal intercourse is a high-risk practice.
Oral sex.The mouth is an inhospitable environment for How is HIV Transmitted? HIV (in semen, vaginal fluid or blood), meaning the risk of HIV transmission through the throat, gums, and oral membranes is lower than through vaginal or anal membranes. There are however, documented cases where HIV was transmitted orally, so we can't say that getting HIV-infected semen, vaginal fluid or blood in the mouth is without risk. However, oral sex is considered a low risk practice.
Sharing injections needles. An injection needle can pass blood directly from one person's bloodstream to another. It is a very efficient way to transmit a blood-borne virus. Sharing needles is considered a high-risk practice.
Mother to child. It is possible for an HIV-infected mother to pass the virus directly before or during birth, or through breast milk. Breast milk contains HIV, and while small amounts of breast milk do not pose significant threat of infection to adults, it is a viable means of transmission to infants.

HIV to AIDS

How long does it take for HIV to cause AIDS? Currently, the average time between HIV infection and the appearance of signs that could lead to an AIDS diagnosis is 8-11 years. This time varies greatly from person to person and can depend on many factors including a person's health status and behaviors. Today there are medical treatments that can slow down the rate at which HIV weakens the immune system. There are other treatments that can prevent or cure some of the illnesses associated with AIDS. As with other diseases, early detection offers more options for treatment and preventative health care.

Where did AIDS come from?

Where did HIV come from? The most recent presentation on the origin of HIV was presented at the 6th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunitistic Infections (Chicago, January 1999). At that conference, research was presented that suggested that HIV had "crossed over" into the human population from a particular species of chimpanzee, probably through blood contact that occurred during hunting and field dressing of the animals. The CDC states that the findings presented at this conference provide the strongest evidence to date that HIV-1 originated in non-human primates. The research findings were featured in the February 4,1999 issue of the journal, Nature.

We know that the virus has existed in the United States, Haiti and Africa since at least 1977-1978. In 1979, rare types of pneumonia, cancer and other illnesses were being reported by doctors in Los Angeles and New York. The common thread was that these conditions were not usually found in persons with healthy immune systems.

In 1982 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially named the condition AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). In 1984 the virus responsible for weakening the immune system was identified as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).

Antibodies Could Prevent HIV Transmission

Antibodies that prevent some HIV-positive people from progressing to AIDS could be used to develop microbicides or a vaccine to prevent HIV-negative people from contracting the virus, according to research presented Thursday at the XVII INTERNATIOAL AIDS CONFERENCE in Mexico City, the Washington Post reports.

According to the research, conducted by researchers at theUniversitity of Texas medical school , some long-term survivors of HIV have antibodies against an HIV protein called gp120. The antibodies, called "catalytic antibodies," attack an area on the outer shell of HIV where the virus binds to immune system cells, preventing the virus from entering the cells. According to the researchers, the antibodies are present in people with lupus, and "researchers noticed years ago that HIV infection rarely occurred in them," according to the Post. "One hypothesis is that they mount an immune response that protected them," Stephanie Planque, a student at UTMS who presented the research at the AIDS conference, said. Lupus patients' immune systems malfunction and produce a number of "unusual" antibodies, the Post reports.

HIV-positive people make separate antibodies against gp120, but they usually are not strong enough to stop or slow the progression of the virus, according to the Post. Previous research on a vaccine using the protein did not stop or slow HIV progression.

The researchers, led by Sudhir Paul at UTMS, found that gp120 is part of a 13-unit stretch of proteins located where the virus attaches to immune cells. Gp120 is hidden by the other proteins, making it more difficult for the immune system to make antibodies against it, according to the research.

Planque screened antibodies made by lupus patients to determine if any produced catalytic activity against HIV's 13-unit protein stretch, which includes gp120. She found that antibodies derived from the lupus patients killed five strains of HIV.

According to the researchers, the findings could be used to find a way to prompt the immune system to make its own supply of antibodies against gp120 before being exposed to the virus. However, the "road is long before we reach that point," Planque said. The researchers are currently researching strategies to "presen[t]" the protein stretch to the immune system that stimulates catalytic antibodies more effectively than what happens naturally. If such an approach proves successful, it could produce a useful vaccine, the Post reports.

Although drugs containing antibodies are expensive, a microbicide containing catalytic antibodies might be affordable for people in developing countries because only a small quantity would be needed to prevent HIV transmission during sexual contact, the researchers said. In addition, the protective benefit would only need to last hours, not days or weeks. According to the Post, the "broad effect" of catalytic antibodies is "important" and any microbicide or vaccine developed from the antibodies would need to prevent all HIV strains to be "useful" (Brown, Washington Post, 8/8).

Vaccine

DEFENITION OF VACCINE

A vaccine is a substance that is introduced into the body to prevent infection or to control disease due to a certain pathogen (any disease-causing organism, such as a virus, bacteria or parasite); the vaccine ‘teaches’ the body how to defend itself against a pathogen by creating an immune response. Vaccines can be introduced in different ways, such as injection into the muscle (intramuscular) or into or under the skin (intradermal or subcutaneous); by application to the skin (transdermal); by application to the inside of the nose (nasal); or by being swallowed (oral).Right now, there is no vaccine to protect against HIV/AIDS.

A vaccine’s efficacy refers to how well it protects against disease or infection when it is tested in a large trial in humans; a vaccine’s effectiveness refers to how well it reduces the amount of disease once it is used in the overall population.

How Preventive Vaccines Work The following steps outline how a preventive vaccine protects an individual from infection or disease: The vaccine introduces a small piece or a non-harmful form of the pathogen into the body. This is called the foreign antigen (‘foreign’ indicates that it is not from the person’s own body). The immune system in the body produces an immune response to the pathogen by making antibodies, killer cells or both. The immune system has memory B cells (producing antibodies) and memory T cells (helping the production of antibodies or killer T cells). The next time the real pathogen is encountered, the immune system remembers it and mounts a much larger and quicker response than it would have if the person had never received the vaccine. This is called ‘immune memory’. This larger and quicker immune response can act in several ways to fight infection and/or disease: By stopping replication of the pathogen, so it cannot infect more cells By producing antibodies that attach to the pathogen, rendering it harmless (antibody response) By producing immune cells that attack and kill other cells that have been infected with the pathogen (killer cell response) Preventive vaccines are the traditional type of vaccine, defined above. They are intended for people who have not yet been infected. They prepare the immune system to respond in case of future exposure to the pathogen. Common examples include polio, measles, hepatitis B and tetanus vaccines. All vaccines now marketed throughout the world are preventive vaccines, although a few can work if given immediately after exposure (such as a rabies vaccine given right after a dog bite or a tetanus ‘booster’ vaccine given after a wound, provided that the patient has been vaccinated before and has immune memory). Most of the AIDS vaccine candidates now being tested are preventive vaccines. Another way that a vaccine might work would be to start an immune response after a person has been infected with HIV; this would be called a therapeutic, or ‘treatment’, vaccine. Right now, there is no HIV vaccine that works this way, although some scientists are trying to develop one.

NOTES A vaccine ‘teaches’ the immune system how to defend itself against a disease-causing agent, known as a pathogen. A vaccine is designed to prevent one specific disease or pathogen; therefore, a vaccine ‘matches’ with a certain disease. A preventive vaccine is meant for people who have not been infected with the pathogen that the vaccine is designed to protect against. A preventive vaccine is not a treatment or cure for someone who is already infected with the specific pathogen.

What is HIV & AIDS

What is HIV? HIV stands for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and is a ‘Retrovirus’. Retroviruses consist of Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) and were discovered by Robert Gallo in 1978. They contain a special viral enzyme called Reverse Transcriptase, which allows the virus to convert its RNA to DNA and then integrate, and take over, a cell’s own genetic material. Once taken over, the new cell - now HIV infected - begins to produce new HIV retroviruses. HIV replicates in and kills the helper T cells, which are the body’s main defense against illness. HIV is ONLY spread through:

• Sexual contact - unprotected vaginal or anal sex. Only condoms provide ‘all-in-one’ protection from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections including HIV.
• Direct innoculation of the virus - for example infection through contaminated needles
• Contaminated blood products / transplanted organs. In the US all donated blood has been tested for HIV since 1985
• An infected mother may sometimes pass the virus to her developing fetus during the birth or breast milk

In the first month to three months after a person is initially infected with the HIV virus is when that person is most infectious (i.e. meaning the amount of virus in their system is at its highest and T-cell counts are at their lowest). During the time, the body has not had time to react to the virus and produce an adequate immune response to start suppressing HIV. More and more HIV viruses are produced and then released by a process known as budding. This means that when someone becomes infected with the HIV virus it begins to attack their immune system. This process is not visible and a person who is infected can look and feel perfectly well for many years and they may not know that they are infected. As their immune system weakens they become more vulnerable to illnesses that their immune system would normally have fought off. As time goes by they are likely to become ill more often and develop AIDS.

What is AIDS? AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. When HIV infection becomes advanced it often is referred to as AIDS. It generally occurs when the CD4 count is below 200/mL and is characterized by the appearance of opportunistic infections. These are infections that take advantage of a weakened immune system and include:

• Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
• Toxoplasmosis
• Tuberculosis
• Extreme weight loss and wasting; exacerbated by diarrhea which can be experienced in up to 90% of HIV patients worldwide
• Meningitis and other brain infections
• Fungal infections
• Syphilis
• Malignancies such as lymphoma, cervical cancer, and
• Kaposi’s Sarcoma

Today we know that Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease and not a syndrome. A syndrome is commonly used to refer to collections of symptoms that do not have an easily identifiable cause. This name was more appropriate 13 years ago, when doctors were only aware of the late stages of the disease and did not fully understand its mechanisms. A more current name for the condition, regardless of an AIDS diagnosis, is HIV Disease. This name is more accurate because it refers to the pathogen that causes AIDS and encompasses all the condition’s stages, from infection to the deterioration of the immune system and the onset of opportunistic diseases. However, AIDS is still the name that most people use to refer to the immune deficiency caused by HIV.

• Acquired — because it is a condition that has to be contracted. It cannot be inherited or transmitted through the genes.
• Immune — because it affects the body’s immune system, the part of the body that fights off diseases.
• Deficiency — because it makes the immune system stop working properly.
• Syndrome — because people with AIDS experience a number of different symptoms and opportunistic diseases.

Word Aids Day

World AIDS Day, observed December 1′th each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the Aids Pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, with an estimated 38.6 million people living with HIV, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6 million) lives in 2005, of which more than half a million (570,000) were children.

The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.

From its inception until 2004, UNAIDS spearheaded the World AIDS Day campaign, choosing annual themes in consultation with other global health organizations. In 2005 this responsibility was turned over toWorld Aids Campaign (WAC), who chose Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise as the main theme for World AIDS Day observances through 2010, with more specific sub-taglines chosen annually. This theme is not specific to World AIDS Day, but is used year-round in WAC’s efforts to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness within the context of other major global events including the G8 Submit. World AIDS Campaign also conducts “in-country” campaigns throughout the world, like the Student Stop AIDS Campaign, an infection-awareness campaign targeting young people throughout the UK.