AIDS Symptoms HIV in Igboland Africa

AIDS HIV Killer Disease

AIDS stands for Acquired imunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) Syndrome. It results from infection with a virus called HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus.

This virus infects key cells in the human body called CD4-positive (CD4+) T cells. These cells are part of the body's immune system, which fights infections and various cancers.

When HIV invades the body's CD4+T cells, the damaged immune system loses its ability to defend against diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic organisms.

A substantial decline in CD4+ T cells also leaves the body vulnerable to certain cancers.

There is no cure for AIDS, but medical treatments cart slow down the rate at which HIV weakens the immune system. As with other diseases, early detection offers more options for treatment and preventing complications.

AIDS affects women differently than it does men, and it presents unique issues related to sexuality, child bearing, and side effects of treatments.

What Is The Difference Between HIV And AIDS?

The term AIDS refers to an advanced stage of HIV infection, when the immune system has sustained substantial damage. Not everyone who has ,HIV infection develops AIDS.

When HIV progresses to AIDS, how ever, it has proved to be a universally fatal illness.

Few people survive five years from the time they are diagnosed with AIDS, although this is increasing with improvements in treatment techniques.

People are said to have AIDS when they have certain signs or symptoms Specified in guidelines formulated by the U.S. Center for disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's definition of AIDS includes: All HIV-infected people with fewer than 200 CD4+ T cells per cubic millimeter of blood (compared with CD4+ T cell counts of about 1,000 for healthy people).

People with HIV infection who have at least one of more than two dozen AIDS-associated conditions that are the result of HIV's attack on the immune system

AIDS-associated conditions include:

Opportunistic infections by bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Opportunistic infections are infections that are rarely seen in healthy people but occur when a person's immune system is weakened.

The development of certain cancers (including cervical cancer and lymphomas). Certain autoimmune disorders Autoimmune disorders are illnesses that result when the immune system attacks an individual's own tissues or cells.

Most AIDS-associated conditions are rarely serious in healthy individuals. In people with AIDS, however, these infections are often severe and sometimes fatal because the immune system is so damaged by HIV that the body cannot fight them off.

The History of AIDS

HIV/Aids originated from America. The symptoms of AIDS were first recognized in the early 1980s:

In 1981, a rare lung infection called Pneumosyst is carinii pneumonia began to appear in homosexual men living in Los Angeles and New York.

At the same time, Cases Of a rare Tumor called Kaposi’s sarcoma were also reported young homosexual men. These tumors had been previously known to affect elderly men, particularly in parts of Africa. New appearances of the tumors were more aggressive In the young men and appeared on parts of the body other than the skin.

Other infections associated with weakened immune defenses were also reported in the early 1980s. Groups most frequently reporting these infections in the early 1980s were homosexuals, intravenous drug users, and people with hemophilia, a blood disorder that requires frequent transfusions.

Blood and sexual transmission were therefore suspected as the sources for the spread of the infections. In 1984, the responsible virus was identified and given a name. In 1986, it was renamed the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

AIDS: HOW TO KNOW YOU HAVE IT, YET LOOK SO GOOD AND VERY HEALTHY

The Sign, Symptom, Risks and What To Do
HIV/AIDS is threatening to wipeout not only Nigeria but the rests of Africa.

However, we've even discovered that Nigerians have the phobia for HIV/AIDS test and the resultant health situation may be that a person may be infected, that person may not known that he/she has the killer virus and may pass it to other people.

How to know if you have HIV/AIDS There are situations where somebody may have HIV infection without necessarily being sick. The person will live a normal life, look well and may have sexual relationships exposing others to risk.

You can only know that you are HIV-POSITIVE after conducting, blood test and there are traces of HIV antibodies in your blood sample.

A virus or other germs produce these antibodies. Usually, it takes between one to two months for a test to detect these dangerous foreign bodies.

It is good for you to take a bold step and go for H IV test if you know within you that you had on one way or the other lived a life that could have exposed you to the risk of HIV.

If not, you would only come to know if you have HIV infection if you began to suffer some sickness associated with HIV. And who knows, you must have done some damages by infecting others.

SIGNS, SYMPTOMS OF HIV/AIDS
The sign/ symptoms of HIV/ AIDS are usually the kind of sickness that are encountered on daily basis.

But unlike situations where you take them headlong and get cured. This time, some sickness like tuberculosis weight loss, malaria, diarrhea will now resist all kinds of treatment.

This is because, anybody that has HIV infection will have his or her immune system totally broken down weakening your Iymphycocyte [white blood cell formed in the lymphoid tissue] Lymphocytes produce immune bodies to overcome and protect against infections.

We cannot over emphasize how HIV is contracted. However, the commonest ways are through:

• Blood transfusion
• Using un-sterilized needle from an infected person [barbing saloon, nail cutters razor blades and circumcision].
• Mother to child infection [for an infected mother either through childbirth or breast-feeding].

• PLWHA - This is the first term in the HIVIAIDS affair. It simply means people living with HIVI /AIDS, It is a polite way of referring to them rather than calling them victims, or carriers.



• IMMUNE SYSTEM - It is a known fact that the Hi Virus, which becomes AIDS attacks the immune system. The system itself is a complete set of tissues, organs and cells that fight diseases that attack the body like, bacteria, and unisec.



• CD4 COUNT - This is the medical test PLWHA undergoes to measure the strength of the immune system. It is the measurement of the number of CD4 cells in a cubic millimeter of blood.



• CANDIDIASIS - Also known as thrush, it is a fungal infection of the mucous membranes,- it causes white patches around the mouth, vagina, skin, and oesophagus. It is one of the major symptoms of HIV.



• ARVS - Anteritroviral drugs are used in the management of PLWHAS. These drugs do not treat per se they only reduce the viral load so that it becomes easier for the PLWHA to cope with his or her daily life.



• VIRAL LOAD TEST - This is a blood test that measures the number of HIV found in a millimeter of blood. You could have millions of HIV or nothing at all. That is of course the difference between someone who is earring the condition very well and a person who is not.



• OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTION - These are infections that occur in people whose immune systems are made weaker by HIVrus infection. These include, Tuberculosis, Oral thrush, bacterial, pneumonia etc.



• MUTATION - Genetic mistakes that will take place when HIV reproduces itself. This may make the virus unresponsive to HIV treatment owing to change.



• REGIMEN - The change or manner in which drugs for a specific condition are taken. That, is once daily, (QD) Twice daily (BID) or Three times daily (T.O).



• RESISTANCE - This is the ability of the HIVirus to multiply and cause disease in the presence of an antiretroviral drug.



• CLINICAL TRIAL - A research study with people usually to find out how well a new drug works and how safe it really is.



• SIDE EFFECTS - An unpleasant effect of a drug used in treatment. Most drugs have side effects, which could include, irritation, nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting.