AIDS

Data to December 31st, 2016

Worldwide, there are about 67 million infected people - mainly in Africa and Asia.
There are 14,000 people infected every day (80 % of them are men ).
In the Czech Republic:
- in 1987 first Czech with HIV died
- up to this time 361 people died
- up to December 31st 2016, 2 906 people are recorded to be ill with AIDS (420 of them are
foreigners)

AIDS is an abbreviation for a very dreaded and fatal disease named Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome. It appears to be spreading two or three times faster among teenagers
than among adults because of higher promiscuity (homosexuals and heterosexuals, too) and
taking drugs (drug addicts injecting drugs).
It is known that AIDS develops in various geographical areas from two relative viruses: HIV
1 and HIV 2 (HIV means Human Immunodeficiency Virus). On the west hemisphere, in
Europe, in the centre, south and east of Africa are most cases of AIDS caused by virus HIV 1;
HIV 2 seems to be less virulent and it spreads mostly in the west of Africa.
AIDS is characterized by many manifestations - mostly by infections. Additionally, people
suffering AIDS frequently have systemic symptoms such as prolonged
fevers, sweats (particularly at night), swollen lymph nodes, chills, weakness, and unintended
weight loss. Diarrhea is another common symptom, present in about 90% of people with
AIDS.] They can also be affected by diverse psychiatric and neurological symptoms
independent of opportunistic infections and cancers. Virus HIV - very weak virus, which can
be compared with viruses of flu or cold, causes disorder of immune system. There is a loss of
special cells in the blood called T and B lymphocytes and antibodies, which help the body
fight off illnesses and the body becomes weak and opened to any viral disease caused by
fungi, parasites and bacteria. People with AIDS have an increased risk of developing various
viral-induced cancers, including Kaposi's sarcoma, Burkitt's lymphoma, primary central
nervous system lymphoma, and cervical cancer.
Virus HIV is not transmitted by accidental contact or usual contact of people at school,
work or at home. The transmission requires contact with body fluids which contain infected
cells. HIV can be found in any fluid in the body containing plasma or lymphocytes,
particularly in blood, sperm, vaginal secretes, mother’s milk or saliva. Nevertheless
transmission of the virus by saliva hasn’t been proved yet.
Nowadays we know four ways of getting AIDS:
1) through sexual contact ( the highest risk is among people with high promiscuity and
among homosexual and heterosexual people )
2) through sharing drug needles with an infected person ( mostly among drug addicted
people ) or through accidental injury by infected needle ( medical workers during taking
blood from the patients, children and adults by needle-prick in parks where drug addicts
leave needles ) but the risk is very low even if the injury is deep
3) through blood transfusion ( mainly in people with haemophilia because they need a lot of
blood derivatives for treatment of the disease ) but it happened in the past. Nowadays all
 blood for transfusion is tested so it is almost impossible to get AIDS this way. Medical
workers are in risk when they are stained by blood of infected person during their work on
their own open wounds ( cuts, bruises ...)
4) infants and small children can be infected from their ill mother through blood in their
prenatal life ( congenital disease ) and rarely during postnatal life from their mother’s
milk.

There are four stages of the disease:

1) immediately after the person is infected there is a serum negative period in which the
virus reproduces slowly and it cannot be detected by blood tests. Syndrome similar to
infectious mononucleosis develops after 1 - 3 months and the patient can have fever,
nausea and rash which disappears after some time. In this period the patient becomes a
carrier.
2) asymptomatic period - as a carrier of the virus he can live without any symptoms for
many months or years. He feels healthy.
3) the third stage is called persistent generalized lymphadenopathy ( PGL ) in which the
lymph nodes swell up, the patient needn’t to notice it, he still doesn’t feel ill and can live
from several months up to twenty years.
4) then complex of chronic symptoms develops - loss of weight, high temperature, nausea,
fatigue, chronic diarrhoea, anaemia accompanied by neurological symptoms, vascular
complications or cancer. In most cases the patient dies of any infection after several
months. Almost a half of the patients dies of pneumonia.

The disease has been found since 1981 but until now there is no medicament to cure it.
Californian scientists found the Antiviral Factor (CAF) in cells which the body immune system
uses as a weapon against viruses. But CAF does not keep HIV under control because of its
extremely small quantity in the body.
Current HAART options are combinations (or "cocktails") consisting of at least three
medications belonging to at least two types, or "classes," of antiretroviral agents.
According to it since 1991 two preparations for „treatment“ of this disease are known :
1) Zidovudin ( ZDU )/ tenofovir
2) Dideoxyinosin ( DDI ) / lamivudine
but they are toxic for the body so it is necessary to observe the patient very carefully. But
these drugs don’t treat the illness, they only reduce the complications, slow down the
manifestation of the disease and prolong the patient’s life.
And because there is no vaccine to prevent the body against AIDS so the best way is to
avoid promiscuity with prostitutes, unknown people or foreigners, sexual intercourse to
rectum, and avoid drugs and you don’t have to worry so much. Currently, there is no
licensed vaccine for HIV or AIDS. The most effective vaccine trial to date, RV 144, was
published in 2009 and found a partial reduction in the risk of transmission of roughly 30%,
stimulating some hope in the research community of developing a truly effective
vaccine. Further trials of the RV 144 vaccine are ongoing.
HIV/AIDS has become a chronic rather than an acutely fatal disease in many areas of
the world. Prognosis varies between people, and both the CD4 count and viral load are useful
for predicted outcomes. Without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is
estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype. After the diagnosis of AIDS, if
treatment is not available, survival ranges between 6 and 19 months. HAART and
appropriate prevention of opportunistic infections reduces the death rate by 80%, and raises
the life expectancy for a newly diagnosed young adult to 20–50 years. This is between two
thirds and nearly that of the general population. If treatment is started late in the infection,
prognosis is not as good: for example, if treatment is begun following the diagnosis of AIDS,
life expectancy is ~10–40 years. Half of infants born with HIV die before two years of age
without treatment

Nevertheless, if you have some doubts you can undergo blood test to AIDS in any hospital
(anonymously - without saying your name), which can prove the presence of HIV from eight
weeks to ten months after the sexual intercourse.
To protect yourself against AIDS you should always use condom during any sexual
intercourse ( also to rectum because there can develop bleeding rift or fissure ), as a medical
worker use latex examination gloves in nursing the ill person to protect yourself from contact
with his fluids or blood which can affect some small wounds you can have on your hands.
If you live or work with a person who has AIDS, don’t worry and behave as if he is healthy.
You cannot get AIDS by drinking form the same glass or cup, sharing towels or bed linen,
clothes or dishes, by shaking hands or kissing him.
If you want to be sure that you and your partner are safe: it is recommended to know each
other at least for five years, don’t have sexual intercourse for 10 months and after that
undergo the test for AIDS, avoid sexual intercourse with anybody else (be faithful) for the
whole time because it doesn’t matter who you are, where you are and what you do - you are
not protected from AIDS if you don’t keep the rules above.

Possible discussion: infectious diseases, healthy lifestyle, medical worker´s protection, help
centers

Sources:
Maxerová,M., Buldov, S.: English for Nurses. Informatorium. Praha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS
http://www.aids-hiv.cz/aids/oaids.html