Overview

What you are looking at is the picture of the HIV virus attacking the immune system of our body. Many of us would have by now know what is AIDS and/or HIV. But what is it exactly? Do you think you really do know about it. Well, AIDS is the acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is a medical condition that affects humans. This disease is diagnosed in a person when his or her immune system is to weak to fight of any infection. A person who is infected with AIDS will eventually die of a very minor infection, sometimes even from a small wound. Many of us have the common misconception about AIDS and HIV. These are not exactly the same. Well, they are, but they are not, because to speak of one is to speak of the other!! To be more specific, AIDS is a disease that is CAUSED by the HIV virus. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is a  retrovirus that gradually attacks a person's immune system's cells one by one. The presence of HIV is very hard to be detected because it simply does not show itself. However, as the HIV virus progresses, it soon does a severe damage to the human immune system. At this stage, a person is said to have AIDS.

    As the world economy is slowly reshuffling its feet  and beginning to rise, sadly, AIDS has already been on a roll. This disease has claimed millions of lives. Since the first cases of AIDs were identified in 1981, more than 30 million lives have perished. This is seriously a staggering value because in such a short span, so many have died, so much so that it is even more deaths than the entire population of Malaysia!! An estimated 1.8 million people died because of AIDS in the year 2010. Whats worst is that the numbers are on a steady rise year by year.

 The HIV begins its infection by primarily infecting the vital organs in the immune system of our body such as the CD4+ T cells (a subset of T cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. It directly and indirectly destroys CD4+ T cells.

Once the number of CD4+ T cells per microliter (µL) of blood drops below 200,cellular immunity is lost. Acute HIV infection usually progresses over time to clinical latent HIV infection and then to early symptomatic HIV infection and later to AIDS, which is identified either on the basis of the amount of CD4+ T cells remaining in the blood, and/or the presence of certain infections, as noted above. 

Certainly, there must be a way for the HIV virus to enter our body. The basic and the most common way is through ie;

• Sexual transmission                                                               

-Having a sexual relationship without protection

-Having sexual relationship with a HIV+ person

• Blood  

 -Sharing of needles between drug abusers

• Maternal bond

        -Drinking of breast milk by an infant from an infected 

                     mother

However, besides all these obvious reasons, there are still other ways to develop AIDS in a person. Among them are:

• In many poor countries, such as Nigeria and Zimbabwe, antiretroviral treatment is not available, or even if it is, it is not widely available. 

• A lot of people are NEVER TESTED for HIV and sadly, only become aware that they are infected with AIDS when they develop AIDS related illness. At this stage, the chances of survival is too slim.

• Sometimes, people taking treatment are unable to tolerate the side effects of the drugs used in the treatment of this disease.

  

To prevent this disease from spreading, many international task forces have been set up to combat it. Besides the ever active influence by the World Health Organization (WHO), other groups have also stepped forward to tackle this issue. Besides having a World AIDS Day, held on the 1st December every year, certain preventive measures must also be undertaken to combat this disease. If there is no cooperation from everyone, the death toll will continue to rise. Another major setback is that there is not definite cure for AIDS. With all the advancement in the field of science, sadly, we are still at a loss in finding a cure. Therefore, we can only take PREVENTIVE MEASURES to curb this disease.

 For a person who is sexually active and has many sexual partners, the use of condoms or dental dams during sexual acts are a must to prevents the spread of HIV virus. Since the HIV virus can be transmitted through bodily fluid, such measures will aid in keeping AIDS at bay.

For those who are drug abusers, care must be taken to ensure that needles used for injecting drugs must NOT be shared among each other. Due to the problem that HIV virus can be transmitted through blood, sharing of needles are a  no-no. Even though abusing of drugs is legally wrong and those caught in the act can be punished, we can save that issue for another time because the main reason here is AIDS, not drug abuse!!