Wednesday 01-12-2021 - 09:00

HIV and AIDs

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the immune system. This weakens your defense system. HIV can be transmitted from person to person. There is currently no cure, but there are effective medications that mean people diagnosed with HIV can lead a normal and healthy life.

Early diagnosis and effective treatments means more people with HIV will not develop any AIDS – related illnesses and will live near-normal lifespans.

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the name to describe a number of potentially life-threatening illnesses and infections that happen when the immune system is severely damaged by the HIV virus. AIDS cannot be transmitted from person to person.

Transmission

• HIV is not easily passed on
• HIV does not spread through the air like cold and flu viruses

Body fluids that contain enough HIV to infect someone are

• Semen
• Vaginal fluids, including menstrual blood
• Breast milk
• Blood
• Lining inside the anus

HIV is NOT passed on through; spitting, kissing, being bitten, contact with unbroken healthy skin, being sneezed  on, sharing baths, towels or cutlery, using the same toilet and swimming, mouth to mouth resuscitation, contact with animals or insect.

Symptoms of HIV

80% of people with HIV experience flu-like illnesses that occur 2-6 weeks after contracting the virus. After this, HIV may not show any symptoms for years.

The most common symptoms are:

• Raised Temperature (Fever)
• Sore throat
• Body rash

Other Symptoms include:

• Tiredness
• Joint pain
• Muscles pain
• Swollen glands

Symptoms can last between one and two weeks. If you have symptoms and have been at risk of contracting HIV, get a HIV test.

Once the immune system gets damaged, symptoms could include

• Weight loss
• Chronic diarrhea
• Night sweats
• Skin problems
• Recurrent infections
• Serious lifethreatening illnesses

The most cases of HIV in the UK are caused by having sex with a person who has HIV without using a condom.

Who is more at risk?

• People with current or previous partners with HIV
• People who engage in chemsex (using drugs to help or enhance sex)
• People who have unprotected sex with other people
• People who inject drugs and share equipment
• People who have unprotected sex with somebody who has injected and shared equipment
• People who share sex toys with someone infected with HIV
• People with a history of sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis B and hepatitis C
• People who have received a blood transfusion, transplant or other riskprone procedure in countries that do not have strong screening for HIV
• Babies born from a parent with untreated HIV

Medication and Treatment

Emergency HIV Drugs – Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) medicine may stop you becoming infected. PEP must be taken within 72 hours of coming into contact with the virus for it to be affective

Prevention

To prevent contracting HIV you can:

• Use condoms
• Use water based lubricant
• Don’t share needles or injecting equipment
• PrEP (Preexposure prophylaxis) is available for people who are at high risk of HIV – partner is positive

Undetectable = Untransmittable

With developments in medication and treatment, HIV can now become undetectable. This means someone with HIV cannot pass on the HIV virus. This does not mean HIV has gone but it means the levels of HIV in someone’s blood is so low that there is not enough of the virus to be passed on.

Myths and Facts

• ‘HIV is a death sentence’ – Catching HIV early, and with the correct treatment, HIV is easily controlled and further damage can be prevented.
• ‘I cannot have a baby because I have HIV’ – With proper healthcare and HIV medications, women living with HIV can have healthy pregnancies.
• ‘It’s ok to have unprotected sex if both partners have HIV’ – unprotected sex between two people living with HIV can lead to one or both of them to acquire a different strain or type of HIV. HIV develops differently in each person’s body over time. This is called reinfection or superinfection.
• HIV always leads to AIDS’ – AIDS is a syndrome of immune deficiency that is a result of HIV attacking the body. Early diagnosis and treatment can help keep HIV levels down and prevent AIDS from happening.
• ‘I can get HIV by just being around people with HIV’ – HIV cannot be passed on through the air. You cannot catch it through touch, tears, sweat, saliva, hugging, kissing or shaking hands.

For more information about HIV and AIDS, please visit:

• Terrence Higgins Trust – https://www.tht.org.uk/
• NHS – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hivand-aids/
• LGBT Foundation – https://lgbt.foundation/