HIV & AIDS: Q & A

Q: Can you get HIV from sweat?
A: HIV has been found at low concentrations in the saliva, tears and urine of infected individuals, but there are no recorded cases of infection by these secretions and the potential risk of transmission is negligible.

Q: Is it safe to donate or receive blood products?
A: The U.S. blood supply is among the safest in the world. Nearly all people infected with HIV through blood transfusions received those transfusions before 1985, the year HIV testing began for all donated blood. The Public Health Service has recommended an approach to blood safety in the United States that includes stringent donor selection practices and the use of screening tests. U.S. blood donations have been screened for antibodies to HIV-1 since March 1985 and HIV-2 since June 1992. The p24 Antigen test was added in 1996. Blood and blood products that test positive for HIV are safely discarded and are not used for transfusions.

Q: How quickly would you test positive for HIV?
A: HIV antibodies generally do not reach noticeable levels in the blood for 1 to 3 months following infection. It may take the antibodies as long as 6 months to be produced in quantities large enough to show up in standard blood tests. Hence, to determine whether you have been recently infected (acute infection), your health care provider can screen you for the presence of HIV genetic material.

Q: Need more information?
A: You can find out more about HIV & AIDS by contacting the CDC at 1-800-232-4636 or on the internet at http://www.cdc.gov/.

(http://www.cdc.gov/)

HIV & AIDS:

The surest way to avoid the transmission of HIV and AIDS is to abstain from sexual contact or to be in a long term monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and is known to be uninfected. Other ways to prevent the contraction of HIV or AIDS are:

• Do not have sex, including oral and anal sex, with anyone who is infected with HIV or AIDS,
• Reduce your number of sex partners to one,
• Know you partners sexual history and find out whether your partner has engaged in high-risk behaviors,
• Avoid alcohol and drugs which can impair both your judgment and your immune system, and
• Do not share or use needles that have used by anyone.

TESTING

HIV-1 testing consists of initial screening with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to HIV-1. Specimens with a nonreactive result from the initial ELISA are considered HIV-negative unless new exposure to an infected partner or partner of unknown HIV status has occurred.

Specimens with a reactive ELISA result are retested. If the result of either duplicate test is reactive, the specimen is reported as repeatedly reactive and undergoes confirmatory testing with a more specific supplemental test (e.g., Western blot) or, less commonly, an immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Only specimens that are repeatedly reactive by ELISA and positive by IFA or reactive by Western blot are considered HIV-positive and indicative of HIV infection.

(http://www.wikipedia.com/)

HIV & AIDS: What Are They?

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections). Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells.

The four major routes of transmission are:

• Unprotected Sexual Intercourse,
• Contaminated Needles (included but not limited to health care workers, drug users and those who give and receive tattoos and piercing),
• Transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth, or
• Through breast milk
  

If untreated, eventually most HIV-infected individuals develop AIDS (Aquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) and die; however about one in ten remains healthy for many years, with no noticeable symptoms.

SYMPTOMS

80-90% of individuals develop an influenza or mononucleosis-like illness called acute HIV infection, the most common symptoms of which may include:

• Fever,
• Lymphadenopathy,
• Pharyngitis,
• Rash,
• Myalgia,
• Maiaise,
• Mouth and Esophagal Sores, and may also include, but less commonly,
• Headache,
• Nausea and Vomiting
• Enlarged Liver/Spleen,
• Weight Loss
• Thrush, and
• Neurological Symptoms.
  

Infected individuals may experience all, some, or none of these symptoms. Symptoms have an average duration of 28 days and usually last at least a week although duration of symptoms may vary. Because of the nonspecific nature of these illnesses, it is often not recognized as a sign of HIV infection.

(www.cdc.gov)