What is HIV / AIDS?

HIV / AIDS

What is HIV / AIDS?

The HIV (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a virus that lives and multiplies primarily in white blood cells (lymphocytes class CD4, to be precise), part of immune system. Ultimately, HIV causes a severe reduction in the number of these cells. A person infected with HIV may look and feel well for many years and, therefore, may not be aware that they are infected. However, as the immune system weakens, it increases vulnerability to diseases and common infections.

Over time, it is likely that a person with untreated HIV develop AIDS and succumb to various concurrent diseases. Since HIV / AIDS is a disease characterized by a defect in the body's natural immunity to fight disease, infected people are at risk of developing or contracting serious diseases that are usually not a threat to anyone whose immune system is working properly .

Behaviors associated with drug abuse, such as sharing needles and other paraphernalia used to inject drugs or engage in risky sexual behavior while intoxicated (drugs or alcohol), have played central roles in the spread of HIV / AIDS from the pandemic began more than 25 years ago.

How HIV / AIDS spread?

HIV is spread by contact with blood or other body fluids that come from an infected person. In addition, pregnant women who are infected can transmit the virus to their babies during pregnancy, childbirth and lactation.

Among drug users, HIV transmission can occur by sharing needles and other injection paraphernalia such as cotton swabs or swabs, rinse water and heaters. Yet another way in which risk of HIV infection is running is merely using drugs, regardless of whether it is done with a needle and syringe or not. Drugs and alcohol can interfere with judgment and lead to risky sexual behaviors that put consumers at risk of contracting or transmitting HIV.

What is the magnitude and impact of HIV / AIDS?

HIV / AIDS has become one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, costing the lives of more than 25 million people worldwide, including more than 500,000 Americans. Despite major advances in treating HIV / AIDS pandemic it is far from over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) estimated that about 40,000 Americans become infected with HIV every year, many of whom are under 25 years. Also, due to a large number of complex factors of biological, social and economic, that interact with each other, there are some populations that are at increased risk of acquiring HIV / AIDS. For example:

Although in 2005 blacks made up about 13 percent of the US population, they accounted for almost half of all cases of HIV / AIDS diagnoses that year.

In 2006, Hispanics made up about 13 percent of the population; however, they accounted for 18 percent of new HIV / AIDS diagnoses that year. These cases were reported in 35 areas of the United States reporting cases where long-term identity confidentiality is guaranteed. African American women constituted 64 percent of women diagnosed with HIV in 2005.

In 2005, HIV infection was the leading cause of death among African American women aged 25 to 34 years old and in African American men of all ages. It was also the fourth leading cause of death among Hispanic men and women 35 to 44 years old.

Men who have sex with men remain the category with the highest number of HIV transmissions. In addition, the CDC estimates that about a quarter of people infected with HIV in the United States do not know they are infected. These people not only at high risk of infecting others with HIV, but are not taking advantage of effective medical treatments for HIV that can reduce AIDS-related diseases and slow the progression of the disease.

Can you prevent HIV / AIDS?

Early detection can help prevent HIV transmission. Studies indicate that routine testing for HIV performed in centers of health care populations with a prevalence rate as low as 1 percent, it is as cost-effective as they are testing for other health problems such as breast cancer and high blood pressure. These findings suggest that HIV screening can reduce healthcare costs by preventing high-risk practices and decreasing virus transmission.

In populations who abuse drugs, the results of many studies, taken together, have shown that the most effective way to reduce the risk of bloodborne infections is the comprehensive HIV prevention, comprising treatment for abuse drugs, community outreach, testing and counseling for HIV and other infections, and treatment for HIV.

The combination of pharmacological and behavioral treatments for drug abuse have a demonstrated impact on risk behaviors for HIV and the incidence of HIV infection. For example, recent research has shown that when behavioral therapies are combined with methadone treatment, about half of the participants who reported injecting drugs at baseline reported that it no longer made at the end of the study. Also, at the end of the study, over 90 percent of all participants reported that they no longer shared needles. Although these results show great promise for achieving reductions in risk behaviors for HIV, they are now conducting studies to improve the long-term effectiveness of these interventions.

You can treat HIV / AIDS?

Since the mid-nineties, it has managed to prolong the lives of people with HIV / AIDS and reduce their symptoms with the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART, better known as HAART for its acronym in English). HAART is a customized combination of different kinds of drugs prescribed for each patient on the basis of factors such as viral load, CD4 + count of lymphocytes and clinical symptoms.

Behavioral treatments for drug abuse have shown promise for improving patient adherence to HAART. Interventions to improve adherence to HIV treatment are essential for their success, but generally require dramatic changes in behavior to counteract lifestyle, often irregular due to drug abuse and addiction. Adequate medical care for HIV / AIDS and other related diseases is also essential to reduce and prevent the spread of new infections.

What other infectious diseases are associated with HIV / AIDS?

In addition to increasing the risk of HIV infection, people who use drugs or who behave in highly risky way associated with drug abuse are also exposed both themselves and others at risk of contracting or transmitting hepatitis C ( HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), tuberculosis (TB) as well as a variety of other sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea and genital herpes. It is also common for injecting drug users (IDUs) are more susceptible to skin infections at the site of injection and bacterial and viral infections, such as bacterial pneumonia and endocarditis infections, which if untreated can lead to problems serious health.

HCV, HBV and HIV / AIDS

HCV, the leading cause of liver disease, has a high prevalence among IDUs and often occurs concurrently with HIV; HBV is also common among drug abusers. These are two of the viruses that often cause liver inflammation. Chronic infection with HCV or HBV can lead to cirrhosis (scarring disease of the liver) or primary liver cancer. Although there is still no vaccine for HCV, yes there is a very effective in preventing HBV vaccine.

HCV is highly contagious through exposure via blood. Studies funded by NIDA have found that within the first three years of injection drug use, most IDUs contract HCV and up to 90 percent of IDUs infected with HIV can also be infected with HCV.

Still not well understood the effects of HCV infection on HIV disease. However, the course of HCV infection is accelerated in people with both diseases, with higher rates of progressive liver disease and death in people with both HIV and HCV compared to those who are infected only with HCV.

Although the treatment may be effective, handling both diseases when they are concurrent presents certain challenges. HIV therapy can slow the progression of liver disease in those with both diseases, but there is also a decrease in rates of treatment response to HCV therapy in these patients. It is important to assess the stage of the disease to calculate when to start therapy for both infections and also the long-term medical monitoring to improve the quality of life.

Does tuberculosis and HIV / AIDS?

Tuberculosis is a chronic and infectious lung disease. Through major public health initiatives for the detection and treatment of this disease, its prevalence has declined in the United States for several years, with 14,000 cases reported in 2005, the lowest figure since it began monitoring this disease in 1953. However, the decline in the prevalence of tuberculosis has slowed by 50 percent in recent years and TB infection remains interconnected to HIV / AIDS and drug abuse.

People with latent TB infection have no symptoms, they may not develop the active form of the disease and can not spread. However, if these people do not receive preventive therapy, the disease can become active and contagious. NIDA Research has shown that IDUs have higher rates of latent TB infection. Because HIV infection severely weakens the immune system, people with both HIV and latent TB have a higher risk of developing active TB and become highly contagious.