Understanding Facts About HIV Virus

Understanding Facts About HIV Virus

What is HIV?
Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV is also known as the Lentivirus group which is stills a family of Retroviruses and has many forms and biological structures, especially with his trademark character of a prolonged illness with an incubation period of the time period from entry of virus into the body to cause illness can be very long.

How to get into our bodies?
HIV can enter the body through sexual transmission is not protected either by someone who was exposed to HIV oral, genital or anal.
This virus can enter through infected blood from someone who is exposed to HIV to others. For example a syringe stabbed once exposed to HIV virus (usually the users of illegal drugs that needle exchange), as well as the recipients of blood transfusions containing HIV virus (but in general these days, blood product transfusions are checked for risk of HIV transmission).

Do not forget that the individuals who are often tattooed body and pierced with a needle that is used interchangeably also at high risk for infection. The risk of transmission was also obtained from mothers to children who are in the womb, though now with the combination of antiretroviral treatment is good and how delivery can reduce the risk of transmission.

What happens after exposure to HIV? What are the symptoms?
When the virus first entered into the human body, a person may not feel it.

Entry of the HIV virus are asymptomatic, but approximately 2 - 4 weeks after exposure to HIV, 80-90 percent of individuals will experience acute symptoms of HIV infection "as flu" which can last longer than 1 week to 28 days. Symptoms can also vary fever, enlarged lymph nodes, sore throat, diarrhea, prolonged fatigue, rash, until the muscle pains.

Because the non-specific symptoms are sometimes we do not think that this is a sign of HIV infection. Sometimes when patients come to the hospital, often diagnosed as other infectious diseases that have similar symptoms. Moreover, if a patient only complained of symptoms and did not explain about HIV risk factors that had he run.

For that, these symptoms are not typical symptoms that can be used in determining diagnosis of HIV infection, because it does not arise in every case and other infections could have similar symptoms.

After that, go to the period in which latent virus in the body but may not cause symptoms. This period can be very long until even 20 years in some studies could be up to more than 20 years prior to AIDS. Finally, come AIDS, which is the final stage of HIV infection.

What is AIDS?
HIV can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / AIDS, a condition in the human body that cause our immune system decreases. Our bodies become sick easily and opportunistic infections from pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi) which in normal circumstances not be turned off even usually do not cause disease in healthy people. But another story on the lower body endurance, in which pathogens can infect so she could no longer fight off infections that attack the infection even including the kind that usually can be overcome when sick.

This can be dangerous, because there was no body's defenses can make you more vulnerable to any kind including fungal and other infections that can cause death.

How a doctor can say I get HIV?
In addition to the symptoms and the risk factors of transmission, one needs to conduct lab tests, and this takes a long time and repeatedly. Why repeat? because the antibody levels measured body usually can not be seen in a short time, if you want to be sure, should talk about the exam with your doctor.

How to cure?
For the present, not yet found a drug that can cure this disease let alone kill the virus. However, many new findings HIV therapy that can be used as an immune system enhancer.

Adding the immune system is not by taking drugs immune enhancer on the market but with anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-specific. About treatment should be discussed between the treating physician and the patient so they can choose the best treatment.