AIDS

OVERVIEW

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection has now spread to every country in the world. Statistics show that approximately 40 million people are currently living with HIV infection, and an estimated 25 million have died from this disease. The scourge of HIV has been particularly devastating in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa, but infection rates in other countries remain high. In the United States, approximately 1 million people are currently infected.

THE TRANSMISSION

HIV is transmitted when the virus enters the body, usually by injecting infected cells or semen.

The virus is also unlikely to be spread by contact with saliva, unless it is contaminated with blood

THE SYMPTOMS

Early HIV symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and enlarged lymph nodes in the neck. pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis, which causes wheezing; brain infection with toxoplasmosis which can cause trouble thinking or symptoms that mimic a stroke ;widespread infection with a bacteria called MAC (mycobacterium avium complex) which can cause fever and weight loss; yeast infection of the swallowing tube (esophagus) which causes pain with swallowing;widespread diseases with certain fungi like histoplasmosis, which can cause fever, cough, anemia, and other problems.

THE TREATMENT

Reverse transcriptase inhibitors: These drugs inhibit the ability of the virus to make copies of itselF. Fusion and entry inhibitors are newer agents that keep HIV from entering human cells.Integrase inhibitors stop HIV genes from becoming incorporated into the human cell's DNA.