What is HIV
HIV is an acronym for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and AIDS is also an acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV works by targeting cells in your immune system, making you vulnerable to a plethora of other diseases, making HIV ever more dreadful. AIDS is a condition that occurs as a result of HIV which occurs when the number of CD4 cells falls below 200 per cubic millimeter of blood.
How It Spreads
The spread of HIV is called HIV Transmission and can be done via the following bodily fluids. No other fluids are capable of transmitting HIV.
- Blood
- Semen
- Pre-Semeinal Fluids
- Vaginal Fluids
- Breast Milk
The two primary actions that cause the transmission of HIV are...
- Engaging in anal or vaginal sex, with individual(s) who has/have HIV, without using proper condoms or other birth control.
- Sharing a needle with another individual that has HIV for drug injection.
Medication to Prevent & Treat HIV
PrEP
PrEP is medication that can prevents the tranmission of HIV. The most common brand name for PrEP is Truvada. It has been shown to lower the chances of getting HIV by 99% when having sex. PEP, another medication, is to be used after you have been exposed to HIV instead.
Treatment Once You Have It
At the moment, there is no cure for HIV. But treatment does exist and it helps prevent the spread of it and that can dramatically slow the disease's progress, which prevents symptoms and other consequences that can occur later in your life. Some examples of these HIV medications are shown below.
- abacavir (Ziagen)
- abacavir/lamivudine (Epzicom)
- abacavir/lamivudine/zidovudine (Trizivir)
- lamivudine/zidovudine (Combivir)
- lamivudine (Epivir)
- zidovudine (Retrovir)
- emtricitabine (Emtriva)
Statistics
The following graph shows two seperate sets of data both set in Mexico. The top one shows the number of new cases of HIV per year since 2010. The lower graph shows the number of deaths from HIV per year since 2010. The numbers both appear to be rising. This may be caused by the low amount of resources available to treat HIV and the recent drug problems that have risen.