The low-down on HIV/AIDS

Beef up your knowledge about HIV/AIDS with these interesting facts.

• What’s in a name? HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
• Under attack. HIV attacks the human body’s immune system and causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). A syndrome is something that has a collection of symptoms.
• 20-something. HIV was first discovered as a cause of AIDS in 1983-1984 by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo. HIV-positive people can be found all over the world. This is why Nelson Mandela calls HIV a “global epidemic”.
• Different strains. There are different strains of HIV. This is why two HIV-positive people must still have protected sex, even though they are both positive. They may have different strands of HIV, and could become infected with a different strand of HIV.
• Get it? You cannot “get” AIDS. AIDS develops when an HIV-positive person’s immune system becomes too weak to fight off different illnesses, such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
• Live on. HIV is not a death sentence. If you have a healthy lifestyle, and follow the right treatment programme, you can live for many years with HIV before it develops into AIDS. Many people have lived happy, healthy lives with HIV for decades.
• The numbers. When you test positive for HIV, you will have to see a nurse or doctor who will test your CD-4 count. Your CD-4 count tells the doctor how healthy you are and how strong your immune system is. If your CD-4 count is low, you can register for an anti-retroviral (ARV) programme.
• Mode of transport. HIV is transmitted through body fluids. These include blood, semen, breast milk, vaginal fluids and other fluids that have blood. You can get HIV from having sex with a person who has HIV, from using a needle that has the blood of an HIV-positive person on it, or, if you are a child, from drinking the breast milk of your HIV-positive mother.
• Drugs and bugs. ARVs are anti-retrovirals. They are medication you receive when your CD-4 count is low. They are not a cure for HIV, but they help your body stay strong for longer. Antiretroviral treatment often involves several different kinds of drugs.
• Your body fights back. HIV-infection is diagnosed through an antibody test. This antibody test looks to see if your body is producing the types of antibodies needed to fight the virus.
• Look out of the window. These antibodies are produced in the body a few weeks after infection. This period of time (between infection and the appearance of antibodies) is called the “window period”. This is why doctors will encourage people who test negative to test again after three months, to make sure they are still negative.
• The scary part. UNAIDS estimated in December 2007 that there are about 33.2-million HIV-positive people in the world, and that 5.5-million of these are South Africans.
• The scary part, part 2. South Africa also has the highest rate of new infections in the world.

Information in this factsheet was sourced from JournAIDS.

To find out more about HIV/AIDS, you can visit the following websites:

• JournAIDS
• Health-e
• UNAIDS
• The New York Times
• AIDS.org