Aids
What does “AIDS” mean?
Aids stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Aids is caused by a virus called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If you get infected with HIV, your body will try to fight the infection. It will make “antibodies,” special molecules to fight HIV.
A blood test for HIV will look for these antibodies. If you have them in your blood, it means you have HIV infection. People who have the HIV antibodies are called “HIV-Positive.”
Being HIV-Positive, or having HIV disease, is not the same as having AIDS. Many people are HIV-Positive but don’t get sick for many years. As HIV disease continuous, it slowly wears down the immune system. Viruses, parasites, fungi and bacteria that usually don’t cause any problems can make you very sick if your immune system is damaged. These are called “Opportunistic infections.”
How do you get AIDS?
You don’t actually “GET” AIDS. You might get infected with HIV, and later you might develop AIDS. You can get infected with HIV from anyone who is infected, even if they don’t look sick or even if they haven’t tested HIV-positive yet. The blood, vaginal fluid, semen, and breast milk of people with HIV has enough of the virus in it to infect other people, most people get the HIV virus through:
1. Having sex with and infected person (unprotected sex).
2. Sharing a needle (shooting drugs) with a person who’s infected.
3. Being born with their mother is infected.
4. Drinking the breast milk of an infected woman.
5. Getting a transfusion of infected blood used to be a way of people got AIDS, but now the blood supply is screened very carefully and the risk is extremely low.
There are no document cases of HIV being transmitted by tears or saliva, but it is possible to be infected with HIV through oral sex or in rare cases through deep kissing, especially if you have opened sores in your mouth or bleeding gums.
What happens if I’m HIV-positive?
Some people get headaches, fevers, sore muscles and...
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