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HIV/AIDS Awareness

by Bronwyn Smith, Extension Agent    

While it is almost certain that you have heard quite a bit about AIDS in the past 15 years, the term HIV might be new to you. HIV and AIDS are very closely related, and if you understand HIV infection, you can better understand AIDS.

What is AIDS and how is it caused?

AIDS stands for "acquired immune deficiency syndrome," a disease in which the body's immune system breaks down. Normally, the immune system fights off infections in the body and certain other diseases. When this system fails, such as in a person with AIDS, the person can develop a number of life-threatening illnesses. People do not die of AIDS, but of the complications resulting from an opportunistic infection because of a compromised immune system.

AIDS is caused by a virus called the "human immunodeficiency virus," more commonly referred to as HIV. The HIV virus may live in the body for years before it is even noticed until symptoms begin appearing. It is important to note that although there are no visible symptoms, the virus can still be transmitted. Actually a person can go without having symptoms for up to 10-15 years.

One of the biggest misconceptions about AIDS is that only certain "high-risk" groups are infected with the virus. Who you are has nothing to do with whether you are in danger of being infected with the aids virus. What matters are the behaviors in which you engage. People are worried about getting AIDS. Some have a reason to be worried and need to make some lifestyle changes and take precautions to protect themselves. On the other hand, many people are in no danger of contracting AIDS based on the life they lead.

How can I become infected with AIDS?

There are two primary ways a person can become infected.

1. HIV/AIDS is most frequently passed through sexual intercourse with an infected person. Unfortunately, it is not the only disease passed in this manner. If a person has one of the other sexually transmitted diseases, they are at greater danger of contracting HIV. The HIV virus is present in some body fluids and can enter the body through contact with mucous membranes or cuts on the body.

   Many people infected with the virus show no symptoms and often have not been tested. The most predominant reason for not being tested, in almost one-fourth of the population, is that they are afraid of a positive test. That's why it is so dangerous for people to have unsafe sex. The one and only way to be absolutely certain of avoiding infection via sexual contact is through abstinence from sex, or sexual intercourse only with someone who has been tested and has not engaged in risky sexual behaviors in the past six months, and is in a mutually committed relationship.

2. HIV/AIDS is also spread by sharing needles. Sharing needles with an infected person, even once, is very risky. Many people have become infected with HIV and other germs this way. HIV from an infected person can remain in a needle or syringe and can then be directly injected into the body of the next person who uses it. Sharing any needles, including needles used for drugs, steroids, vitamins, ear piercing, or tattooing, is very dangerous.

   One other mode of transmission is through blood or blood products. This mode of transmission is so rare these days that it is often not even counted as a possibility. Blood donors today are very carefully screened before they can even donate, and once they donate, all blood products are tested before they are used. One very important thing to remember is: You are not now, nor have you ever been, in danger of contracting AIDS/HIV from giving blood. The needles are used once, and only once, then they are destroyed.

How can further HIV/AIDS infection be prevented?

You may not know someone with HIV/AIDS now, but chances are that someday you will. Over one million Americans are estimated to be infected, or about one in every 250 people. Each year 40,000 to 80,000 Americans become infected. AIDS does not discriminate. It can affect anyone - male or female, married or single, young or old, rich or poor, in any community in the nation, including those in smaller cities and towns. This makes HIV/AIDS a problem for all of us, heterosexual or homosexual.

Avoiding HIV infection

1. Don't do drugs of any kind. Sharing needles can infect people. Drugs can cloud judgment and place individuals at higher risk of engaging in risky behavior.
2. Delay sexual intercourse. Abstinence is the only SURE protection.
3. When you decide sexual intercourse is appropriate, only do so with a partner who has been tested and has not engaged in risky sexual behaviors in the past six months. You should also be in a mutually faithful, long-term relationship.
4. If sexual intercourse outside of a mutually exclusive relationship is chosen, use a latex condom and nonoxynol-9, according to package directions, each and every time, but remember that condoms are NOT foolproof.

How else can the further spread of AIDS be prevented?

The simple fact that you reading this is the first step. You now know the facts about HIV infection and AIDS. You'd be surprised how many people know only the myths and not the facts about HIV/AIDS infection. The continuation of such myths can be very harmful.

These myths cause people to unknowingly put themselves at risk of infection. Because people fear AIDS, they may treat people unfairly and do cruel things to people in high-risk groups.

We need to work to make sure that such prejudice and unfair treatment doesn't happen. Now that you know the facts about HIV infection and AIDS, you can tell others the truth, and speak out against myths and prejudice. Spread information, NOT AIDS.

What's more, people infected with AIDS/HIV can use your help. If you know someone with AIDS, you can give compassion, friendship, or other help without any fear of infection with everyday contact. Even if you don't know anyone with AIDS/HIV, you can join, or start, a community effort to stop AIDS.

For more information

National AIDS Hotline 1-800-342-AIDS (English); 1-800-344-SIDA (Spanish) Ohio AIDS Hotline 1-800-332-AIDS

Resources

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Preventing AIDS and HIV, What You Can Do. 1/1992.

National AIDS Hotline 5/1998, personal correspondence.

Ohio AIDS Hotline 5/1998, personal correspondence.

Understanding AIDS: a Message from the Surgeon General. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992.

How You Do Not Get HIV. Surgeon General's Report to the American Public on HIV Infection, 1993.

Kissing, Saliva, Tears, Sweat, Insects and HIV/AIDS. Centers for Disease Control, The Human Immunodeficiency Virus and its Transmission, May 1994.