What is AIDS?

AIDS is an abbreviation for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS is an advanced level of HIV infection that happens when the carrier doesn’t receive appropriate treatment; the virus degenerates and the immune system can no longer fight it off; that’s what leads to AIDS.

However, people who can tackle HIV infection in its initial stage with the right drugs usually have a high chance of not suffering from the advanced version of the disease (AIDS).

An HIV patient is considered to be an AIDS patient when the number of their CD4 cells is fewer than 200 cells per cubic millimeter. Or you’ll know an AIDS patient when they have some opportunistic infections irrespective of their CD4 count.

Symptoms of AIDS

Before HIV degenerates into AIDS, you must have felt some symptoms of HIV which are common, like; nausea, skin rashes, pneumonia, fatigue, vomiting, etc. But in some rare cases, some patients don’t even know that they’ve been infected with HIV, so their medical condition just deteriorates into AIDS. You may realize that you have AIDS when you start to feel certain symptoms like:

• Constant overall tiredness.
• You’ll experience swollen lymph nodes in your neck or groin.
• Fever that extends to more than 10 days.
• Night sweats.
• Undue weight loss
• Purplish spots on your skin that start to seem permanent.
• Shortness of breath
• Serious, severe diarrhea
• Unexplainable bruises or injuries
• You start to experience some neurological symptoms like confusion, balance problems, changes in behavior, seizures, and memory loss.
• Anxiety and depression                                                                                                              

AIDS patients who do not use the right medication may have their lifespan reduced to 3 years or even less if they contract other infections. However, HIV can still respond to treatment at this point. If you use HIV drugs just the way the doctors prescribed, and you maintain a healthy lifestyle, you can live like a normal person.

Causes of AIDS

Before someone can have AIDS, they must have been infected by HIV, right? So the question now is what causes HIV that leads to AIDS?  HIV is transmitted through body fluids when fluid comes in contact with a penetrable part of the body, it enters into the body and circulates. It can be transmitted through fluids like blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, vaginal fluids, and breast milk. This virus can be transmitted through:

• Vaginal and anal sex.
• Sharing of sharp objects like syringes, needles, blades, etc.
• By sharing unsterilized tattoo equipment.
• From a mother to a child
• During breastfeeding
• Through exposure to the fluids of someone already infected with the virus with something as small as a needlestick.

Prevention of AIDS

1. Go for HIV tests once in a while because one can not be too careful. Remember that it’s not only through sex that you can contract this virus. You can bring this virus innocently upon yourself by just getting a haircut.                                                    

2. Do not engage in risky sex, like trying new things that could lead to HIV infections or even other infections.                                                                                                               

3. Use protection every time you have sex.                                                                                         

4. Have control over the number of sexual partners you have; too many sexual partners puts you more at risk.                                                                                                        

5. Go for STDs test and treatment once in a while too.                                                                                

6. Abstain from drugs. And abstain from sex until you have a faithful, loyal, and trusted partner.