HIV

HIV-Facts

1]HIV-I and HIV-II virus are retro-viruses belonging to the Lentivirus family. Other viruses in this family include the Simian Inmmunodefieciency virus, Equine anaemia virus, Feline immunodeficiency virus....
- 2]The first cases to be studied were in Los Angeles, 1981 , when doctors started to notice rare diseases among young homosexuals. These diseases like Pneumocystis Carinii- A fungal pneumonia- were usually noticed among only immunosuppressed individuals like Cancer patients, congenitally immunosuppressed individuals. So it was alarming when the cases surfaced in LA , New York Gay communities. Later on, Robert Gallo of USA and Pasteur Institute in Paris seperately identified the virus in 1983.
-3]The origin of the virus has been controversial from theories that range from the virus is a mutated form of chimpanzee virus to that it is a left over of the experimental studies done on Cancer causing viruses .
- 4]The modes of transmission through which one can acquire HIV infection:
- Exchange of body fluids where the virus is in high concentration - e.g :Sexual transmission
- Unsafe Blood transfusion/ Organ donation
- Mother to Child transmission
- Needle stick transmission, unsterile IV needles
- 5]HIV virus has 4 different clinical stages - the initial asymptomatic stage
-Generalised lymphadenopathy stage[enlarged lymph nodes]
- Symptomatic stage
- the last stage called -AIDS [acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome]
6] Currently , there are 40 million HIV cases in the world and every year 5 million new cases are reported.
7] HIV infection acts by suppressing the bodies immunity by infecting immune cells [CD4 cells] and leading to their destruction. Therefore the person becomes vulnerable to other infections which a normal person would not get.
8] HIV reproductive rate is low, that means it is not highly contagious, but persists in individuals for a long time, enabling the person to transmit to other.
9] HIV infection , as of now, does not have a cure. though there has been introduction of effective HIV suppressant[control] drugs like Zidovudine, Lamivudine, Nevaripine,.....These drugs basically act on different parts[enzymes] of the virus and suppress the numbers of virus-viral load. It has been seen in studies that treating an HIV pregnant women with nevirapine actually prevents the transmission of the virus to the child, if additional precautions like ceaserian section is performed and breast feeding is avoided.
10] HIV vaccine has been difficult to make, because of several reasons, one important reason being the mutation capacity of the Virus. so even if you prepare a vaccine, the virus could mutate and make the vaccine useless. Yet, there are some vaccine in Phase II trials in the USA.
11] The situation is we know that HIV virus as of now can exist only in Human beings. So, cant we see to that we prevent any further transmission and see that it is eliminated in the community. Well, that is the issue!
Many are to be educated on modes of transmission and be aware that HIV virus is not contagious [that is you dont get HIV virus like a common cold]
People, even educated ones , are not fully aware of facts of HIV virus , are misguided and misguide others. There is this panic mail saying that needles contaminated with HIV virus are left in theatres/Cinemas and upon being pricked , you get HIV. This mail is even being signed by a supposed doctor from Chennai!
First of all, one must be aware that the HIV virus- a RNA virus- is a very weak virus, outside its natural environment [ The Human host] it is very vulnerable . It would be very unlikely for a virus to survive for a long time in the air. Even if it does survive, you need a high viral load for it to cause infection in a pricked individual. This would be near impossible in a left over needle in a theatre. There is a higher chance that you could get Hepatitis -B , another disease that spreads through body fluid and which has a vaccine, than HIV. The rate of transmission for HIV through needle stick injury is less than 0.001. So, one should not panic with such supposed injury. Though , i feel obliged to state the current best practice for needle injuries in Hospitals is to have the wound washed with Sodium Hypochlorite solution and get anti-retroviral drugs.