World AIDS Vaccine Day: Spreading Awareness and Hope
Increasing workload and carelessness towards health are making people victims of many problems nowadays. AIDS is such a serious disease that if not treated on time, it can prove fatal. This serious disease is caused by the spread of HIV virus, which weakens the body's immune system. This disease can affect anyone. In such a situation, World AIDS Vaccine Awareness Day is celebrated every year on 18 May with the aim of spreading awareness among people about this disease.
So let us take this opportunity to know what is AIDS,
What is its history and importance.
World AIDS Vaccine Day is celebrated across the world every year on 18 May. The main objective of this day is to spread awareness about HIV and promote research for the development of an effective AIDS vaccine.
History
World AIDS Vaccine Day is on 18 may. Its objective is to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and encourage research towards the development of an effective vaccine. In 1997, then-US President Bill Clinton stressed the importance of vaccines in the fight against AIDS in a speech at Morgan State University. Inspired by his speech, World AIDS Vaccine Day was celebrated for the first time on 18 May 1998.
An effective AIDS vaccine could not only help stop the spread of the disease, but also serve as a preventive measure for those who have not yet been infected.
The day provides an opportunity to raise awareness, encourage prevention measures, and honor the work of scientists and researchers in the fight against AIDS.
Importance
HIV is a serious global health problem. As of December 2019, approximately 38 million people were living with HIV disease. The AIDS vaccine can not only help stop the spread of HIV but also serve as a preventive measure for people who have not yet been infected. On this day many communities organize programs to spread awareness. Besides, scientists and researchers engaged in the search for AIDS vaccine are also honoured.
What can you do?
You can also play your role in spreading awareness on World AIDS Vaccine Day. Educate people around you about HIV. Share information about ways to prevent HIV. Apart from this, you can also help by donating to those organizations which are working for the development of AIDS vaccine. Like every year, this year too World AIDS Vaccine Day will be celebrated on 18th May. Let us together contribute to the fight against HIV.
Lets learn more about the HIV/AIDS
What is HIV?
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a subgroup of retroviruses) that causes HIV infection and eventually leads to immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
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What is AIDS?
AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV.
This causes serious damage to the body's immunity. Due to HIV/AIDS, a person's ability to fight infection decreases.
CD4+T are white blood cells that play an important role in the body's immune system. HIV destroys these cells.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), healthy people have about 1,000 CD4+ T cells per cubic millimeter of blood, and the number drops to 200 or less in patients with AIDS.
Being HIV positive does not always mean you have AIDS.
However, untreated HIV infection can lead to AIDS over time.
Current status of HIV/AIDS in India: According to 2015 information, 21 lakh people are suffering from HIV in India and India ranks third among the countries affected by HIV in the world.
In the same year, approximately 68,000 people died from AIDS-related diseases. There has been a recent decline in HIV prevalence among sex workers and men who have sex with men.
The prevalence of HIV among people who inject drugs was previously stable but has been increasing in recent years.
Overall, the HIV epidemic in India has seen a 32% decline in new infections (86,000 in 2015), and a 54% decline in AIDS-related deaths between 2007 and 2015.
Stages of HIV/AIDS
Acute Primary Infection : About one to four weeks after becoming infected with HIV, some people may have flu-like symptoms.
These don't last long (a week or two) and you may experience only a few flu symptoms or none at all.
Experiencing these symptoms alone is not a reliable way to diagnose HIV.
Clinical Testing / Asymptomatic HIV / Chronic HIV After the first stage ends, many people start feeling better and the HIV virus may not show any other symptoms for 10 to 15 years. (Depending on age, background and health). However, the virus still remains active, infecting new cells and continuing to grow. Over time this causes great damage to your immune system.
AIDS is the last stage of HIV infection. By this time, HIV has severely damaged your immune system and your body is no longer able to fight other opportunistic infections (infections that occur more frequently in people with weakened immune systems).
People with HIV are diagnosed with AIDS when they have fewer than 200 CD4+ T cells left in their body or they have one or more opportunistic infections.
Without treatment, people with AIDS usually live about 3 years.
HIV/AIDS Symptoms
Most people infected with HIV experience flu-like symptoms that happen for 1-3 weeks after infection.
After this, there may be no symptoms of HIV for many years. It has been observed that 80 percent of people infected with HIV have flu-like symptoms.
Having these symptoms does not mean that you have HIV virus in your body. There can be other various reasons.
The most common symptoms are:
Fever, Sore throat, Rashes on the body.
There are other symptoms as well:
Fatigue, Joint pain, Muscle pain, Swelling of glands.
Usually these symptoms last for 1-2 weeks but can last longer. Can also stay.
This is a sign your immune system is fighting against the virus. Also, it is important to keep in mind that if you have these symptoms.
Once the immune system becomes badly damaged, the following symptoms may occur - Weight loss Chronic diarrhea Night sweats Skin problems Frequent infections having serious life-threatening diseases.
How does HIV cause AIDS?
To become infected with HIV, blood, semen, or vaginal discharge from an infected person must enter your body.
You cannot get infected through simple contact.
HIV transmission don’t occur by water and insect bite.
You can get infected with HIV in many ways, such as - through sexual intercourse.
You can get infected by having sex with an infected person if that person's blood, semen or vaginal secretions enter your body.
The infection can spread through vaginal, anal or oral sex.
This virus can also spread through mouth ulcers or small cuts in the anus or vagina during sex.
By Blood Transmission In some cases, the virus is also transmitted through blood transmission.
The HIV virus can also be spread by sharing needles if a needle that has been used on an infected person is used on an uninfected person.
If a woman is infected with the HIV virus through pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding, she can also infect her child with it through pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding.
People with higher risk of getting infection:
Men who have sex with men : Although the number of gays or men who have sex with men is less, they are at higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
People who inject drugs : People who inject drugs have a higher risk of getting HIV/AIDS than other people. According to a study conducted in 2009, almost half of the people who inject drugs and suffer from it were not aware of it.
Among women, a significant number of people get infected with HIV due to unprotected sex with a partner infected with HIV. In fact, it is the most common reason for women to become infected with HIV. Youngsters are mainly curious about sexual testing and also use drugs due to the influence of their peers, which increases their risk of getting infected with HIV.
Elderly people: Most of the elderly people do not believe that they too can get HIV infection, that is why they do such activities without any fear, which increases their risk of contracting HIV.
Thank You
Disclaimer : All the information published is solely based on articles and online research.
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