How to prevent HIV/AIDS
You may have heard of the biggest pandemic crises returning to kill people every century, with four consecutive terms recorded in the history books. These were The Great Plague of Marseille (1720-1723), The First Cholera Pandemic (1817-1824), Spanish Flu (1918-1920), and Covid-19 Outbreak (2020 onwards). However, many other epidemics remained in world on and off in different times, infecting and killing millions so far. Long list of severe diseases include different flu, choleras, plagues, Polio, Ebola, and also HIV/AIDs.
Though medical science has been able to contain these epidemics across the world, some of them still need to be eradicated from many regions. One of such life-threatening disease that still exists on the Earth is HIV/AIDS. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attacks human cells that help the body fight infection. That results in the person becoming more fragile to other infections and diseases. The virus is transmitted to a human body through contact with specific bodily fluids of an HIV-infected person.
HIV remains with life, AIDS kills
The HIV virus enters one’s body, particularly, during unprotected sex. It’s when intercourse happens without a condom or the HIV-preventing medicine. The severe virus also infects one’s body through shared injection drug equipment. If the infected individual doesn’t take treatment, HIV can lead to the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) disease. There is no effective cure for the HIV, making the infected human never get rid of the virus. Those who have the HIV once, they have to live with it for life.
Through the use of medication and therapy, HIV-infected people may live long and healthy lives. Medication help them in safe sex without transmitting virus in partners. However, AIDS is incurable and late stage of HIV infection when virus has badly damaged the person’s immune system. A number of people in United States and other countries have avoided AIDS by daily HIV medicine that prevents its progression to the late stage. But situation is still vulnerable in many African and other developing countries.
Seniors among most vulnerable
According to report of United Nations, since the first HIV-AIDS case that came to notice 40 years ago, the world has made significant progress so far. However, the most vulnerable people and regions still remain at major risk. Among the most vulnerable people come the senior persons. As per reports, 11 percent to 15 percent of AIDS cases in US were found in seniors aged over 50. AIDS spread among over 50 people was more than twice faster than in younger ones. Situation was quite similar in other nations too.
That is because seniors are less likely to use condoms, and they have already weak immune system due to aging. Even many HIV symptoms like fatigue, weight loss, dementia, skin rashes, swollen lymph nodes are similar to those of aging. Further, due to stereotypes about seniors, medical and health people fail to query them about their sexual and drug habits. This has made the HIV-AIDS highly unrecognizable among seniors so far. So, they could not find representation in researches, clinical drug trials, prevention programs and efforts at intervention.
10 tips on how to prevent HIV/AIDS
- Know the HIV-spreading body fluids – blood, semen, pre-seminal fluids, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk.
- If you are at risk, don’t shy away discussing HIV testing with your partner, and both get tested before you have sex.
- If you don’t have HIV but you are at risk, take medical advice about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce risk.
- As among half of the HIV-affected couples, only one partner is HIV-positive, the use of TasP and PrEP is important.
- Having sexual transmitting diseases can increase HIV risk, so you both must go for get tests and treatment for STDs.
- Have safe sex as HIV spread mostly occurs through anal or vaginal sex without a condom or preventable medicines.
- Whenever you intercourse, don’t forget using condom, and you must know how to use condom properly while sex.
- The more sexual partners you have, the more you are likely to contact infection, so limit number of sexual partners.
- Never inject drugs, but if you do so, use only a sterile drug injection equipment and water not shared with anyone.
- Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (pMTCT) of HIV is possible through right treatment and perinatal care.
