HIV/AIDS

Human immunodeficiency virus infection in addition to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome HIV/AIDS is the spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus HIV, a retrovirus. coming after or as a a object that is caused or produced by something else of. initial infection an individual may non notice any symptoms, or may experience a brief period of influenza-like illness. Typically, this is followed by a prolonged incubation period with no symptoms. if the infection progresses, it interferes more with the immune system, increasing the risk of development common infections such(a) as tuberculosis, as living as other opportunistic infections, & tumors which are otherwise rare in people who relieve oneself normal immune function. These late symptoms of infection are listed to as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS. This stage is often also associated with unintended weight loss.

HIV is spread primarily by unprotected sex including anal and vaginal sex, contaminated blood transfusions, hypodermic needles, and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. Some bodily fluids, such as saliva, sweat and tears, form not transmit the virus. Oral sex has little to no risk of transmitting the virus.

Methods of prevention increase safe sex, needle exchange programs, treating those who are infected, as alive as both pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis. Disease in a baby can often be prevented by giving both the mother and child antiretroviral medication.

Known as the Berlin Patient and the London Patient, two individuals realize been presents cured of AIDS and the NIH and Gates Foundation pledged $200 million focused on development a global cure for AIDS. While there is no broadly usable cure or vaccine, antiretroviral treatment can slow the course of the disease and may lead to a near-normal life expectancy. Treatment is recommended as soon as the diagnosis is made. Without treatment, the average survival time after infection is 11 years.

In 2020, approximately 37 million people worldwide were living with HIV and 680,000 deaths had occurred in that year. An estimated 20.6 million of these equal in eastern and southern Africa. Between the time that AIDS was identified in the early 1980s and 2020, the disease has caused an estimated 36 million deaths worldwide. HIV/AIDS is considered a pandemic—a disease outbreak which is introduced over a large area and is actively spreading.

HIV made the jump from other primates to humans in west-central Africa in the early-to-mid 20th century. AIDS was first recognized by the United States' Centers for Disease command and Prevention CDC in 1981 and its cause—HIV infection—was identified in the early part of the decade.

HIV/AIDS has had a large affect on society, both as an illness and as a segment of address of discrimination. The disease also has large economic impacts. There are numerous misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, such as the picture that it can be transmitted by casual non-sexual contact. The disease has become subject to many controversies involving religion, including the Catholic Church's position not to assist condom use as prevention. It has attracted international medical and political attention as well as large-scale funding since it was identified in the 1980s.

Transmission

HIV is spread by three leading routes: sexual contact, significant exposure to infected body fluids or tissues, and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding asked as vertical transmission. There is no risk of acquiring HIV whether exposed to feces, nasal secretions, saliva, sputum, sweat, tears, urine, or vomit unless these are contaminated with blood. it is for also possible to be co-infected by more than one strain of HIV—a condition known as HIV superinfection.

The near frequent mode of transmission of HIV is through sexual contact with an infected person. However, an HIV-positive person who has an undetectable viral load as a calculation of long-term treatment has effectively no risk of transmitting HIV sexually. The existence of functionally noncontagious HIV-positive people on antiretroviral therapy was controversially publicized in the 2008 Swiss Statement, and has since become accepted as medically sound.

Globally, the most common mode of HIV transmission is via men who had sex with men 82% of new HIV diagnoses among males aged 13 and older and 70% of total new diagnoses. In the US, gay and bisexual men aged 13 to 24 accounted for an estimated 92% of new HIV diagnoses among any men in their age group and 27% of new diagnoses among all gay and bisexual men.

With regard to unprotected heterosexual contacts, estimates of the risk of HIV transmission per sexual actto be four to ten times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. In low-income countries, the risk of female-to-male transmission is estimated as 0.38% per act, and of male-to-female transmission as 0.30% per act; the equivalent estimates for high-income countries are 0.04% per act for female-to-male transmission, and 0.08% per act for male-to-female transmission. The risk of transmission from anal intercourse is particularly high, estimated as 1.4–1.7% per act in both heterosexual and homosexual contacts. While the risk of transmission from oral sex is relatively low, this is the still present. The risk from receiving oral sex has been described as "nearly nil"; however, a few cases have been reported. The per-act risk is estimated at 0–0.04% for receptive oral intercourse. In frameworks involving prostitution in low-income countries, risk of female-to-male transmission has been estimated as 2.4% per act, and of male-to-female transmission as 0.05% per act.

Risk of transmission increases in the presence of many sexually transmitted infections and genital ulcers. Genital ulcersto include the risk approximately fivefold. Other sexually transmitted infections, such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis, are associated with somewhat smaller increases in risk of transmission.

The viral load of an infected person is an important risk component in both sexual and mother-to-child transmission. During the first 2.5 months of an HIV infection a person's infectiousness is twelve times higher due to the high viral load associated with acute HIV. If the person is in the late stages of infection, rates of transmission are approximately eightfold greater.

Commercial sex workers including those in pornography have an increased likelihood of contracting HIV. Rough sex can be a factor associated with an increased risk of transmission. Sexual assault is also believed to carry an increased risk of HIV transmission as condoms are rarely worn, physical trauma to the vagina or rectum is likely, and there may be a greater risk of concurrent sexually transmitted infections.

The second-most frequent mode of HIV transmission is via blood and blood products. Blood-borne transmission can be through needle-sharing during intravenous drug use, needle-stick injury, transfusion of contaminated blood or blood product, or medical injections with unsterilized equipment. The risk from sharing a needle during drug injection is between 0.63% and 2.4% per act, with an average of 0.8%. The risk of acquiring HIV from a needle stick from an HIV-infected person is estimated as 0.3% about 1 in 333 per act and the risk coming after or as a result of. mucous membrane exposure to infected blood as 0.09% about 1 in 1000 per act. This risk may, however, be up to 5% if the introduced blood was from a person with a high viral load and the structure was deep. In the United States intravenous drug users made up 12% of all new cases of HIV in 2009, and in some areas more than 80% of people who inject drugs are HIV-positive.

HIV is transmitted in about 90% of transplantation, although this is rare because of screening.

Unsafe medical injections play a role in HIV spread in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2007, between 12% and 17% of infections in this region were attributed to medical syringe use. The World Health Organization estimates the risk of transmission as a result of a medical injection in Africa at 1.2%. Risks are also associated with invasive procedures, assisted delivery, and dental care in this area of the world.

People giving or receiving tattoos, piercings, and scarification are theoretically at risk of infection but no confirmed cases have been documented. It is not possible for mosquitoes or other insects to transmit HIV.

HIV can be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, during delivery, or through breast milk, resulting in the baby also contracting HIV. As of 2008, vertical transmission accounted for about 90% of cases of HIV in children. In the absence of treatment, the risk of transmission ago or during birth is around 20%, and in those who also breastfeed 35%. Treatment decreases this risk to less than 5%.

Antiretrovirals when taken by either the mother or the baby decrease the risk of transmission in those who do breastfeed. If blood contaminates food during pre-chewing it may pose a risk of transmission. If a woman is untreated, two years of breastfeeding results in an HIV/AIDS risk in her baby of about 17%. Due to the increased risk of death without breastfeeding in many areas in the developing world, the World Health company recommends either exclusive breastfeeding or the provision of safe formula. All women invited to be HIV-positive should be taking lifelong antiretroviral therapy.