What is HIV? and...

A sexual transmitted dieseas && over time it kills you

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus is the virus that causes AIDS. This virus may be passed from one person to another when infected blood, semen, or vaginal secretions come in contact with an uninfected person’s broken skin or mucous membranes.

In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Some of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.

AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.

Basically what HIV breaks down your immune system. Basically when HIV get extremely bad then a person is diagnosed with AIDS.

The best thing with HIV is to prevent it since there are no cure for. However when a person has been raped or come into contact with infected blood the can be given anti retroviral drugs to prevent them from getting HIV.

Right now, about 40 million people in the world are living with HIV infection or AIDS. This estimate includes 37 million adults and 2.5 million children. In the United States alone, more than 1 million people are living with HIV.

I live in South-Africa which has the highest HIV rate in the world so literally get this forced down our throats at schools,universities etc. :-) so it you have any questions feel free to ask.

Also: HIV infection isn’t like a cold or the flu. A person cannot get HIV by hugging or holding the hand of, sharing a school bus or classroom with, or visiting the home of someone who has HIV. HIV is passed only through direct contact with another person’s body fluids, such as blood. The majority of people in North America get infected with HIV by:

* having sexual contact with a person who has HIV
* sharing needles or syringes (used to inject illegal drugs) with a person who has HIV

And here are the symptoms: Most people don’t feel any different after they are infected with HIV. In fact, infected people often do not experience symptoms for years. Some people develop flu-like symptoms a few days to a few weeks after being infected, but these symptoms usually go away after several days.

An HIV-positive person will eventually begin to feel sick. The person might begin to have swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, fevers that come and go, infections in the mouth, diarrhea, or he or she might feel tired for no reason all of the time. Eventually, the virus can infect all of the body’s organs, including the brain, making it hard for the person to think and remember things.

When a person’s T cell count gets very low, the immune system is so weak that many different diseases and infections by other germs can develop. These can be life threatening. For example, people with AIDS often develop pneumonia, which causes bad coughing and breathing problems. Other infections can affect the eyes, the organs of the digestive system, the kidneys, the lungs, and the brain. Some people develop rare kinds of cancers of the skin or immune system.

Most of the children who have HIV got it because their mothers were infected and passed the virus to them before they were born. Babies born with HIV infection may not show any symptoms at first, but the progression of AIDS is often faster in babies than in adults. Doctors need to watch them closely. Kids who have HIV or AIDS learn more slowly than healthy kids and tend to start walking and talking later.