What is HIV and how to deal with it?

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that destroys the body's immune system. For a certain period of time, which can be several years, the protective mechanism of the body keeps HIV infection under control. During this time, a person with HIV can feel completely good and not have any symptoms. However, in most cases, the immune system ultimately needs help in the form of anti-HIV drugs to keep HIV infection under control.

The term AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is no longer used in the lexicon of doctors. They prefer to talk about the late stage of progressive HIV infection. Long before effective treatments, AIDS was a disease state of some HIV-infected people, almost inevitably developing as soon as HIV began to attack their immune system. Now this is no longer the case.

How is HIV transmitted?

In order for someone to get infected with this virus, you need to inject enough HIV into your bloodstream. This level of HIV is found in some, but not in all, human body fluids infected with HIV. These body fluids that contain enough HIV to infect someone are:

• blood;

• semen and seminal fluid;

• vaginal discharge, including menstrual fluid;

• breast milk.

Other body fluids, such as saliva, sweat or urine, do not contain enough virus to infect another person.

HIV can not be transmitted through the surface of the skin. It also can not be transmitted through the air, like a cold or an influenza virus.

What happens when a person has HIV?

Most people infected with HIV do not notice that they have been infected. A few weeks after infection, the body's immune system reacts to the virus, producing antibodies. Probable symptoms are a normal reaction to many other infections, and can include sore throat, fever, or rash.

When HIV is in the human body for a long time, its immune system is severely damaged and there is a risk of opportunistic infections. But it is possible to prevent or treat these opportunistic infections with the help of medications.

Real problems

Even now, when there are more powerful anti-HIV treatments that can suppress HIV infection or its progress, live with the knowledge that a person has a serious and potentially life-threatening infection, can be stressful and difficult. Someone with HIV can remain in good physical shape for many years, but misunderstandings and fears about HIV are still widespread in society. People living with HIV can face hostility or refusal even from friends and family. Some lose their jobs and housing due to the attitude of their employer or host, and children with HIV infection are prohibited from going to school.

Many HIV-positive people choose not to tell anyone about their diagnosis, except for a few true friends, but this burden of secrecy can be very difficult to bear. Living with the realization that you could pass this serious infection on to someone else is also quite difficult.

In Germany, a number of support groups were created to help withstand the isolation that HIV can cause, and to help people overcome the changes in their lives to cope with the HIV infection.

Studies by German scientists have shown that taking a combination of antiretroviral drugs (combination therapy) can slow the damaging effect of HIV on the immune system. If combination therapy is successful, it can improve and maintain the health of a person with HIV, and will mean that a person is less inclined to develop a condition formerly known as AIDS.

How effective is anti-HIV treatment?

Modern therapy can successfully reduce the level of HIV in the blood and have a huge impact on improving the health and life expectancy of people with HIV. However, scientists do not yet know the long-term effects of these drugs.

Over the seven years that these drugs were available, many of the HIV patients returned to a good health condition and in many cases returned to work. For a minority of people, anti-HIV drugs are not able to benefit.