AIDS: What kind of disease is it?
AIDS: What kind of disease is it?
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of health reported that as of July
this year the number of people infected by Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has
reached 316. That number, in relation to the 190 million people
living in Indonesia, is small.
However, scientists say that the reported cases are only the
tip of the iceberg. The actual number could reach 100 times the
reported cases.
AIDS can infect anyone, both homosexual and heterosexual
people. People who practice unsafe sex with multiple sex-partners
and drug users who share unsterilized syringes are not the only
ones who can get AIDS. Some people are infected by the virus
through blood transfusions with unsterilized syringes. The
disease can be transmitted through direct exchange of body
fluids: blood, semen, breast milk and the like.
HIV can remain in the body of a person for years without any
symptoms. Scientists say that in developing countries, where the
infection rate is higher, the virus can remain in the body for
around five years before developing into AIDS. In the United
States, a survey showed that 53 percent of HIV carriers developed
AIDS during the first 10 years of infection, while the rest
didn't develop AIDS after 10 years of infection.
The virus can be detected through blood tests called Elisa and
Western Blot.
When HIV has developed into AIDS, the infected person's immune
system soon shuts down because the AIDS virus decreases the
effectiveness of antibodies important in the body's defenses.
Thus, a person with AIDS is more vulnerable to many diseases.
The general symptoms that HIV has developed into AIDS are: the
HIV infected person feels rundown and loses weight. The victim
may have persistent fever, night sweats, diarrhea and red lesions
on their body. He or she is likely to have a dry, hacking cough
and be short of breath. Mild infections such as cold or cold
sores can badly affect the victim and the illness can last much
longer.
AIDS patients may suffer pneumonia, colitis and other
infections for which there is no effective treatment. They may
further have candidiasis, a fungus infection of the mouth,
throat, esophagus and rectum. The virus can also damage the
brain.
Pregnant women in developing countries like Indonesia have a
30 to 40 percent chance of passing the deadly disease to their
baby.
Mosquitoes cannot transmit the disease. People will not get
the virus by shaking hands, eating from the same plate of an AIDS
patient, sitting on a chair priorly occupied by a HIV carrier, or
talking with them. Even kissing them is not dangerous, unless
they have a sore on the lip or tongue. The efficiency of condoms
in preventing infection during sexual intercourse has not been
proven, but the consistent use of them may reduce transmission.
(als)