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)