Individuals who are suspected of having Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can undergo aids testing in almost all health care clinics. The available tests can easily determine whether or not you have been exposed to this deadly virus. Regardless of the reason you undergo HIV testing, this event will make you slightly nervous and apprehensive.

An HIV aids test is required if you want to slow spread of the infection. During the early phase of the infection, most people have no symptoms or signs of infection. Moreover, these individuals may continue to have unprotected sex or shared needles and pass the infection to others.

Once HIV aids tests are positive, there are decent drug treatments to help progression of the disease and limit the symptoms. Early treatment of HIV has been shown to delay progression to AIDS.

Because HIV is a deadly virus, physicians highly encourage voluntary testing as part of routine medical care in certain cases if:

You are pregnant and have HIV; you can pass the infection to the fetus
You have had unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex with multiple partners or with anonymous partners
You are a male and participate in male to male anal sex
You use intravenous drugs or share needles
You have been previously diagnosed with other sexually transmitted disease like syphilis or herpes

There are several tests available to detect HIV. In the majority of cases, your physician will obtain blood or cell samples taken from the insides of your cheek with a cotton swab and check for the presence of antibodies. The consumer must understand one fact: these HIV tests are not very accurate soon after one acquires HIV. The reason: the body takes time to make antibodies against the virus and this may take anywhere from 4-10 weeks. So if there are no antibodies, the test will show up as negative but you may still have the virus in your body. Once a positive test has come back, the test is always repeated to confirm the results with more sensitive tests. Individuals are only told that they are HIV positive when all the tests are positive.

The home access HIV 1 test is accurate and all positive results are automatically retested to confirm the results. There are other very sensitive tests (PCR and p23 antigen) that can identify antibodies much earlier but these tests are quite expensive and not always available in all centers.

If you have a negative result it may mean that you are not infected or it may be too soon to tell. If you have just recently been exposed to HIV, you could be negative and need to undergo repeat testing within 3 months. Mind you, it is your responsibility to tell your partners if you are infected with HIV so that they can undergo AIDS testing.

HIV is an infectious disorder which is acquired in many ways; some people may get the virus through sexual intercourse, others may get it from sharing infected needles and some may get from blood transfusions or coming in contact with contaminated blood products. Unfortunately, 28 years since the discovery of the dreaded illness we still do not have a cure for aids. Since we have no hiv aids cure, the major emphasis today is on prevention and treatment.

At the moment, all the drugs we have do not cure aids but only control symptoms of the infection. According to current guidelines, drug treatment should focus on attaining the highest inhibition of symptoms for as long as possible. The aim of active anti-retroviral therapy is to decrease the virus load in blood to very low or even non measurable levels, although this doesn’t mean the virus is completely has gone.

What’s more is that after prolonged use of these anti viral medications, many individuals develop resistance to the drugs and no longer respond to treatment. Finally, the majority of the anti viral drugs also have a variety of potent side effects which limit long term therapy.

A cure for aids has been difficult because the hiv virus is complex. Moreover, viruses to not respond to antibiotics like bacteria. The anti viral drugs we do have do kill some of the HIV virus, but these drugs are also highly toxic. To develop a vaccine, it is necessary to use killed or partially killed virus to stimulate the immune system. However, there is always the possibility that the partially killed virus itself may cause HIV. In the recent Thailand trial, the Aids vaccine fared poorly and some individuals did develop HIV. Under the litigious North American climate, the use of such a vaccine is unlikely.

There is ongoing research to develop a vaccine, but an aids cure is still a few years away. Since newer vaccines will take time to develop, a preventive approach to Aids has been undertaken. Experts believe that rather than spending money to find cure for aids, a better alternative would be to prevent aids in the first place.
All over the internet alternative health care practitioners sell supplements for hiv aids cure. Consumers should understand that the majority of these unorthodox health practitioners offer false promises with little scientific proof to back up their claims. So far no herb, mineral or nutrient has been found to cure aids. There is no natural cure for aids. Many cyberspace healers sell exotic compounds at exorbitant prices. So instead of curing aids, they usually end up curing your pockets of your hard earned money.

The AIDS virus is something that most people find difficult to understand. However, there is a wealth of HIV AIDS virus information that can help one from contracting or spreading this virus. It is important to understand that the HIV and AIDS viruses are not the same thing. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus cannot reproduce without infecting the cells of a living organism. Unlike most viruses, which the human immune system are able to fight off, HIV directly attacks the immune system itself, making it impossible for the human body to get rid of the virus. AIDS stands for Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and it is a medical condition diagnosed when one’s immune system is too weak to fight off infections; AIDS is the final state of a progression of diseases resulting from HIV. Both the HIV and AIDS virus are serious illnesses that cannot be cured.

Shortly after an individual has been infected with HIV, he or she will usually develop a viral illness that often includes low grade fever, rash, muscle aches, headaches, and fatigue. These symptoms clear quickly, but the virus does not go away. For a varied number of years, the infected individual will have no symptoms. His or her immune system, however, is slowly being destroyed. Eventually, when the immune system is damaged significantly, the symptoms of AIDS begin to manifest. These may include chronic fatigue; rapid weight loss; swollen or painful glands that persist for longer than four weeks; shortness of breath; dry cough not due to allergies or smoking; chronic diarrhea; high fevers; night sweats; appearance of one or more purples spots on the skin or in the anus, mouth, or nose; a white coating on the tongue, throat or vagina; and confusion or other signs of mental deterioration. A person is diagnosed with AIDS when they have developed an AIDS-related condition or symptom, called an opportunistic infection, an AIDS-related cancer, or the number of immune system cells is at 200 or less.

AIDS may only be caused by contracting HIV, therefore the way to avoid contracting AIDS is to avoid contracting HIV. For this reason, it is important for one to research and understand all the HIV AIDS virus information available. HIV may be contracted through vaginal, anal, or oral sex with an infected person; injecting drugs; a mother to child transmission such as breastfeeding; blood transfusions; handling blood products; infection in a health-care setting, or unsanitary tattooing or piercing.

Developing AIDS-related conditions are one of the worst consequences of AIDS. These conditions may include Candidiasis, invasive Cervical cancer, Coccidioidomycosis, Cytomegalovirus disease, Encephalopathy, severe Herpes simplex infection, Histoplasmosis, Isosporiasis, Kaposi’s Sarcoma, some types of Lymphoma, reoccuring Pneumonia, Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, recurring Salmonella septicemia, Toxoplasmosis of the brain, Tuberculosis,Wasting Syndrome, and others. The AIDS Virus is very deadly, and one should take every precaution against HIV.

Do you know the hiv aids symptoms? In the beginning, the symptoms of aids hiv may be flu-like symptoms: fever, headaches, tiredness, and swollen lymph glands. That is it. It can be as many as 10 years before the severe symptoms of aids hiv appear. This is called the asymptomatic period, meaning no symptoms. However, during this time, your immune system becomes weaker and weaker because the HIV virus is eating away at your CD4 cells. They are the t-helper cells that help to fight off infection in your body. Once again, you may start with swollen glands. You may experience tiredness, weight loss, frequent fevers, sweats, yeast infections, skin rashes, herpes infections, and short-term memory loss.

As the disease progresses, it begins to wear down each system in your body. Let’s take a further look at hiv aids symptoms and how they affect your body.

1. Pulmonary (Lungs) – persistent cough that may or may not produce sputum, some shortness of breath, chest pain, and fever. The disease can progress to pneuocystis carinii pneumonia, which is the most common, bacterial pneumonia, CMV (cytomegalovirus), Histoplasma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, and others.
2. Gastrointestinal (stomach, intestines, etc.) – diarrhea, weight loss, anorexia, abdominal cramps, and rectal urgency (tenemus).
3. Oral (Mouth) – oral lesions may appear and periodontis which can progress to gingival necrosis
4. Central Nervous System – (Nerves) impaired memory and concentration, loss of balance, lower extremity weakness, and cognitive and motor symptoms
5. Malignancies such as Kaposi’s sarcoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lymphomas

The medications that are used in treatment of HIV/Aids are:

• ART – antiretroviral therapy
• HAART – highly active antiretroviral therapy

The more the disease progresses, the more severe aids and symptoms will be. These will eventually become severe, such as:

• Repeated opportunistic infections
• Respiratory Infections
• Wasting of the body
• Drug related toxicities
• Death

To help prolong your life, you must do some prevention therapy, such as:

• Get early treatment for all opportunistic infections
• Get screenings and vaccines: tuberculosis screening every year with a PPD; pneumonia vaccine every 5 years: and if your CD4 count is greater than 200, a flu vaccine every fall
• Continue to take your medications as prescribed by your local doctor.
• Maintain good skin care to prevent a secondary source of infection.
• Do not ingest any alcohol, raw, undercooked, dairy, or high fat foods.
• Do oral care 2 to 3 times a day.
• Get regular periods of sleep.
• Use universal precautions.

The more the aids and symptoms worsen, you may want to join a support group, get counseling, and arrange your personal business. Remember: hiv aids symptoms are numerous, but once your CD4+ T cell count is less than 200, you have AIDS and there is no cure.

Once the diagnosis of HIV has been made, aids treatment is recommended. Since AIDS was first discovered, many novel drugs have been developed. Unfortunately, there is no cure for HIV and all the drugs available can only reduce symptoms or prevent complications of the infection.

Standard treatment for hiv aids have been developed and all drug therapies focus on achieving the maximum suppression of symptoms for the longest time. This new aggressive treatment for aids is known as highly active anti retroviral therapy or HAART. The goal of HAART is to decrease the amount of virus in the blood to very low or unmeasurable levels, but this does not mean that the virus has completely disappeared. The treatment for hiv aids is usually accomplished with use of 2-3 anti viral drugs. Finally, the drugs selected are those that will have maximum efficiency and will hopefully have the least possibility side effects. All individuals who have HIV should take a strong interest in their treatment and discuss the risk and benefits of each drug.

The first line anti retroviral drugs used to treat aids include zidovudine, lamivudine and many others. The major side effect from these drugs is bone marrow suppression which often leads to opportunistic infections and bleeding. The other class of drugs used for treatment of aids includes protease inhibitors which interrupt HIV multiplication late in its cycle. The most common side effects of these drugs are nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Today, treatment for aids has been fraught with development of resistance to the drugs and thus a new generation of drugs known as fusion inhibitors, integrase and chemokine co receptor inhibitors has been developed. The aim of all aids hiv treatment is to inhibit HIV replication and prevent resistance.

The response to aids hiv treatment is made by measuring viral load at intervals of 3-4 months. Using antiviral drugs is not the sole treatment. All patients should take an active role in their health care and this means working with a physician who knows the disease and will respect you. Get immunized against the common cold virus, do not smoke or use illicit drugs and eat a healthy diet.

Avoid raw foods that may put you at risk for acquiring an infection, and try and drink pure clean water where possible. Moreover, remember many pet animals carry parasites and can easily pass them on to you. So protect yourself when cleaning the litter, wear gloves and do not feed your pets’ raw meat. Always wash hands frequently.

Receiving a diagnosis of a life threatening disease like HIV can be devastating but fortunately there are many resources available. Be proactive and learn about your infection and maintain a strong support system. You need to tell your partners about your illness even though there is no legal obligation. Come to terms with your illness and live life fully with proper aids treatment.

Since there is no effective vaccine for HIV, aids prevention and treatment programs are currently being developed to help prevent further spreading of this social disease. In order to prevent aids, one needs to be educated about the disease and how one can avoid it. This means a drastic change in behavior and avoiding any contact with HIV infected fluids.

Individuals who are HIV-negative should make an effort to learn about the different aids prevention education programs. This means educating yourself and others about the infection, how it is transmitted and what are the complications. More important, it is critical for young teenagers to know about the different aids prevention education programs.

If you are sexually active, know the HIV status of all your sexual partners. Never engage in any type of unprotected sexual activity unless you are one hundred percent sure that your partner is not infected with HIV. Many schools have now instituted HIV aids prevention programs whereby young teens and adolescents are taught about use of condoms. Always use new latex or polyurethane condoms each time you have sexual intercourse. If you are unsure about the HIV status of your partner, use a new latex condom each time you have anal or vaginal sex. There are even some female condoms. For those who are allergic to latex, polyurethane condoms are a great alternative. When using condoms avoid oil based lubricants and use water based instead. Oily based products can sometimes induce small perforations in the condom making them unsafe. Another aspect of HIV aids prevention program is to ensure that females who perform oral sex, wear a dental dam. There have been several cases of herpes outbreaks, gonorrhea and even cancer of the throat resulting from sexually transmitted infections.

Individuals who use intravenous drugs should always use a fresh needle and avoid sharing needles or syringes. There are many needle exchange programs all over the country for drug addicts. In North America and Europe, all blood products are screened before transfusion, but this is not so in many third world or developed countries. So try and avoid a transfusion in these places. If a transfusion is unavoidable, get an HIV test when you return back to America.

Whether you have HIV or not, do not share personal care products with anyone. Besides HIV, one can even acquire a vareity of skin fungal infections which are quite difficult to treat.

There are a number of decent anti HIV medications on the market but that does not mean consumers can now practice sex without a condom. These medications do not cure AIDS and only reduce the severity of symptoms.
At present, the best way to remain healthy and aids free, is to practice safe sex behavior and know about aids prevention and treatment programs.

Knowing all the HIV Aids information one can is one of the best ways to protect oneself from this infection. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Those who have AIDS must have first had HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus. Current information on HIV AIDS tells us that HIV is a serious virus, because it attacks the body’s immune system, making it impossible for the body to fight off any health issues that arise. When the immune system has been damaged beyond repair or an HIV related condition, called an opportunistic infection, has developed, the person has AIDS.

When people ask for information on AIDS, they are often curious about what the symptoms are. However, one must first back up to the symptoms of HIV, as recognizing the disease in virus state is the best way to get symptoms under control. The symptoms of having been infected with HIV include developing a flu-like condition, swollen glands, or a body rash a short while after contracting HIV. These symptoms do not always imply an HIV infection has occurred. They often go unnoticed or do not occur at all, meaning that the virus is free to wreak havoc on one’s immune system. The symptoms of AIDS, once it has progressed, include having a very low number of immune system cells left in the body, developing an AIDS related cancer or an opportunistic infection such as a bacterial disease, pneumonia, malaria, or a whole host of other common problems. These problems, however, are life threatening to someone whose immune system is too weak to fight them off.

One can prevent these complications by being aware of all the information on HIV Aids and how it spreads. HIV can be transmitted through sexual fluids, through blood, or from a mother to her child, such as through breastfeeding. Important information about aids is that one should not have unprotected sex, and having unprotected sex with several partners increases the risk of contracting HIV. One should never share needles, such as are used for drugs or tattooing. If people have any doubt about whether or not they may have HIV, they should get tested regularly. All the information about AIDS one can find is not as beneficial as protecting oneself from the disease.

There is no cure for HIV or AIDS, though some of the symptoms and problems that develop as a result of these infections may be treated or eased. Some patients may be prescribed antiretroviral treatments, pills that can help HIV positive individuals from developing AIDS for several years. Others may take different antiretroviral treatments at the same time as they are taking the first in order to increase the effectiveness; this is called combination therapy. For i information on AIDS and treatment, one should visit a doctor or health clinic. One can only hope that one day there will be a cure for this fatal disease. For now, the best one can do is prevent contracting the disease by taking precautions to prevent HIV and being aware of the HIV AIDS information available.