1.What is AIDS?
AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS, alias Love Death), is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS is scary because its pathogen invades only the most important cellular immunity in the human immune system, destroying the main, most powerful and most aggressive helper T cells (CD4 cells) in the cellular immunity and paralyzing the body’s immune system. After the immune system is paralyzed, various pathogens take advantage of the opportunity to enter and cause infections or tumors, eventually leading to death.
2.How is AIDS infected and transmitted?
①Sexual contact transmission. ②Blood transmission. ③Mother-to-child transmission. High-risk groups vulnerable to HIV infection include female sex workers, STD patients with broken genital skin or ulcers, homosexuals, intravenous drug users, sexually promiscuous people, people who receive blood transfusions and blood components and blood products, and people who have venipuncture or prick their fingers to get blood. When women with HIV have children, they can transmit HIV to the fetus or baby through blood, vaginal secretions and breast milk during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding. In addition, working, eating, talking, shaking hands, and ritual kissing with a person with AIDS does not transmit AIDS. Therefore, society should eliminate discrimination against people with AIDS.
3.What are the signs and symptoms of AIDS?
AIDS can be asymptomatic in its early stages, so most infected people are unaware of it. Many people find out by chance when they are undergoing other treatments in the hospital or when they donate blood for free. Typical symptoms of AIDS appear in the middle to late stages, mainly in the form of various opportunistic infections of the lungs (Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and cytomegalovirus pneumonia are the most common) and Kaposi’s sarcoma. Approximately 80% of AIDS patients have anemia and thrombocytopenia, leading to hypersplenism and a highly enlarged spleen. Skin damage is an extremely common manifestation in many AIDS patients, up to 92%, such as oral candidiasis, chronic herpes virus infection, and wart virus infection.
4.How to diagnose AIDS?
Antibodies are often not detected within weeks or months after HIV infection, so if the first test is negative, you need to go for a retest after an interval of 1 to 2 months. Commonly used tests are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), gelatin particle agglutination test (PA), and immuno-perimetric assay (IFA), which are generally used for screening. If a positive test is found, the medical staff will register personal information and report it to the CDC, which will be responsible for the next step of diagnosis and treatment.
5.How to treat AIDS?
The current treatment is mainly in the following areas: antiviral therapy; immunotherapy; treatment for opportunistic infections and tumors; and systemic support therapy. Anti-viral treatment is the etiological treatment, through the use of drugs that block the replication of the virus, to achieve the purpose of stopping the development of AIDS, such as the famous “triple cocktail” drug therapy, which has been used by NBA superstar “Magic” Johnson. Twenty-three years after his treatment, at age 55, Magic Johnson is still alive and well, working as a sports commentator, businessman and AIDS activist. Therefore, it is important not to give up on yourself or even to hurt others after discovering AIDS, but to choose active treatment. Our country provides free medication to AIDS patients to help them overcome the disease. Although there is no successful cure for AIDS yet, with the progress of medical treatment, we believe that we will be able to overcome this “incurable disease” in the near future, and we should be confident that we will win.