Facts About AIDS That You Must Know!
Knowing that knowledge is the best way of prevention, many people have been wondering: What exactly are the facts about AIDS that they should know of?
AIDS is not AIDS without HIV. AIDS is the fully mature and developed counterpart of the latter. AIDS is an acronym which stands for Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome. It is caused by the HIV virus or the Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS is a communicable disease which afflicted thousands of children and adults worldwide. To combat the dreaded disease, both government and private sectors have given out information and implemented projects to promote AIDS awareness and educate people on the facts about AIDS.
What exactly are the facts about AIDS?
A person needs to know how the disease is acquired. There are three ways of getting AIDS.
1. Through sexual contact with a person who is AIDS positive. Unprotected sex and having multiple partners increases the risk of infection. It does not matter whether sex is done between homosexuals or heterosexuals. Once one is positive, there is a great possibility that the virus will be transferred to the other, without regard to gender. If you are the type of person who is sexually active and cannot abstain from sexual intimacy, the use of condoms is strongly advised to protect from exchanging bodily fluids.
2. Exposure to blood and blood products contaminated with HIV. This brings a great risk to people who need blood transfusions. Drug dependents who share needles also pose a threat of getting infected. While lazy medical personnel who recycle needles used in treatment and medication are risk factors to patients as well.
3. Through heredity; parents who die with AIDS leave a great risk for their children. Parents with full-blown AIDS transfer the AIDS virus to their offspring, who become AIDS positive at the time of conception.
Other than death, one of the most dreadful facts about AIDS is that even the person who is AIDS positive may not be aware of it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that at least 25% of those infected with the virus are not aware of it. Most of them even appear healthy, showing no signs of illness.
Being AIDS or HIV positive is such a burden for infected people as they have to go through treatments and medications religiously. The certainty of living a shorter life, financial constraints, discrimination and ridicule are only some facts about AIDS related issues patients have to deal with everyday for the rest of their life. These are only natural reactions which they understand. This is where counseling comes in: to help them cope up with the disease and still live life the best way they can. It is in this light that organizations, both government and private, work towards spreading AIDS awareness throughout the globe.
Checking if you have AIDS through reading is good; but despite the many facts about AIDS in posters, information sheets, books, and Internet articles, the best way of knowing if you manifest some facts about AIDS is to undergo an AIDS test.