school progect. anyway that blood or some other fluids trade with a person who has aids/hiv so used needles, unprotected sex, wiping blood in someones else cut even You get it from unprotected vaginal, oral, or anal sex
You also get it from blood and blood related body fluids mixing from an infected person (ie: thru transfusions etc...)
It's really good that you have to do this proJECT (not progect) since you don't know how to protect yourself from aids nevermind how to spell the word project. What is AIDS/HIV? This virus and disease leaves the body defenseless against many illnesses that are rare or mild in people not infected with the virus. It attacks the T-Cells which are the key to the immune system. These illnesses, such as pneumonia or even the common cold, can't be fought off by an immune system because HIV shuts it down. The person infected with the virus has no way of combating the illness.
Ways to Contract HIV/AIDS.
There are many myths about how you can contract the virus, but there are few ways that are actucally factual. They are:
Blood to blood contact. If you become "blood brothers" with someone and your blood touches there, you are at a risk. Sharing needles or syringes that have been previously used (such as tattooing, body piercing, or drug using) also puts you at a risk.
Sexual contact. Having unprotected sex certainly makes you a target for the disease. Don't be fooled either. You can get AIDS/HIV if you have anal, oral, or phallic sex.
Perinatal contact. If you are born to a woman with AIDS, there is a very great chance that you have it. Mothers who have the disease that give birth, usually give it to their children.
The reasons for these are simple. They all include a bodily fluid of some kind. That is how the virus is carried. Infectious body fluids include:
Blood
Semen
Vaginal/Cervical Secretions
Breast Milk
Saliva is NOT an infectious fluid due to the enzymes in it that break up the virus. The pH level of the mouth is detrimental to the strain. There is not a sufficient concentration of the virus in saliva to consider it infectious.
The virus MUST be in the blood stream for a person to become infected.
Myths about contracting the virus. When there is truth, there is a myth. Many myths of contracting this virus are:
You can get AIDS/HIV by casual contact. This is a falsehood. You can NOT get AIDS from someone by hugging, shaking hands, sharing equipment, using public restrooms, sneezing, or coughing.
You can contract AIDS/HIV through an insect bite. Incorrect. There is no way to get the disease or virus from an insect bite.
If you kiss someone with AIDS/HIV, you can get the viurs. WRONG! This would relate to the casual contact clause and the saliva clause. Saliva is not considered an infectious fluid, and kissing is considered casual contact.
HIV/AIDS does not discriminate. Many people feel that only "high risk groups" are at risk for the disease. That is simply not true. It is not who you are that puts you at risk, it's what you do. People of all ages, races, economic status, sexual orentations, and genders have died from this disease.
Just in case... HIV/AIDS does not survive well outside the body. If you come in contact with blood, or any other infectious fluids, the virus can be easily killed while it is outside the body. If you have no open cuts or wounds on the area in which the fluid has come in contact with, simlpy deactivate the virus. Ways to kill the virus while it is outside the body are:
Heat
Hand soap
Hydrogen peroxide
Anything with 25% alcohol
Bleach
Lysol or any other disinfectant
Testing. There is no way to tell if you have AIDS/HIV without a blood test. If you have had sex with someone who has AIDS/HIV, you are at risk. Commonly called the "AIDS test," it is the HIV Antibody test which detects the presence of antibodies to HIV.
Two tests are availible: Confidential and Anonymus. Confidential testing becomes a part of your medical record and can only be released with your written concent, unless a court supeonas it. Anonymus testing only requires identifying information (age, race, gender), but name and other identifiers are not used. All HIV Antibody tests are considered confidential
Statistics
The total number of persons living with AIDS is estimated to be 33.4 million.
That is 10% higher than last year.
The number of AIDS related deaths in 1998 was 2.5 million and the total number since the begining of the epidemic is 13.9 million.
It is estimated that 11 men, women, and children around the world per minute were infected with the virus, 6 million total.
One tenth of all people newly infected were under the age of 15.
Children alive with HIV: 1.2 million.
Hope this helps a bit sweetie
RN Catherine well you can get it from having unprotected sex but the person you are having sex has to have the hiv virus there is more to it then just having unprotected sex |
