Could somebody please give me some information about HIV?

my friend was recently diagnosed and i'm devestated.
i know basics about it but not that much. could anyone help?

thanks in advance. xo.

I have HIV. I had it for 5 years before I showed any symptoms which was "night sweats". Once diagnosed, I was placed on ATRIPLA which costs me $900/month. Yes, $900. I could be driving a BMW for that price. The most important thing is keeping watch on your CD4 count. Anything below 400 is dangerous. I'm at 1000+ which is abnormal but good for me. Also, you need an excellent health care provider and a support system. Read as much as you can because believe me, it's a hard thing to deal with especially in the first year or so and your friend will need you. It's also important to remember you can't get infected by everyday activities. The virus does not live outside the body. Hope I helped somewhat.

The basics: HIV ruins your immune system, so that if left untreated, you come down with every bug that comes along, and your immune system can't fight it off. Most fullblown AIDS patients die of pneumonia from one of these secondary infections.

It isn't casually contagious; it takes pretty direct contact to infect you -- generally through blood-to-blood (like shared hypodermics) or sexual contact with someone infected. It takes about 5 years, as I recall, to go from infection to fullblown AIDS, which is why this disease is so insidious: you might go out and have sex with a guy who seems fine, but infects you, since he won't show symptoms (outside of HIV tests) for years yet.

That being said, there's quite a lot of good treatments out there that suppress the HIV virus; with proper medication and consistent treatment, most people can go on and live normal lives. The catches are, of course, that they have to be very careful not to infect others -- "safe sex" becomes VERY safe sex (one would hope) -- and the medicines are quite expensive. The last information I read stated that it cost about $1,000 a month to treat and suppress AIDS. And HIV never goes away; no cure is in sight -- it's a lifelong condition.

this disease is not very hearty outside of the human body, use universal precautions when handling bodily fluids and make sure that your friend seeks medical help