HIV/AIDS Education

Sexual Health: HIV and AIDS

What is HIV?

Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The virus weakens a person’s ability to fight infections and cancer. People with HIV are said to have AIDS when they develop certain infections or cancers or when their CD4 count is less than 200. CD4 count is determined by a blood test in a doctor’s office.

Having HIV does not always mean that you have AIDS. It can take many years for people with the virus to develop AIDS. HIV and AIDS cannot be cured. Although people with AIDS will likely one day die from an AIDS-related illness, there are ways to help people stay healthy and live-longer.

How Does HIV and AIDS Cause Illness?

HIV attacks and destroys a type of white blood cell called a CD4 cell. This cell’s main function is to fight disease. When a person’s CD4 cell count gets low, they are more susceptible to illnesses.

HIV StructureHIV structure, courtesy of NIAID.

What Is AIDS?

AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection. When the immune system CD4 cells drop to a very low level, a person’s ability to fight infection is lost. In addition, there are several conditions that occur in people with HIV infection with this degree of immune system failure — these are called AIDS defining illnesses.

How Do People Get HIV?

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S. the estimated number of people with HIV/AIDS is about 1,185,000 with approximately 25% of them unaware of their infection. The estimated number of new cases of HIV is 42,000 each year. A person gets HIV when an infected person’s body fluids (blood, semen, fluids from the vagina or breast milk) enter his or her bloodstream. The virus can enter the blood through linings in the mouth, anus or sex organs (the penis and vagina), or through broken skin.

Both men and women can spread HIV. A person with HIV can feel okay and still give the virus to others. Pregnant women with HIV also can give the virus to their babies.

Common ways people get HIV:

  • Sharing a needle to take drugs.
  • Having unprotected sex with an infected person.

You cannot get HIV from:

  • Touching or hugging someone who has HIV/AIDS.
  • Public bathrooms or swimming pools.
  • Sharing cups, utensils, or telephones with someone who has HIV/AIDS.
  • Bug bites.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. This is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV is different from most other viruses because it attacks the immune system. The immune system gives our bodies the ability to fight infections. HIV finds and destroys a type of white blood cell (T cells or CD4 cells) that the immune system must have to fight disease.

HIV EM ImageElectron microscope image of HIV, seen as small spheres on the surface of white blood cells.

Origin of HIV

Scientists identified a type of chimpanzee in West Africa as the source of HIV infection in humans. The virus most likely jumped to humans when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat and came into contact with their infected blood. Over several years, the virus slowly spread across Africa and later into other parts of the world.

chimpanzee

Brief History of HIV in the U.S.

HIV was first identified in the United States in 1981 after a number of gay men started getting sick with a rare type of cancer. It took several years for scientists to develop a test for the virus, to understand how HIV was transmitted between humans, and to determine what people could do to protect themselves.

In 2008, CDC (Center for Disease Control) adjusted its estimate of new HIV infections because of new technology developed by the agency. Before this time, CDC estimated there were roughly 40,000 new HIV infections each year in the United States. New results shows there were dramatic declines in the number of new HIV infections from a peak of about 130,000 in the mid 1980s to a low of roughly 50,000 in the early 1990s. Results also shows that new infections increased in the late 1990s, followed by a leveling off since 2000 at about 55,000 per year. In 2006, an estimated 56,300 individuals were infected with HIV.

AIDS cases began to fall dramatically in 1996, when new drugs became available. Today, more people than ever before are living with HIV/AIDS. CDC estimates that about 1 million people in the United States are living with HIV or AIDS. About one quarter of these people do not know that they are infected: not knowing puts them and others at risk. For more information please visit these

Would YOU Like to Learn More by Taking a Course on HIV/AIDS?

You can! The four prevention strands (Violence Prevention, Substance Abuse Prevention, Health and Wellness, and Instructional Strategies) are now available online along with more specialized prevention courses. Whether you are an employee of Broward County Public Schools or not, you can take an online course through Broward County’s Virtual University.

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