HIV infection. You should know that!
HIV infection is a slow viral infection with a long, low-symptom course, characterized by a specific lesion of the immune system and the development of severe immunodeficiency, which is called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
HIV infection is associated with socially significant diseases: tuberculosis, viral hepatitis B and C. The priority direction of HIV prevention is to inform the population about HIV infection.
The causative agent is human immunodeficiency viruses of the 1st, 2nd types (HIV-1, HIV-2).
HIV has a pronounced variability that makes it difficult to develop a vaccine to prevent the disease.
In the body of an infected person, HIV is found with the greatest constancy and in the greatest amount in the blood, seminal fluid, breast milk, which determines the pathways of the pathogen: through the blood when the skin and mucous membranes are damaged, during sexual contact, from the mother to the fetus (child).
The source of infection is a person infected with HIV who is in any of the stages of the disease.
HIV susceptibility is universal. The HIV epidemic is developing in key populations: high-risk, vulnerable, and particularly vulnerable populations. Currently, the greatest risk of infection is observed among drug addicts who reuse uninfected needles and syringes for intravenous drug administration. But in the last year, there has been an increase in the sexual pathway of infection.
The main target of HIV is lymphocytes (white blood cells), which play a key role in immune processes. Depletion of the cellular link of the immune system contributes to the emergence of a variety of infections and malignancies.
Along with immune disorders, there is a lesion of the nervous system in the form of encephalitis, which is manifested by dementia in previously healthy individuals.
The incubation period lasts up to 3 months, sometimes up to 1 year.
It is impossible to suspect the presence of HIV infection by external signs.
Diagnosis of HIV infection is the only reliable way to determine the presence of the virus in the blood.
Blood testing for HIV is recommended in the presence of symptoms: prolonged fever of unknown origin, enlarged lymph nodes in the absence of inflammatory diseases, incessant diarrhea for several weeks, prolonged purulent-bacterial, parasitic and fungal diseases, herpetic rashes of extensive localization, a sharp decrease in body weight, prolonged pneumonia or pneumonia that does not respond to conventional therapy, chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases of the genitourinary system, pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
It is also necessary to get tested for HIV when planning a pregnancy, when using intravenous drugs, during unprotected sexual contact, and for donors.
You can get tested for HIV in all polyclinics and hospitals in the region, as well as in the Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS. (Lipetsk, Gagarina str., 135, registration number 34-20-70, helpline 34-20-77).
Currently, medicine does not have the means to completely cure the patient. However, treatment regimens have already been developed that can significantly slow the development of the disease. The main principles of therapy are as follows: creation of a protective psychological regime, timely initiation of antiviral therapy, early diagnosis of secondary diseases, their treatment, prevention.
The correct sexual and moral education of the population is of crucial importance.
Epidemiologist doctor
GUZ LGB #3 " Free Falcon»,
Turygin D. V.
HIV INFECTION
