HIV/AIDS Resource Center
Dec
1, 2009, World AIDS Day, was celebrated in India with much gung-ho; the health
ministry of the Government of India patted itself on the back for the overall
drop in the number of HIV positive people in the country – by around 400,000,
while the drop in new HIV cases came down to 100,000 per year,.
While
this news is indeed encouraging, the question is India in a AIDS-safe zone?
India is the third largest nation with HIV AIDS after South Africa and Nigeria,
being home to 2.3 million AIDS victims.
How
can we fight this debilitating disease? What are the facts on this deadly
condition called AIDS that we must know.
AIDS,
the abbreviated form of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is the advanced
stage of infection by Human Immunodeficiency virus.
AIDS
is a global pandemic, and nations across the world are fighting it.
How AIDS spreads: You can contract the
infection by having unprotected sex with an infected partner, transfusion of
infected blood, or sharing of infected needles. It can pass on to the unborn
child of a pregnant mother, who has tested positive for the HIV virus; or after
childbirth through breastfeeding;
Signs
and symptoms of AIDS may not appear immediately after one contracts the HIV
virus infection; in fact, it may take as many as ten long years for the HIV
virus to manifest into AIDS, and destroy the bodys immune system completely.
Can
AIDS be treated completely? No, it cannot. But it is possible to survive if
detection is early by administering antiretroviral therapy as advised by
doctors.
Once
tested positive for the HIV virus
, the victim must make contact with ICTC
(Integrated Counseling and Testing Centers).
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