"Welcome, the information on this site was collected from the American Foundation For Children With AIDS.

"Our personal thanks goes out to them!"

FAQ'S

How Do Children Get HIV/AIDS?

The most common way for a child to become infected with the HIV virus is the mother-to-child transmission. The most dangerous phase is during birth, when blood and mucus loaded with viruses threaten the infant. Medicine can be given to the mother before birth and to the baby immediately after birth, reducing the risk of infection significantly.

The second way for an infant to get HIV is before birth, while growing in the uterus, where the virus is passed through the mother's blood to the baby.

The thrid way an infant may catch the virus is by breastfeeding. While mother's milk is usually the best for her baby, it can carry viruses. Although it is not too difficult to purchse formula to feed babies in riches countries, it might not be possible to do so in poor, developing countries forcing HIV=mothers to breastfeed their babies.

A less common way for a baby to catch HIV is through a blood transfusion. While transfusion-blood is carefully screened and checked for viruses, it can hapen that a baby might be infected through a transfusion, although the chances are slight.

Another way children might become infected is through rape or by being sexually abused by someone who HIV+. There is a very unfortunate belief in some parts of Africa that having sex with a virgin can cure HIV+ men.

Because older children and adolescents are often already sexually active (whether they are willing or not), the victims of rape are becoming younger and younger.

How Many Africans are Affeted?

AIDS has a direct impact on at least 60 million Africans: 30 million are suffering from the disease, more than 15 million have died from AIDS, and more than 11 million children have lost at least one parent to AIDS. (UNAIDS, Accelerating Action Against AIDS in Africa)

Why Do Women Have Higher Infection Rates Than Men?

In many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the inequality beteen men and women, and economic deprivation helps to drive the epidemic. Women and girls are commonly discriminated against in terms of access to education, employment, credit, health care, lan and inheritance.

In countries with generalized epidemics in Africa, up to 80% of women aged 15 through 24 have been shown to lack sufficient knowledge about HIV/AIDS. More than 60% of young women (aged 15-19) in 21 African countries have at least one major misconception about AIDS or have never heard of AIDS.

Less than half of young women (aged 15-24)in 10 sub-Saharan countries are not aware that the risk of HIV can be reduced by using condoms. (UNAIDS), Accelerating Action agaist AIDS in Africa)

A woman can aquire HIV through unprotected sex with a infected partner, through recieving contaminated blood or through non-sterile instruments or medical procedures. However, HIV is usually introduced into the family through the woman's sex partner.

Constraints on access to education and treatment, coupled with their inability to find paid employment, are causing rural households often headed by women to slide further into poverty.

(www.un.org/events/tenstories) The vulnerability of African women and girls to HIV infection is integrally linked to underlying gender inequalities, societal norms and discrimination. Reducing this vulnerability will require shifts in relationships between men and women, and in the way societies view women and value their contributions. (UNAIDS, Accelerating Action against AIDS in Africa)

Terms Defined

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) – This is a slow-acting retrovirus, believed to be the sole or primary cause of AIDS. HIV can be transmitted from mother to child, through blood, or sexually.

HIV positive (HIV+) – This refers to people who have taken an HIV test whose results have been confirmed as positive and who know that they are positive.

AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the late stage of HIV disease. AIDS involves the loss of function of the immune system, allowing the body to succumb to opportunistic infections. (AIDS Education Global Information System)

Retrovirus – A type of virus that, when not infecting a cell, stores its genetic information on a single-stranded RNA molecule instead of the more usual double-stranded DNA. HIV is an example of a retrovirus. After a retrovirus penetrates a cell, it constructs a DNA version of its genes using a special enzyme called reverse transcriptase. This DNA then becomes part of the cell's genetic material.

Antiretroviral (ARV) – This is a substance that stops or suppresses the activity of a retrovirus such as HIV. ARVs change HIV from a terminal (fatal) disease to a chronic disease. ART treatment prolongs lives and reduces human suffering. It is also a practical investment for society, as it enables HIV+ individuals to continue contributing to the well being of themselves, their families and their communities.

Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) – It is the main type of treatment for HIV or AIDS. It is not a cure, but it can stop people from becoming ill for many years. The treatment consists of drugs which work by slowing down the reproduction of HIV in the body and that have to be taken every day for the rest of someone's life.

Pandemic – This is a widespread disease outbreak affecting the population of an extensive area of the world.

Epidemic – This is a disease that spreads rapidly through a demographic segment of the human population, such as everyone in a given geographic area; a military base, or similar population unit; or everyone of a certain age or sex, such as the children or women of a region.

Youth – Based on definitions that are commonly used in different demographic, policy and social contexts, youth are defined as being 15 to 24 years of age.

Chronic Illness – This is an illness that has persisted for a long period of time. It is a continuing disease process. Chronic diseases develop slowly.

Terminal Illness – This is a medical term for an active and progressive disease.

Disease – This is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. Sometimes the term is used broadly to include injuries, disabilities, syndromes, symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts these may be considered distinguishable categories.

Palliative care – This is any form of medical care or treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of the symptoms of a disease or slows its progress rather than providing a cure. It aims at improving quality of life, and particularly at reducing or eliminating pain.

CD4 – CD4 (or T-cells) are a type of specialized cell that protect the body from infection. HIV attacks these cells and uses them to increase the HIV. This makes it impossible for the CD4 cell to do its job and protect the body. The higher the number of T cells, the stronger your immune system. Most people without HIV have 700 to 1000 CD4 cells. When the number drops below 200, the person is said to have AIDS. Something like ARVs is necessary to help keep away further infection.

Mother-to-Child Transmission (MTCT) – This is the transmission of HIV to a child from an HIV positive woman during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding. It is believed that about two thirds of the infants are infected during pregnancy and around the time of delivery, and about one third are infected through breastfeeding. (HIV and infant feeding: A guide for health-care managers and supervisors, World Health Organization 1998 and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS 1998)

HIV Routes of Infections, Symptoms and Diagnosis

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans when the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections.

Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk.

The major routes of transmission are:

Sexual route: The majority of HIV infections are acquired through unprotected sexual relations. Sexual transmission can occur when infected sexual secretions of one partner come into contact with the genital, oral, or rectal mucous membranes of another.,

Blood or blood product route: This transmission route can account for infections in intravenous drug users, and recipients of unchecked blood transfusions and blood products. It can also be spread by reusing or sharing of needles. Although rarely but health care workers such as nurses, laboratory workers, and doctors have also been infected. People who give and receive tattoos, piercing, and scarification procedures can also be at risk of infection.

Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT): The transmission of the virus from the mother to the child can occur during the last weeks of pregnancy, at childbirth and breast feeding. In the absence of treatment, the transmission rate between the mother and child is 25%. When drug treatment and Cesarean section are available, the transmission rate is reduced to 1%.

Symptoms:

2-4 weeks post exposure most individuals develop influenza like illness called acute HIV infection.

Most common symptoms are fever, headache, myalgia (muscular pain), malaise (general tiredness/discomfort), rash and lymphadenopathy (enlarged lymph glands), mouth and esophageal sores, and rarely also include, vomiting, enlarged liver or spleen, weight loss, thrush, and neurological symptoms. Infected individuals may experience all, some, or none of these symptoms.

Symptoms have an average duration of one month and usually last at least a week Because of the nonspecific nature of these illnesses; it is often not recognized as a sign of HIV infection. However, it is important to recognize the syndrome because the patient is much more infectious during this period.

Following initial infection, individual may have no symptoms. The progression of disease varies widely. This state may last from a few months to more than 10 years. During this period, the virus continues to multiply actively and infects and kills cells of the immune system like CD 4 and T4 which protects and fights against bacteria, viruses, and other infections.

Once the immune system weakens, a person infected with HIV can develop the following symptoms: Lack of energy, weight loss, frequent fevers and sweats, persistent or frequent yeast infections, persistent skin rashes or flaky skin, short-term memory loss, mouth, genital, or anal sores from herpes infections.

Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is the most advanced stage of HIV infection. By definition AIDS includes all HIV-infected people who have fewer than 200 CD4+ cells per micro liter of blood.

Common opportunistic infections and tumors, most of which are normally controlled by robust CD4+ T cell-mediated immunity then start to affect the patient. Typically, resistance is lost early on to oral Candida species and to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which leads to an increased susceptibility to oral candidiasis (thrush) and tuberculosis. Later, re-activation of latent herpes viruses may cause worsening recurrences of herpes simplex eruptions, shingles, Epstein-Barr virus-induced B-cell lymphomas, or Kaposi's sarcoma.

Not all patients with AIDS get all these infections or tumors, and there are other tumors and infections that are less prominent but still significant.

Diagnosis:

HIV-1 testing consists of initial screening with an Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to HIV-1. Unless new exposure to an infected or unknown HIV status partner has occurred, specimens with a non-reactive result from the initial ELISA are considered HIV-negative.

Specimens with a reactive ELISA result are retested in duplicate. If the result of either duplicate test is reactive, the specimen is reported as repeatedly reactive and undergoes confirmatory testing with a more specific supplemental test (e.g., Western blot or Immuno Fluorescence Assay (IFA)). Only specimens that are repeatedly reactive by ELISA and reactive by Western blot or positive with IFA are considered HIV-positive.

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April 14, 2008.

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