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This disease is extremely serious and it should not be taken lightly. GET TESTED and encourage others to get tested as well.  It is better safe than sorry.  Information regarding testing can be obtained from the local health departments and/or one’s regular physician.

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Viruses are human pathogens that can lead to diverse life threatening diseases such as HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus.  HIV progresses to AIDs.  It is estimated that 36.7 million people are living with HIV.  With that in mind, 1.8 million of those individuals were children.  On average nearly 3.5 million people have died from this virus.  HIV causes great changes within the human body.  Once an individual contracts the virus, it begins to deteriorate the person’s immune system, which leads to their body’s inability to fight off other viruses or diseases.  With that being said, HIV is the greatest risk factor for individuals developing active Tuberculosis disease.  There are a lot of misconceptions related to HIV/AIDs such as it can be contracted by insect bites, touching, sharing foods, kissing, and sharing toilet seats with an infected individual.  The disease is contracted by infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluids.  The ways of spreading this disease is by having unprotected sex (vaginal, oral, or anal), sharing needles(tattoo needles or drug needles), blood transfusions, organ or tissue transplant, unsterile surgical instruments, mother to child transmission (pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), and healthcare workers getting a needle stick with contaminated instruments/ needles.   All individuals are capable of contracting this virus, no one is exempt. This disease is not curable, but it can be treated and prevented.  Individuals can prevent the contraction of HIV/AIDS by practicing abstinence, celibacy, monogamy, and protected sex.  In addition, avoiding the sharing of needles, using safety precautions such as never recapping dirty needles and the safety feature on needles, ensuring shared instruments are autoclave and sterile before usage, using sharps bin to discard of needles and other sharp instruments, wearing gloves and other personal equipment such as goggles and gowns when a body fluid could potentially splatter, ensuring sex partner gets tested before becoming intimate, and using ART (Antiretroviral therapy) effectively for mother’s to ensure virus is not spread to child. Symptoms include: Swollen lymph nodes, trouble staying focused or concentrating, skin rashes, fever night sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, joint pain, weight loss, fatigue, thickening and curving of the nails, dry cough, pneumonia, sore throat, mouth ulcers and/or thrush.  ART also known as antiretroviral therapy can had in treating and slowing down the progression of the disease, which aids in the prolonging of an individual’s life. Individuals with HIV who were diagnosed at the age of twenty who are effectively taking the ART have been noted to live til the average age of 71.  Individuals with HIV who were diagnosed at the age of twenty who are not taking the ART have been noted to not live past the age of 32.

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HIV/AIDs