Treatment of AIDS in detail
You can call the disease by the name you believe it is: AIDS or HIV. This blog deals with all aspects of the treatment of AIDS. Whether you have a friend or family member who has AIDS, we discuss treatment options. However, as this article is written in an informative tone, there is no antagonism.
source: SciDev
AIDS has been around for so long, and you might have assumed that it wouldn't make sense to talk about history. After all, AIDS is an epidemic that has swept the planet since the 1980s. However, a deeper look at AIDS reveals that this disease has a surprisingly short history. It started with a cluster of peculiar symptoms in 1981 in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The media began to call what was happening "gay cancer." Since then, AIDS has taken millions of lives, and its ramifications are felt beyond humanity to even other animal species.
Diagnosis of AIDS or HIV:
When you are diagnosed with AIDS or HIV, your doctor will use a few different tests to confirm the diagnosis.
The first is an Antibody test. This test looks for antibodies in your blood to determine whether you have been exposed to HIV. If this test comes back positive, it indicates that you have HIV. However, people can have a false-positive result, so doctors will typically follow up with another blood test called an antigen/antibody test (also known as a 4th generation test). This test looks for both the virus and antibodies in your bloodstream.
If both tests come back negative, likely, you do not have HIV or AIDS. However, if they come back positive, your doctor may also check for blood levels of CD4 cells (the cells that HIV attacks) and viral load (the amount of virus present in your bloodstream).
If these tests come back high and indicate that you have HIV or AIDS, your doctor will work with you to create a treatment plan that is right for you and monitor your health over time.
Stages of HIV:
HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system (the body's defense system). HIV causes AIDS, making it harder for the body to fight off infections and certain types of cancers.
When HIV enters the body, it goes through several stages.
Infection:
This is when the virus gets inside your body.
Acute Infection:
Some people don't experience symptoms during the acute infection stage at all. If you do get symptoms, they generally appear within two to four weeks after being infected with HIV, and cells can still fight off the virus.
Clinical latency:
This is when a person can live for many years without having any symptoms or feeling unwell. HIV is still active but reproduces at very low levels during this time. While there is no cure for HIV or AIDS, treatment can slow down the progression of HIV and help prevent transmission to others by lowering the amount of virus in your body.
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS):
When your immune system is too weak to fight off infections and other illnesses.
Treatment of AIDS:
A person who is HIV positive can live a long and healthy life with proper treatment. When someone is diagnosed with HIV, the virus attacks the body's immune system. Without medical care, it can take years for an HIV-positive person to develop AIDS and eventually die from complications of the disease.
However, many effective treatments are available that can help an HIV-positive patient live a normal lifespan.
The first step in treating HIV is to start antiretroviral therapy (ART). This treatment may include a combination of drugs designed to stop the replication of the virus and restore the body's immune system. This option is usually recommended unless a patient's health condition makes ART too dangerous to administer.
Other Treatment of AIDS:
Other treatment options include:
● Taking extra vitamins, such as vitamin B12, can help lower homocysteine levels in people who have HIV. Some studies have suggested that higher homocysteine levels may be a risk factor for heart disease in people living with HIV/AIDS.
● Undergoing genetic testing to determine if you have genes that affect your response to certain types of drugs or therapies. Genetic testing can also help determine your risk factors for common health conditions.
Conclusion:
The key to successfully fighting HIV/AIDS is education and activism against the disease since misinformation about the disease has fueled the spread. So, I hope this article gives you a complete idea about Aid and its cure. Share your ideas, thoughts, and suggestions in the comment section.
Also, read the symptoms and causes of AIDS: