AIDS - The First Symptoms Of AIDS In Men And Women, Stages, Routes Of Transmission

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

The first symptoms of AIDS in men and women

The year 1981 is considered the beginning of the history of AIDS. It was at this time that the atypical manifestation of immunodeficiency in homosexual men was first described. The entry was made in the American journal "Weekly Herald of Morbidity and Mortality".

The virus that causes AIDS was first isolated 2 years later at the Pasteur Institute in France. At the same time, he was discovered at the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The Nobel Prize for the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS went to the French Françoise Baré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier.

Content:

• What is AIDS?
• How is AIDS transmitted from person to person?
• How is AIDS not transmitted?
• The first signs of aids in men and women
• Stages of AIDS
• Diagnostics
• AIDS treatment
• Prevention

What is AIDS?

AIDS is an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This is not a disease, but a syndrome that manifests itself in a variety of diseases that can lead to death.

AIDS is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It belongs to viruses that have their own RNA, to the genus Retroviruses, the Lentivirus family. Scientists distinguish between HIV-1 and HIV-2. It is HIV-1 that leads to the epidemic, and HIV-2 is rare, most often among the population of West Africa. Having penetrated into the human body, the virus looks for cellular CD4 receptors, attaching to which it enters the cell.

Inside the cell, the RNA of the virus synthesizes DNA on itself, it is introduced into the host's nucleus and exists with it until the cell dies. Viral DNA replicates RNA for new viruses. They, in turn, infect new cells. CD4 receptors are located in the nervous and immune tissue, so it is these systems that the virus attacks in the first place.

HIV-1 is only spread by a sick person. There is speculation that this virus can infect chimpanzees.

In addition to humans, HIV-2 can exist in the body of some African monkeys. In the external environment, the virus quickly dies, it does not tolerate dryness and heat. Almost all antiseptic agents lead to its instant destruction.

An infected person has the virus in all fluids, including tears, milk, spinal fluid, saliva, etc. Most viruses are found in blood, vaginal secretions and semen.

How is AIDS transmitted from person to person?

AIDS is caused by HIV, which infects CD4 lymphocytes (cells that destroy infectious agents and pathogens). With a decrease in the number of CD4-lymphocytes, an almost irreversible failure of the body's defense systems begins and the sick person develops infectious processes and malignant tumors. More than ten years can pass from HIV infection to the development of AIDS. The advanced stage of AIDS is characterized as incurable and fatal.

In many cases, HIV infection occurs from an infected person during sexual intercourse. Also, infection can occur through breastfeeding, childbirth, or through blood. In an infected woman, the virus is present in the blood and vaginal secretions. The infected man has blood and semen. Transmission of infection is possible with all types of sexual contact. The risk of transmission increases significantly with casual sexual intercourse or the presence of multiple sexual partners.

Bloodborne infection can occur if the blood of an infected person enters the body of a healthy person. Such a possibility exists when using poorly sterilized syringes and medical devices, contaminated blood transfusion, using medical needles that were used by an HIV patient. Drug addicts have a particularly high risk of infection in this way, since they often use the same syringe for several people.

In addition, infection can occur from mother to child. This can happen during breastfeeding, during childbirth, or in utero. Pregnant women are encouraged to get tested for HIV. The disease is rarely transmitted through the placenta. The probability that a sick woman will have a healthy child is 70-75%.

During normal communication with infected people, HIV is not transmitted, so you should not be panicky about infection.

Risk groups for AIDS infection:

• Intravenous drug addicts.
• People who practice anal sex. In this case, the sexual orientation of a person does not matter.
• People who receive blood transfusions or organ transplants.
• Medical workers.
• Prostitutes and their clients.

How is AIDS not transmitted?

Despite the fact that the biological fluids of a sick person contain viral particles, infection does not occur in the following ways:

1. When using the pool or public toilet.
2. When kissing, shaking hands or hugging (naturally, if people do not have open bleeding wounds at the point of contact when shaking hands and kissing, but it is rather difficult to imagine such a thing).
3. Airborne droplets.
4. When using household items.
5. Through food.
6. With the bite of various insect sucking blood (for example, mosquitoes).
7. When you touch the doorknob.
8. Contact with pets.

Numerous studies have been carried out to establish that AIDS is not transmitted through saliva. For infection to occur, it is necessary that at least 2 liters of salivary fluid get into the blood or damaged mucous membranes of a healthy person. This is not possible in real life. Therefore, you cannot contract AIDS while kissing.

There is no risk of infection when using shared utensils.

This is due to factors such as:

Two liters of saliva cannot be on any dish or dish.

• If so much saliva has accumulated somewhere, it cannot enter the human body.
• Even if the dishes contain saliva with blood (when the patient has periodontal disease or stomatitis) and a healthy person swallows it, he still does not get infected. In the air, the virus dies very quickly.

If the liquid that contains the virus has dried up, then it does not pose a danger in terms of infection. In the air, the viruses that cause AIDS die very quickly.

Since the causative agents of AIDS are not able to exist in the external environment, infection does not occur either through conversation, or when conscientiously eating food, or when using towels. Contamination does not occur when using public toilets, showers or other household items.

No infection occurs when you shake hands. The skin protects a person well from viruses. Infection can only be transmitted if people have bleeding wounds on their hands that are in contact with each other.

Mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects do not spread AIDS. The organs with which they feed are arranged in such a way that the blood of the previous host is not able to be passed on to the next victim. Science is not aware of a single case of transmission of AIDS by insects.

It is impossible to get AIDS from contact with domestic and wild animals. The virus cannot exist in their body.

You can safely visit swimming pools, saunas and baths. AIDS does not spread by water.

The first signs of aids in men and women

Absolutely asymptomatic onset of HIV infection is typical for most cases. The period of development in the body of HIV can depend on a variety of factors, for example, the general health of the infected person. Many people do not develop symptoms after infection, and some people develop flu-like symptoms after a few days or weeks. This can be an increase in lymph nodes in the neck, excessive fatigue, fever.

These symptoms often resolve on their own after a few weeks. While the patient pays attention to any changes in the state of health, it may take a long time (even several years), but during this period he is able to infect his partner. When the immune system is weakened, an infected person may show certain symptoms:

1. Frequent sweating and fever.
2. Weight loss.
3. Loss of energy.
4. Short-term memory loss.
5. Peeling skin and persistent skin rash.
6. Herpetic eruptions around the anus, genitals or mouth.
7. Chronic fungal infections.

Common AIDS symptoms include:

1. Lack of coordination and convulsions.
2. Obstinate diarrhea.
3. Painful or difficult swallowing.
4. Shortness of breath and cough.
5. Mental symptoms such as forgetfulness and confusion.
6. Vomiting, stomach cramps, nausea.
7. Severe headaches.
8. Heat.
9. Extreme tiredness and weight loss.
10. Loss of vision.

Stages of AIDS

Incubation stage

The incubation period lasts from 21 days to 3 months. Sometimes this stage lasts for a year. During this period, the virus invades the cells of the body and multiplies rapidly. There are no symptoms of the disease. Immunity does not respond to infection.

Stage of primary manifestations

During this period, the virus continues to multiply rapidly. The body begins to respond to the infection. This phase lasts 3 months (average values).

There are three options for the development of events:

• Asymptomatic course. At the same time, there are no signs of the disease, but antibodies to HIV can be detected with a blood test.
• Acute stage. The person experiences the first symptoms of the disease. This is reflected in an increase in body temperature against a background of seemingly general health. The values on the thermometer reach subfebrile values. The person will get tired faster, sweating intensifies, and a rash may appear on the skin. The lymph nodes increase in size. Most often this applies to the posterior cervical, ulnar and axillary plexuses. In some patients, angina develops, stool liquefies, and the spleen and liver may increase in size. In a blood test, a decrease in the level of leukocytes and lymphocytes is noticeable, thrombocytopenia is observed. The duration of this period ranges from 14 days to 1.5 months. After that, the disease goes into a latent stage.
• Acute HIV infection with the development of secondary diseases. Sometimes during this period, the body's defenses strongly fall, so the patient develops HIV-associated diseases, for example, herpes, pneumonia, fungal infections, etc.

Latent stage

The symptoms of the acute stage are left behind. The disease continues to destroy the human immune system, but the body resists this and begins to rapidly produce new cells. Therefore, immunity is suppressed for a long time, but this process is continuous. It lasts until the number of lymphocytes decreases to critical levels.

In past years, it was generally accepted that this stage takes no more than 5 years. Modern medicine has made it possible to establish that in some people it stretches up to 10-20 years. During this period, the person does not experience any symptoms of the disease.

Stage of AIDS (development of secondary diseases)

The stage of AIDS occurs when the level of lymphocytes decreases to minimum levels. A person begins to suffer from diseases that were previously unknown to him, and he would not get sick with them. Such pathologies are called AIDS-associated.

These include:

• Sarcoma Kaposi.
• Brain lymphoma.
• Fungal infection of the respiratory system and esophagus.
• Cytomegalovirus infection.
• Pneumocystis pneumonia.
• Tuberculosis with localization of the pathological process in the lungs and outside them.

The list of diseases associated with AIDS can be continued for a very long time. In 1987, WHO named 23 pathologies that are considered indicators of AIDS. If the patient develops the first 12 of them, then there is even no need to confirm AIDS with special tests.

Diagnostics

Infectionists and virologists are engaged in the detection of AIDS. If a person has doubts about the state of health, he should consult a doctor.

There are some diagnostic signs that can make a doctor suspect that a patient has AIDS. Such signs include: diarrhea that does not respond to treatment for two months, prolonged unmotivated fever, prolonged skin rash, the appearance of Kaposi's sarcoma in young people, localized on the face, head, trunk and having an aggressive malignant course and other symptoms. In addition, attention is drawn to seemingly unexplained weight loss of 10% or more.

But it is impossible to diagnose AIDS only by external signs. HIV infection is confirmed by two different tests - a screening test and a confirmatory test. Screening tests, due to their high sensitivity, can give false positive results. In this regard, when a primary positive result is obtained, as a rule, the same blood sample is taken again and the screening test is duplicated. If it is also positive, then another type of confirmation test is performed.

Confirmatory tests are performed only for blood samples that are repeatedly positive. ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is the most common screening test.

AIDS treatment

Today there is no way to completely cure a person from AIDS. Also, no vaccine has been developed that would prevent infection. At the same time, scientists have created effective antiretroviral drugs that can relieve the burden of the virus on the body. This prevents HIV from going into AIDS. Treatment is prescribed to the patient for the rest of his life.

In order for the drugs to achieve the desired effect, they will need to be taken in combination. They all have a different mechanism of action. The effectiveness of ART has been proven by 2 major studies: HPTN-052 and CPOI-2014. Homosexuals took part in them. In this case, one of the partners was infected (he was taking drugs), and the other was healthy.

In 2005, research on HPTN-052 was initiated. By 2011, the likelihood of infection had dropped by 96%.

In 2011, the CRIO-2014 study was launched. It was held only in America. At the same time, 40% of couples were tracked, of which 280,000 were heterosexual and 164,000 were homosexual unprotected contacts. As of February 2014, no cases of transmission have been reported.

Although research is still ongoing, the results are already quite impressive.

Prevention

AIDS is widespread. However, with the observance of preventive measures, it will be possible to prevent infection:

• During intimacy, you need to use condoms.
• Only disposable syringes should be used for injections. Repeated use of the same syringe is unacceptable.
• After a woman finds out about her pregnancy, she will need an AIDS test. Provided that the patient's illness is detected, she is prescribed drugs. She will not have to breastfeed the baby, as this increases the chance of infection in the baby.
• If you suspect a disease, you need to immediately do an AIDS test.
• It is important to have routine checkups with doctors. This will allow you to detect early symptoms of the disease and start treatment on time.
• Friends and relatives need to be told about how the disease is transmitted. Be sure to inform adolescents who can be very light-hearted about intimacy.
• It is necessary to strengthen the immune system, play sports, eat right, take vitamins and minerals.

Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist

Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".