October 26th, 2011  Posted at   Diseases STDs
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On April 3, 1987 the day after my 14th birthday, I was walking away from a fight when this girl who was much older than I was tried to pick a fight with me. I ignored her and kept on walking. Then suddenly she ran up behind me and hit me on the back of my head, with a wooden leg off of a baby bed. It jerked my head forward and broke my neck. At the time I was around three months pregnant, but since that meant that I was only in my first trimester, the doctors were unable to perform the surgery right away.

Then in June of 1987 when I was five months pregnant the doctors were finally able to perform the surgery to repair my broken neck; however, I lost too much blood during the surgery putting me at risk of losing my baby. So I was given a blood transfusion, two pints of blood I was given. The next month when I returned for my six month prenatal check-up and I was asked to get an HIV test. The doctors had found out that one of the pints of blood that I was given was contaminated with the HIV virus. So I agreed to be tested. Two weeks later while I was at church an incredible force came over me to go up to the altar and the pastor prayed for me and my unborn child. Around the same time at home my mother received the call for us to come in and discuss my test results. When my mother told me about the call, I knew that I had tested positive for HIV. I don’t know how I knew, I just did. Why else would the doctor call about test results on a Sunday?

The next morning we went into the maternity clinic to discuss the test results and sure enough I had tested positive for the HIV virus. My mother was devastated. I, on the other hand, accepted it immediately. I was told that I probably wouldn’t live to see my 18th birthday. Then the doctor tried to talk me into getting an abortion; however, I didn’t believe in abortions, so I refused. After all I was already in my sixth month of pregnancy and I had started feeling my baby kicking. I wouldn’t have gotten an abortion under any circumstances so they left me alone in my decision to keep my baby. Still, I was told that my baby could be born with HIV as well. But I was putting my faith in God that he would have mercy and spare my baby from this devastating disease.

By this time my mother had to quit her job to take care of me. We lost our home and by the time I was seven months pregnant we became homeless. Around the same time, my baby’s daddy had gone on a job in Kentucky, on his way back home to Nashville; he was killed in a car accident. So now I was seven months pregnant and homeless and I was going to be a single mother. Then at 6:00 a.m. on November 21st I went into labor, I went through 58 hours of labor but finally at 4:20 p.m. on November 23, 1987 I gave birth to my daughter. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces. She had black curly hair and the most beautiful hazel eyes. I named her Deondra Mae Snyder. She seemed to be a healthy baby full of life and charisma. When she was born, only my antibodies were testing positive for HIV. However, when my daughter turned 18 months old she too tested positive for the HIV virus. At that time the doctors put my daughter on an AIDS medication called AZT. Read more… »

October 26th, 2011  Posted at   Diseases STDs
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AIDS is caused by the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which damages the body’s defense system. People infected with HIV usually live for years without any signs of the disease. They may look and feel healthy, but they can still pass on the virus to others.

HIV is a retrovirus with two primary types: HIV-1 and HIV-2. There are many strains of both types and all mutate rapidly, which has made it particularly difficult for researchers to find an effective vaccine or treatment for the virus. HIV infection is often mostly or entirely asymptomatic (without symptoms) and the most common signs, which include fever, fatigue, rash, and lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), are often mistaken for mononucleosis, flu, or similar, comparatively harmless diseases.

AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection. People who have AIDS grow weaker because their bodies loose the ability to fight off illness. In adults, AIDS develops 7 to 10 years after infection, on an average. In young children, it usually develops much faster.

It is not possible to get HIV /AIDS from touching those who are infected. Hugging, shaking hands, coughing and sneezing will not spread the disease. HIV /AIDS cannot be transmitted through toilet seats, telephones, plates, glasses eating utensils, towels, bed linen, swimming pools or public baths.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is an incurable but preventable disease. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), the virus that cause AIDS, spreads through unprotected sex (intercourse without a condom), transfusions of unscreened blood, contaminated needles and syringes (most often those used for injecting drugs) and from an infected woman to her child during pregnancy, childbirth and breast feeding.

All people including children are at a risk for HIV/AIDS everyone needs information and education bout the disease and access to condoms to reduce this risk.

Anyone who suspects that he or she might be infected with HIV should contact a health worker or an HIV.AIDS center to receive confidential counseling and testing.

The risk of getting HIV through sex can be reduced if people don’t have sex, if the reduce the number of sex partners, if uninfected partners have sex only with each other, or if people have safer sex- sex without penetration or while using a condom. Correct and consistent use of condoms can save lives by preventing the spread of HIV.

Girls are especially vulnerable to HIV infection and need support to protected against unwanted and unsafe sex.

Parents and teachers can help young people protect themselves from HIV /AIDS by talking with them about how to avoid getting and spreading the disease, including the correct and consistent use of male or female condoms.

HIV infection can be passed from a mother to her child during pregnancy or childbirth or through breastfeeding. Pregnant women or new mothers who are infected with HIV, or suspect that they are infected, should consult a qualified health worker to seek testing and counseling.

Un-sterilized needles or syringes, most often those used for injecting drugs, can spread HIV. Used razor blades, knives or tools that cut or pierce the skin also carry some risk of spreading HIV.

People who have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) are at a greater risk of getting HIV and of spreading HIV to others. People with STIs should seek prompt treatment and avoid sexual intercourse or practice safer sex. Read more… »

October 25th, 2011  Posted at   Diseases STDs
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Sex workers are very significant in the topic of HIV for two reasons: The very nature of the job they do, and the simple fact that they have a high number of sexual partners on a regular basis. If they become infected with HIV, they’re more likely to pass it on due to the sheer number of sex partners they come in contact with. Prostitutes come in various forms, and can be male, female, or transgendered. It is a high risk group, along with men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users. It is very easy for sex workers to pass HIV from other high risk people to the public at large.

The sex work industry in Asia is very large: upward of 75 million male clients for about 10 million actual sex workers. Thailand was one of the first countries to notice the high rate of HIV infection amongst its sex workers, and began enforcing mandatory condom usage in the brothels; this practice has helped reduce the rate of HIV infection. The Indian government, for example, estimates that about 5% of all prostitutes in India are infected with HIV. And there is clear overlap with other high risk groups, such as intravenous drug users. In Vietnam, about one-third of all such drug users admitted to purchasing sex within the previous year, but only one-fifth of them used a condom during sex.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the rate of HIV infection amongst female prostitutes is 20 times higher than the prevalence in the entire population. Male and transgendered prostitutes have a more difficult time using safer sex practices. Less than half of Kenyan male and transgendered sex workers use condoms, which contributes to the high rate of HIV infection. The high HIV infection rate is also prevalent in Central and South American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The U.S./Mexico border towns on the Mexican side, such as Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, have a high rate of HIV infection among prostitutes who also use inject drugs; the reason being that these sex workers will often trade unprotected sex for drug money.

Sex work is often controlled in many European countries and is largely illegal in the United States, which limits the data available on HIV infection (especially in the U.S.) or contributes to a low overall HIV infection rate in the European countries that regulate the practice. It is, however, important that sex workers get the access to HIV prevention programs that they need and continue to promote condom usage amongst sex workers throughout the world. Read more… »

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