Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

What is HIV?

HIV is the virus that causing AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), which disease caused by damage that HIV does to your immune system.

How do you get HIV?

HIV transmitted in body fluid that include :

• blood
• semen (cum)
• vaginal or rectal fluids
• breast milk

You can get HIV from :

• having vaginal or anal sex
• sharing needles or syringes for shooting drugs, piercings, tattoos, etc
• getting stuck with a needle that has HIV-infected blood on it
• getting HIV-infected blood, semen (cum), or vaginal fluids into open cuts or sores on your body

HIV can be also passed to the baby during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. Pregnancy woman have to take medication to reduce possibility virus transmission to her baby.

HIV cannot spread through saliva, this mean that HIV cannot transmitted from kissing, share food and drink, or sharing food equipment.

What are HIV symptoms?

The first 2-4 weeks after being infected from HIV, you may feel feverish, body aching and totally sick. Sometimes people will associate this symptom with flu-like symptoms. It will lasting only for a few weeks and then usually does not have another symptom for years.

If people do not have treatment for HIV, it will developed AIDS which is usually happens after about 10 years after getting HIV.

The signs of AIDS include :

• Sore throat
• Bad yeast (fungus) infection
• Chronic Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
• Chronic diarrhea or frequently having diarrhea
• Having night sweats
• Swollen glands in your armpit, throat or groin
• Deep or dry coughing spells
• And many kind of infection that could be appeared due to deficiency of immune system

When we have to get tested from HIV?

• If you are health worker that have risk to contact with people with HIV
• If you ever do sexual intercourse without condom
• If you ever sharing needles or syringe with another people for drug shooting
• If you have many times sickness that related with deficiency immune system

How to get HIV test?

You can get tested of HIV at the clinic, doctor’s practice, and community health clinic or health department.

The idea of getting tested may be scary, but do not be freak out. HIV test are quick and could be painless. And if you do have HIV, better if you know immediately to start treatment soon.