serious question 'bout HIV..

[Ender510]

Are there any symptoms for this? Also, if someone has it, is it possible for this person to ever get sick, like the flu or cold? If so, then won't this break down the T cells and then they now have AIDS? Then if they ever get "sick" again, they are on their way to passing away? Is this accurate??

 

[smith462]

I really don't think that a HIV carrier gets ill and then that breaks down T cells. I'm sure it's the other way around: T cells break down and then you are more likely to become ill. Just because the carrier becomes ill, that doesn't mean they are going to die anytime soon. They may recover and they may not.

Ervin Johnson or whatever his name is (that basketball guy) sure has stuck around a long time. Last I heard he is still just HIV-positive and has yet to contract AIDS.

It's really too bad we don't hear more about the research here in the U.S. When I lived in Thailand you could read something new about the ongoing research just about every week. When I left there a few years ago, the latest research concerned the modification of those T cells you reference. Of course over there the use of condoms is promoted even through billboards on the sides of busses.

I became a real hypochondriac over there and one time caught a cold and it would not go away after weeks. Went to the hospital, signed in, paid eight bucks, gave up a little blood and 45 minutes later had the results. While I was waiting for the results I think half the white Europeans in Bangkok came in for blood tests. We all had colds and I'll bet we were all thinking the same thing.

I really think that HIV/AIDS will be beaten in just a couple more years.

Sorry to ramble, but I think it's a real interesting subject that becomes more interesting as you research it.

 

[Siva]

I think it will be awhile before HIV/AIDS are beaten, the disease mutates so fast any cure will be useless by the time its available to the general public. Basically what HIV does is attack the T cells and inject its DNA into them. The virus DNA (or is it RNA?) goes through a process called reverse transcription where it cuts apart the T cell's DNA and replaces some of it. It uses the T cell's resources, the nutrients from your body and the various parts of the cell to replicate itself then bursts, killing the T cell and releasing more of the virus.

The disease is progressive, it starts out slowly taking out the T cells in your body and continues to replicate slowly. It never makes you sick, your body can't fight it so you don't get sick at all (since illness is really just your body's way of fighting a disease). But it does make you weak against other virii/bacteria. So after the progression of the disease has went far enough you don't have enough T cells to fight any new disease that might come into your body and that will probably kill you.

This does take a long time and there are drugs that help block reverse transcription, slowing down AIDS replication. Its not like you get sick twice then you are dead or something, it could be years and years before you even notice for some people.

 

[Ender510]

Are there any real symptoms of it then? What usually are the symptoms? What do they look for in the blood tests? They look for antibodies, right? I personally think all this stuff is scary.. but somthing people should really be educated about more in schools today..

 

[divinemartyr]

AIDS isn't really something that is 'contracted' rather, the HIV virus DEVELOPS into AIDS. When you get sick and are HIV positive, this does not automatically mean you now have AIDS and cannot get better. AIDS is generally a slow process, taking the HIV virus several years (in most cases) to break down your immune system enough for you to get an AIDS-defining disease such as Kaposi Sarcoma (KS is a type of pneumonia or Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP)). This is the point when someone is considered to have full-blown AIDS.

dm

 

[JimmyEatWorld]

HIV is an auto-immune disorder. The vitcim is not killed by HIV, but rather the suseptability (sorry bout speliing, I can't) to common illnesses that it eventually cannot fight off. The only symptoms are a tendency to get sick, fatigue, and cuts and bruises that take a long period of time, or never heal. But these symptoms are also symptoms of many other dieseases like diabetes, and animea, so the only way to know is to get a blood test. Thats all I can contribute off the top of my head...

 

[divinemartyr]

Blah triple post.

 

[divinemartyr]

As far as symptoms, with HIV there really are no symptoms. Once you do get full blown AIDS, common symptoms are fatigue, and just generally feeling sick ALL the time because you have contracted one of the AIDS-defining diseases such as I posted about above.

AIDS patients generally suffer for a long time before they actually pass, while HIV victims often don't even know they have contracted the virus until much much later.

dm

 

[Fearlss1]

Only real symptom I know of.. Is the blood clotting process becomes much much slower. a wound wont heal very quickly, and scabs take a long time to completly dry up.. ewwww I know but only thing i have ever really read.

 

[rahvin]

There was a report awhile ago in JAMA about the possibility and observance of flu like symptoms shortly after infection with HIV. It's short and probably mistaken as the flu 100% of the time but it does appear the body puts up a fight at the initial infection time. After infection anti-bodies will be present and that is what is tested for when you get an HIV test. Afterwards there are no observable signs of infection. Infection times last approximately ~10 years in most cases before T-Cell levels will fall low enough for AIDS to set in.

In short, you don't know if anyone has HIV unless you test em. Just remember, whenever you sleep with someone you are sleeping with everyone they slept with too.