 HALI Against AIDS - LET'S TALK ABOUT IT
Some appalling figures: worldwide, 6 young people of less than 25 years are infected with AIDS each minute. By the time you have finished reading this page, 6 young people of less than 25 years throughout the world will have been infected, most of them in Africa. Young people from 15 to 25 years represent already today one third of the HIV-positive population of the planet, that is to say 10 millions people..
WHAT'S AIDS ?
AIDS is a serious and usually fatal illness, but one which can be avoided. We all are concerned. This does not mean that we should think only of our generation, but also of all those to come.
The virus of AIDS, or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) destroys the human immunology system. The two most common modes of transmission are by unprotected sex and through contamination of the blood by sharing dirty syringes. It is possible to detect the disease through a tracking test as soon as it is known that a risk of infection has occurred. The symptoms of AIDS are:
- Loss of more than 10% of the total body weight (significant weight loss)
- High fever
- Night sweats
- Skin rashes
- Diarrhea
- Swollen lymph glands
The AIDS virus specifically attacks one human body cell: the lymphocyte T cell. These are white blood cells whose role is to defend our system against invasion by foreign bodies. By attacking these lymphocytes, HIV prevents the immune system from doing its job. Death occurs when these cells can no longer fight off diseases, such as pneumonia. Even worse, in addition to losing their effectiveness, the lymphocyte T cells themselves become effectively factories for HIV virus.
HIV is able to transform itself continuously. That is why is so difficult to find an efficient treatment to fight it. As of today, the only efficient way to delay the growth of the virus consists in fighting the illness on several fronts. Tri-therapy (the combining of three drugs which act on different steps of the multiplication of the virus), is based on the potential benefit of synergy between several drugs. All the same, as time passes, the number of functional lymphocytes decreases.
At this time, treatments can only slow down the development of the infection.
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