Do I Have Hiv
Basic Things Teenagers Should Know About HIV - AIDS
Because AIDS has received so much publicity since the mid-1980s, many people believe they know a lot about the disease. Studies show that teenagers may know more about this than about other sexual topics. Nonetheless, there is still much ignorance about the subject. In Britain, the high level of public anxiety seen in the late 1980s has given way to a different attitude. As figures in the last few years have shown relatively low levels of infection among the heterosexual population, health education campaigns have shifted in their approach. These now focus on high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, and most teenagers have little opportunity to discuss issues to do with HIV/AIDS.
In spite of this, HIV remains the one STI (sexual transmitted infection) that can cause death, and it cannot be ignored. This may not be so obvious in a country such as Britain, but, it is of course, a very different matter in Africa, in Russia or in the Far East. Even in Britain, there are currently in the region of 2,500 new diagnoses of HIV every year. Because of the treatment approach called 'combination therapy', which uses several different drugs together, many of those infected with the virus are now living longer and more normal lives. However, not all can benefit from combination therapy, and it remains a fact that there is still no known cure for HIV.
There are a number of things young people should know about HIV/AIDS. These are:
- HIV/AIDS is not a homosexual disease. While, in the early years, cases occurred primarily in the homosexual population, today intravenous drug users are particularly at risk, as are men and women having sex with someone who is HIV positive.
- in spite of the success of combination therapy, such treatment cannot eliminate HIV from the body. It is misleading to think that there is now a cure, or that HIV/AIDS is no longer a problem in Britain.
- the HIV virus is transmitted through bodily fluids in the male and female sexual organs, as well as through blood. In addition to transmission through sex, an open cut or sore may be a source through which the virus can enter the body.
Apart from abstinence from sex, the safest protection from HIV is the same as for other sexually transmitted infections, namely the use of a condom.
Because AIDS has received so much publicity since the mid-1980s, many people believe they know a lot about the disease. Studies show that teenagers may know more about this than about other sexual topics. Nonetheless, there is still much ignorance about the subject. In Britain, the high level of public anxiety seen in the late 1980s has given way to a different attitude. As figures in the last few years have shown relatively low levels of infection among the heterosexual population, health education campaigns have shifted in their approach. These now focus on high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, and most teenagers have little opportunity to discuss issues to do with HIV/AIDS.
In spite of this, HIV remains the one STI (sexual transmitted infection) that can cause death, and it cannot be ignored. This may not be so obvious in a country such as Britain, but, it is of course, a very different matter in Africa, in Russia or in the Far East. Even in Britain, there are currently in the region of 2,500 new diagnoses of HIV every year. Because of the treatment approach called 'combination therapy', which uses several different drugs together, many of those infected with the virus are now living longer and more normal lives. However, not all can benefit from combination therapy, and it remains a fact that there is still no known cure for HIV.
There are a number of things young people should know about HIV/AIDS. These are:
- HIV/AIDS is not a homosexual disease. While, in the early years, cases occurred primarily in the homosexual population, today intravenous drug users are particularly at risk, as are men and women having sex with someone who is HIV positive.
- in spite of the success of combination therapy, such treatment cannot eliminate HIV from the body. It is misleading to think that there is now a cure, or that HIV/AIDS is no longer a problem in Britain.
- the HIV virus is transmitted through bodily fluids in the male and female sexual organs, as well as through blood. In addition to transmission through sex, an open cut or sore may be a source through which the virus can enter the body.
Apart from abstinence from sex, the safest protection from HIV is the same as for other sexually transmitted infections, namely the use of a condom.
