HIV & AIDS: Treatment

Sexual encounters are responsible for the various and varied STD's that are being seen to affect people. The main cause for people getting affected with these infections is the fact that they do not make use of protection during their sexual encounters. Due to the ignorance of the masses, diseases like gonorrhea, syphilis, Chlamydia and HIV AIDS are affecting people all around the world.

As most of these diseases are bacterial they can be treated by medication. However, it is seen that nowadays these bacterial infections are not being cured fully as the bacterium that cause the infection are mutating and becoming more resistant to the medications used to treat such infections.

Let us focus our attention on the AIDS virus that is seen to affect more people than all of the other STD's on the whole.

The HIV virus is transmitted through unsafe sexual practices. It is also transferred by the use of needles again and again which are being used by a number of individuals. Pregnant mothers and their children are at risk when this virus is considered. Human immuno deficiency virus affects the body's immune system by systematically demolishing the ability of the body to lash out against the virus and restrict its spread. Its symptoms are not seen immediately. A period of about seven weeks is required for the virus to fully develop and start infecting and attacking the system. HIV test that are available are useful in detecting the virus only after this period where the virus becomes visible in the bloodstream. When in doubt one should always take these tests to rule out the possibility of an infection. Medical centers carry out these tests for free and there are many home test kits that are available in the market.

It is a good idea to keep in mind that the HIV virus doesn't spread through casual touch, eating or sharing food with an HIV affected person, wearing clothes of an infected person and through mosquito bites. HIV affected people should avoid donating blood as the virus is present in the blood of the individual which could prove harmful to others.

Treatment for HIV AIDS:

ARV drugs or anti retroviral drugs are sued to treat individuals who are affected by the HIV AIDS virus. These drugs basically keep a check on the multiplication of the virus in the body of the host. These ARV drugs when used under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner have the ability to reduce the amount of viral carriers that are seen in the individual's blood stream. The drawback of this highly active anti retroviral treatment is that it is very expensive and not many can afford it. It should be remembered that these ARV treatments are used to control the multiplication of the virus in the body of the individual and are not capable to curing the individual thoroughly. These drugs, or other alternative HIV/AIDS treatments should be used under medical supervision to avoid the occurrences of severe side effects that may harmful to the already weakened body of the individual. Self medication is never encouraged. It's important that a physician guides you during treatment, as they know best which tests, and medications can help identify the real problem.