HIV/Aids By Sierra, Christian, Nate, Alexandra

What is HIV?: The human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.

Symptoms ● Herpes infections that won’t go away ●A thick white coating on the tongue (thrush) or yeast infections ●Extreme tiredness ●Extreme weight loss ●Pneumonia ●Purple or discolored growths on the skin ●Cancer ●Mental changes

Effects Aids weakens the body's ability to fight off disease “HIV attacks and kills crucial immune system cells, known as T-helper cells. Without T-helper cells (which kill cells that have been infected with germs) many other immune system cells cannot not work properly, including B-cells that make antibodies.” isaids/howdoeshivaffectthebody.aspx

How is it Spread? Unprotected sex Sperm Vaginal fluid Breast milk Blood transfusion, Unclean needles or drug equipment

How to Prevent HIV Where a condom when you have sexual interaction Use clean needles Frequently see a doctor

Cool Extra Exciting Facts! This disease was discovered in 1981 More than 1,000,000 people in the US are living with HIV o 619,000 people have died from this disease African Americans make up 14% of the US population o But nearly 45% of new HIV infections o The HIV prevalence rate for African American women is 18x the rate for white women Washington DC has the highest prevalence rate for HIV in the United States We have more resources to health care than those in Africa and yet we have similar rates African American women make up 90% of the people in the US who are diagnosed with HIV Some deal with great anxiety when it comes to seeing if they are HIV positive, so most of the time, people won’t even go in to see their test results to see if they are HIV positive or not Everyone who gets HIV needs to get antiretroviral treatment o This is not a cure, but it can stop people from getting ill for many years and it will also help prevent the spread of this disease  There is no cure for HIV