Monday, October 13, 2008

HIV TRANSMISSION

The information on HIV transmission possibilities is vital to increase awareness of how quickly HIV can be spread and how they can be stopped and to illustrate effects of peer pressure.

HIV is spread by sexual contact with an infected person, by needle-sharing among injecting drug users, or, less commonly (and now very rarely in countries where blood is screened for HIV antibodies), through transfusions of infected blood or blood clotting factors. Babies born to HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth, or through breast-feeding after birth. In the health-care setting, workers have been infected with HIV after being stuck with needles containing HIV-infected blood or, less frequently, after infected blood gets into the worker's bloodstream through an open cut or splashes into a mucous membrane, for instance, eyes or inside of the nose

Scientists and medical authorities agree that HIV does not survive well in the environment, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote. HIV is found in varying concentrations or amounts in blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, saliva, and tears. Although HIV has been transmitted between family members in a household setting, this type of transmission is very rare. These transmissions are believed to have resulted from contact between skin or mucous membranes and infected blood or body fluids. To prevent even such rare occurrences, precautions, as described in previously published guidelines, should be taken in all settings including the home in order to prevent exposures to the blood or body fluids of persons who are HIV infected, at risk for HIV infection, or whose infection and risk status are unknown.

There is no known risk of HIV transmission to co-workers, clients, or consumers from contact in industries such as food service establishments. Food service workers known to be infected with HIV need not be restricted from work unless they have other infections or illnesses (such as diarrhea or hepatitis A) for which any food service worker, regardless of HIV infection status, should be restricted. It is mandatory that all food service workers follow recommended standards and practices of good personal hygiene and food sanitation.

Casual contact through closed-mouth or "social" kissing is not a risk for transmission of HIV. French or open-mouthed kissing is not recommended with an infected person because of the theoretical potential for contact with blood during this activity. A woman apparently acquired the AIDS virus from deep kisses with an infected man, Federal health officials said yesterday. They said the case was the first reported transmission of H.I.V., the AIDS virus, through kissing. Both the man and woman had gum disease, factors that apparently facilitated transmission of H.I.V. Transmission most likely was through the man's blood, not saliva. In emphasizing the rarity of such transmission, the Federal centers said the case was the only known one involving kissing among the 500,000 AIDS cases that have been reported to it since the epidemic was detected in 1981.

Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV. There is also no reason to fear that a biting or blood-sucking insect, such as a mosquito, could transmit HIV from one person to another through HIV-infected blood left on its mouthparts. Two factors combine to make infection by this route extremely unlikely because firstly, infected people do not have constant, high levels of HIV in their bloodstreams and, second, insect mouth parts do not retain large amounts of blood on their surfaces. Further, scientists who study insects have determined that biting insects normally do not travel from one person to the next immediately after ingesting blood.

Finally the importance of the proper and consistent use of latex condoms when engaging in sexual intercourse vaginal, anal, or oral cannot be emphasized enough. It can greatly reduce a person's risk of acquiring or transmitting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection. Latex condoms can provide a high degree of protection against pregnancy and most sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection, but only if they are used consistently and correctly.

For its many challenges, preventing sexual transmission of HIV is not insurmountable. Compared to other sexually transmitted infections, getting HIV through sexual intercourse is a relatively inefficient process.

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