Happy World AIDS day...

after tis morning Bio test.. i decided to go Sarawak General Hospital kai kai..
then they got tis HIV/AIDS booth exhibition... so i take a look lor...
at they got free CONDOM le...

i take some back home... just in case... lol...

then at thr u can test ur blood for FREE...
got free counseling kok if u tiok HIV virus...
i go check le..
if u got tis virus.. it will only attack ur cd4 cell (study in bio de, volume 2... lol)
cd4 cell r example white blood cell lo.. then when most of ur white blood die ah, u die lo...
kena AIDS liao...
HIV virus only transmitted -----> wikipedia

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Previous names for the virus include human T-lymphotropic virus-III (HTLV-III), lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), and AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV).^[1][2]

Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unprotected sexual intercourse, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth( Vertical transmission). Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in the developed world.

HIV infection in humans is now pandemic. As of January 2006, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized on December 1, 1981. It is estimated that about 0.6 percent of the world's population is infected with HIV.^[3] In 2005 alone, AIDS claimed an estimated 2.4–3.3 million lives, of which more than 570,000 were children. A third of these deaths are occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and increasing poverty.^[4] According to current estimates, HIV is set to infect 90 million people in Africa, resulting in a minimum estimate of 18 million orphans.^[5] Antiretroviral treatment reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, but routine access to antiretroviral medication is not available in all countries.^[6]

HIV primarily infects vital cells in the human immune system such as helper T cells (specifically CD4⁺ T cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. HIV infection leads to low levels of CD4⁺ T cells through three main mechanisms: firstly, direct viral killing of infected cells; secondly, increased rates of apoptosis in infected cells; and thirdly, killing of infected CD4⁺ T cells by CD8 cytotoxic lymphocytes that recognize infected cells. When CD4⁺ T cell numbers decline below a critical level, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and the body becomes progressively more susceptible to opportunistic infections.

Eventually most HIV-infected individuals develop AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). These individuals mostly die from opportunistic infections or malignancies associated with the progressive failure of the immune system.^[7] Without treatment, about 9 out of every 10 persons with HIV will progress to AIDS after 10-15 years. Many progress much sooner.^[8] Treatment with anti-retrovirals increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Even after HIV has progressed to diagnosable AIDS, the average survival time with antiretroviral therapy (as of 2005) is estimated to be more than 5 years.^[9] Without antiretroviral therapy, death normally occurs within a year.^[10] It is hoped that current and future treatments may allow HIV-infected individuals to achieve a life expectancy approaching that of the general public.

Transmission

Estimated per-act risk for acquisition
of HIV by exposure route^[26]

Exposure Route	Estimated infections per 10,000 exposures to an infected source
Blood Transfusion	9,000[27]
Childbirth	2,500[28]
Needle-sharing injection drug use	67[29]
Percutaneous needle stick	30[30]
Receptive anal intercourse*	50[31][32]
Insertive anal intercourse*	6.5[31][32]
Receptive penile-vaginal intercourse*	10[31][32][33]
Insertive penile-vaginal intercourse*	5[31][32]
Receptive oral intercourse*§	1[32]
Insertive oral intercourse*§	0.5[32]
* assuming no condom use § source refers to oral intercourse performed on a man

Three main transmission routes for HIV have been identified. HIV-2 is transmitted much less frequently by the mother-to-child and sexual route than HIV-1.

Sexual

The majority of HIV infections are acquired through unprotected sexual relations. Sexual transmission can occur when infected sexual secretions of one partner come into contact with the genital, oral, or rectal mucous membranes of another.

The correct and consistent use of latex condoms reduces the risk of sexual transmission of HIV by about 85%.^[34] However, spermicide may actually increase the male to female transmission rate due to inflammation of the vagina.^[35]

A meta-analysis of 27 observational studies conducted prior to 1999 in sub-Saharan Africa indicated that male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection.^[36] However, a subsequent review indicated that the correlation between circumcision and HIV in these observational studies may have been due to confounding factors.^[37] Later trials, in which uncircumcised men were randomly assigned to be medically circumcised in sterile conditions and given counseling and other men were not circumcised, have been conducted in South Africa,^[38] Kenya^[39] and Uganda^[40] showing reductions in HIV transmission for heterosexual sex of 60 percent, 53 percent, and 51 percent respectively. As a result, a panel of experts convened by WHO and the UNAIDS Secretariat has "recommended that male circumcision now be recognized as an additional important intervention to reduce the risk of heterosexually acquired HIV infection in men."^[41] Research is clarifying whether there is a historical relationship between rates of male circumcision and rates of HIV in differing social and cultural contexts.^{[citation needed]}

On the other hand, some South African medical experts have expressed concern that the repeated use of unsterilized blades in the traditional circumcision of adolescent boys may actually be spreading HIV.^[42]

Blood or blood product

In general if infected blood comes into contact with any open wound, HIV may be transmitted. This transmission route can account for infections in intravenous drug users, hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusions (though most transfusions are checked for HIV in the developed world) and blood products. It is also of concern for persons receiving medical care in regions where there is prevalent substandard hygiene in the use of injection equipment, such as the reuse of needles in Third World countries. Health care workers such as nurses, laboratory workers, and doctors have also been infected, although this occurs more rarely. People who give and receive tattoos, piercings, and scarification procedures can also be at risk of infection.

Since transmission of HIV by blood became known medical personnel are required to protect themselves from contact with blood by the use of universal precautions.

Mother-to-child

The transmission of the virus from the mother to the child can occur in utero during pregnancy and intrapartum at childbirth. In the absence of treatment, the transmission rate between the mother and child is around 25 percent.^[28] However, where combination antiretroviral drug treatment and Cesarian section are available, this risk can be reduced to as low as one percent.^[28]

Breast feeding also presents a risk of infection for the baby.

Other routes

HIV has been found at low concentrations in the saliva, tears and urine of infected individuals, but there are no recorded cases of infection by these secretions and the potential risk of transmission is negligible.^[43]

Multiple infection

Main article: HIV Superinfection

Unlike some other viruses, infection with HIV does not provide immunity against additional infections, particularly in the case of more genetically distant viruses. Both inter- and intra-clade multiple infections have been reported,^[44] and even associated with more rapid disease progression.^[45] Multiple infections are divided into two categories depending on the timing of the acquisition of the second strain. Coinfection refers to two strains that appear to have been acquired at the same time (or too close to distinguish). Reinfection (or superinfection) is infection with a second strain at a measurable time after the first. Both forms of dual infection have been reported for HIV in both acute and chronic infection around the world.

so we must cooperate to prevent this HIV virus frm spreading...

don disriminate those hu have HIV virus...
care them... HIV dun simply spread de la...
by? u guys shud la hor...
lol...
last word frm me...
play safe, be faithful to ur partmers...