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Women and HIV/AIDS
Women and HIV/AIDS

Women & HIV/AIDS


HIV VirusWhat Is HIV/AIDS?

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV weakens the body’s immune system, which is the body’s defense system. It attacks and destroys the immune system’s disease-fighting cells, called CD4 cells. They also are called CD4 positive (CD4+) T cells. HIV gets into these cells, makes copies of itself, and destroys the healthy cells. As a person loses CD4 cells, the immune system weakens, making it harder for the body to fight infections and cancer. There are many different strains (types) of HIV. Most people have the HIV-1 strain. But, a person can become infected with more than one strain.

HIV advances to AIDS when the immune system is severely weakened. A person has AIDS once the CD4 cell count (the number of CD4 cells in a sample of blood) is very low or if the person has certain infections or cancers that are unusual in someone who is not infected with HIV. The progression from HIV to AIDS is different for everyone. Some people live for 10 years or more with HIV without developing AIDS, and others get AIDS faster.

How HIV Is Spread

HIV is spread through some of the body's fluids. HIV is in:

  • Blood
  • Semen
  • Vaginal fluids
  • Breast milk
  • Some body fluids sometimes handled by health care workers (fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord, bone joints, and around an unborn baby)

HIV is passed from one person to another by:

  • Having sex (vaginal, anal, or oral) with a person who has HIV
  • Sharing needles with someone who has HIV, such as during injection drug use
  • Pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding if a mother has HIV
  • Blood transfusion, which is very unlikely because U.S. blood banks test donated blood for HIV

HIV is not spread through:

  • Kissing (there is a small chance of getting HIV from open-mouthed or "French" kissing if there's contact with blood)
  • Hugging or handshakes
  • Food or drinks
  • Sharing food utensils, towels and bedding, telephones, or toilet seats
  • Donating blood
  • Working with or being around someone with HIV
  • Biting insects, such as mosquitoes
  • Swimming pools or drinking fountains

HIV Symptoms

Many people have no symptoms when they first get HIV. Some have no symptoms for years. It varies from person to person. But some people get a flu-like illness within a month or two after first getting HIV. They have symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue (being a lot more tired than usual, and all the time), and swollen lymph nodes (glands in the neck and groin). Often the symptoms go away within a week to a month. Even if there are no symptoms, HIV can still be passed to another person.

It's important to remember that HIV is active inside your body, even when you don't have symptoms. As the HIV infection spreads throughout your body, you'll start to feel sick. For many people, the first symptom they notice is large lymph nodes (swollen glands) that may be enlarged for more than three months. Other symptoms people often have for months to years before the onset of AIDS include:

You cannot rely on symptoms to know whether you have HIV. If you have symptoms, they may be caused by something else. And many people infected with HIV have no symptoms for many years. In fact, one in five U.S. women and men infected with HIV don’t know they have it. The only way to know whether you have HIV is to get a test.
  • Being very tired (fatigue)
  • Quick weight loss
  • Fevers and night sweats
  • Headache
  • Diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea
  • Mouth, genital, or anal sores
  • Dry cough
  • Rash or flaky skin
  • Short-term memory loss

There are also other health problems that are more common, serious, and harder to treat in women with HIV:

As the immune system continues to weaken, other diseases and infections, called opportunistic infections (OIs), can develop. OIs can affect your eyes, digestive system, kidneys, lungs, skin, and brain.

Diagnosing AIDS

AIDS is not a diagnosis you can make yourself. You have developed AIDS if you are infected with HIV and:

  • Your CD4+ count drops below 200 cells/mm3. (Healthy adults have CD4 counts of 1,000 or more.)
    or
  • You have an AIDS-defining condition, which is an illness that is very unusual in someone not infected with HIV. You can read about some of these conditions in the section on opportunistic infections (OIs).

Listed below are health problems common in people with AIDS:

  • Coughing and shortness of breath
  • Seizures
  • Lack of coordination
  • Hard or painful to swallow
  • Hard to think and remember things
  • Severe and persistent diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Loss of vision
  • Nausea, stomach cramps, and vomiting
  • Weight loss
  • Feeling very tired all the time
  • Severe headaches
  • Diarrhea
  • Coma
  • Pneumonia
  • Cancers of the skin or immune system

Additional Resources:

Publications

  1. Federal resource  Basic Information — This web page describes what HIV looks like, its history, how it is transmitted, symptoms of HIV infection, where to get tested, and other basic information about the virus.

    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/basic/

  2. Federal resource  HIV and AIDS: Are You at Risk? — This brochure explains what HIV/AIDS is, how to know if you have it, what testing is done, and how to protect yourself from being infected.

    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/brochures/at-risk.htm

  3. Federal resource  HIV and Its Transmission — This publication discusses how HIV is transmitted. It examines transmission rates in different environments such as business and home settings and discusses the effectiveness of condoms.

    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/transmission.htm

  4. Federal resource  Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2 — This fact sheet discusses the prevalence of HIV-2 in the world, what is known about HIV-2 in the United States, who should be tested for HIV-2, and clinical treatment for people diagnosed with HIV-2.

    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/hiv2.htm

  5. Federal resource  Questions and Answers (Q&A) — This page gives answers to common questions about HIV/AIDS. It covers transmission and prevention, testing, HIV-related hoaxes and rumors, and other general questions about HIV/AIDS.

    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/index.htm

  6. Federal resource  Understanding HIV/AIDS — This fact sheet provides an overview of HIV, how HIV causes AIDS, and the HIV lifecycle. It briefly describes early and advanced AIDS symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and current research on HIV. Risky behavior and measures to control the spread of HIV are also discussed.

    http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/hivinf.htm

  7. HIV Infection in Women (Copyright © AAFP) — This publication provides information on HIV and AIDS, how women can get infected with the virus, who is at risk for the infection, how HIV differs between men and women, and precautions that can be taken to lower the risk of contracting HIV.

    http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/reproductive/sti/225.html

  8. The Global HIV/AIDS Timeline (Copyright © The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation) — The Kaiser Family Foundation provides this interactive timeline to learn about the spread of HIV/AIDS advancements in research and statistics on how many people have been affected at each five year mark over the past 25 years.

    http://www.kff.org/hivaids/timeline/index.cfm

  9. PDF file  The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States (Copyright © The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation) — This publication gives information on the prevalence and impact of HIV/AIDS in the United States.

    http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/3029-071.pdf

Organizations

  1. Federal resource  AIDS.gov
  2. Federal resource  AIDSinfo
  3. Federal resource  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS
  4. Federal resource  Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (DAIDS), NIAID, NIH, HHS
  5. Federal resource  Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention, CDC, HHS
  6. Federal resource  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, HHS
  7. The Well Project

Federal resource = Indicates Federal Resources

Content last updated March 4, 2009.

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