HIV/AIDS Basic Facts

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

• HIV is a virus. Viruses such as HIV cannot grow or reproduce on their own, they need to infect the cells of a living organism in order to replicate ( make new copies of themselves). HIV attacks the immune system itself-the very thing that would normally get rid of the virus.

AIDS stands for: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

• AIDS is a medical condition. A person is diagnosed with AIDS when their immune system is too weak to fight off infections.

What is the connection between HIV and AIDS

• HIV causes AIDS by damaging the immune system cell until the immune system cannot longer fight off other infections that it would usually be able to prevent
• It takes around ten years on average for someone with HIV to develop AIDS. However someone who is malnourished or who has other infection may well progress from HIV to AIDS more rapidly.

Why is important to get tested

• "Getting tested and getting into care if you are positive is one of our main messages" said Carr.
• "The new treatments and combination therapies have added years to life to those who are HIV positive. Being in care also allows those who are infected to learn how to prevent transmission to others."
• Every 9 1/2 minutes, another person in the United States becomes infected with HIV. This resulted in over 56,000 new HIV infections in this country in 2006 alone.

What do we do

• Deliver the simple message that every nine and a half minutes someone right here in the United States, someone's brother, sister, father, mother, friend, co-worker, or neighbor becomes infected with HIV.
• Public education in our school, church, home
• We just need to make sure that everyone understands the importance of prevention and the importance of doing their part to stop the spread of HIV.
• Prevention message should be gender, age and culturally appropriated.
• Get tested if you haven’t done so: everybody needs to have an HIV test