There are always some rumors about AIDS that make people smell and change. How much do you know?
HIV = AIDS?
HIV is also known as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). When HIV invades the body, it destroys the body's immune system, causing the immune system to be unable to function against infection and disease.
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AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, refers to the final stage of HIV infection. AIDS is defined when any of the more than 20 opportunistic infections, or any of the tumors associated with HIV, are present. Therefore, HIV infection ≠ AIDS.
Both parties are HIV-infected, do I still need to wear a condom?
Just because both of you are living with HIV doesn't mean you can have unprotected sex. Condoms can protect against other sexually transmitted infections as well as other types of HIV: there are many subtypes of HIV, so both parties are not necessarily the same subtype, and cross-infection through sexual contact can exacerbate the destruction of the immune system and increase the risk of drug resistance, affecting the effectiveness of antiviral treatments. At the same time, if one party takes medication irregularly, it is possible to further spread the drug-resistant strain through sexual contact.
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In addition, unprotected sex can lead to other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, hepatitis B or hepatitis C. HIV is highly variable, which is the main reason why there is no cure for HIV.
People living with HIV can't have children?
Studies have shown that effective interventions can reduce the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to less than 5%, and in some developed countries, the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV has fallen to less than 2%. Standardized antiretroviral therapy (ART) is given with the full informed consent of both partners or the HIV-negative party: if the HIV-positive partner is required to receive standardized antiviral therapy and the virus is under continuous control, either natural conception during ovulation or in vitro fertilization can be chosen. Spouse-to-spouse transmission is not thought to occur in this setting.
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In addition, in order to improve the success rate of conception, it is very important to accurately calculate the ovulation period, and you can seek the help of an obstetrician and gynecologist. If there is limited or inaccessible testing for the disease, it is recommended to perform ART for more than half a year before conception. In such cases, it is advisable to seek expert guidance in the field of HIV, and the negative party needs to take exposure prophylaxis.
If the illness load is undetectable, can I skip taking medicine?
At present, there is no cure for it, and it is absolutely not possible to stop taking it without permission.
Undetectable viral load means that the viral load is below the measurable limit, which means that "undetectable" is also called "load suppression". But that doesn't mean you don't have the virus in your blood, it's just that the amount is too low for the machine to detect. One of the main goals of taking antiviral drugs is to stop HIV from replicating in the body. An undetectable viral load means that the drug regimen is very effective, and once you stop taking the drug, you may lose all your efforts, and the viral load will quickly rebound, and there is even a risk of drug resistance.
Article by Dr. Rami