HIV

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

 The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among antenatal women has dropped from 0.27% to 0.18% in Tamil Nadu, according to the findings of the recent HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2019.

Concept :

• HIV attacks CD4, a type of White Blood Cell (T cells)in the body’s immune system. T cells are those cells that move around the body detecting anomalies and infections in cells.
• After entering body, HIV multiplies itself and destroys CD4 cells, thus severely damaging the human immune system. Once this virus enters the body, it can never be removed.
• CD4 count of a person infected with HIV reduces significantly. In a healthy body, CD4 count is between 500- 1600, but in an infected body, it can go as low as 200.
• Weak immune system makes a person prone to opportunistic infections and cancer. It becomes difficult for a person infected with this virus to recover from even a minor injury or sickness.
• By receiving treatment, severe form of HIV can be prevented.

Transmission

• HIV is transmitted from person to person through bodily fluids including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, anal fluids and breast milk.
• To transmit HIV, bodily fluids must contain enough of the virus. A person with ‘Undetectable HIV’ cannot transfer HIV to another person even after transfer of fluids.
• ‘Undetectable HIV’ is when the amount of HIV in the body is so low that a blood test cannot detect it. Treatment can make this possible. But regular monitoring of the same through blood tests is also required.

Symptoms

• Around 80% of people infected with HIV develop a set of symptoms known as Acute Retroviral Syndrome, around 2-6 weeks after the virus enters into body.
• The early symptoms include fever, chills, joint pains, muscle aches, sore throat, sweats particularly at night, enlarged glands, a red rash, tiredness, weakness, unintentional weight loss and thrush.
• A person can carry HIV even without experiencing any symptoms for a long time. During this time, the virus continues to develop and causes immune system and organ damage.

Treatment

• Anti-Retroviral Therapy:

It is a combination of daily medications that stop the virus from reproducing.

The therapy helps in protecting CD4 cells thus keeping the immune system strong enough to fight off the disease.

It, besides reducing the risk of transmission of HIV, also helps in stopping its progression to AIDS (a spectrum of conditions caused by infection due to HIV).

• Stem Cell Transplant:

Under this, an infected person is treated with stem cell transplant from donors carrying a genetic mutation that prevents expression of an HIV receptor CCR5.

CCR5 is the most commonly used receptor by HIV-1. People who have mutated copies of CCR5 are resistant to HIV-1 virus strain.