Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection - What Increases Your Risk

Most people get HIV by having unprotected sex with someone who has HIV. Another common way of getting the virus is by sharing needles with someone who is infected with HIV when injecting drugs.

You have an increased risk of becoming infected with HIV through sexual contact if you:

    Have unprotected sex (do not use condoms).
    Have multiple sex partners.
    Are a man who has sex with other men.
    Have high-risk partner(s) (partner has multiple sex partners, is a man who has sex with other men, or injects drugs).
    Have or have recently had a sexually transmitted infection, such as syphilis or active herpes.

People who inject drugs or steroids, especially if they share needles, syringes, cookers, or other equipment used to inject drugs, are at risk of being infected with HIV.

Babies who are born to mothers who are infected with HIV are also at risk of infection. 

What to think about

HIV may be spread more easily in the early stage of infection, and again later, when symptoms of HIV-related illness develop.

The risk of getting HIV from a blood transfusion or organ transplant is extremely low because all donated blood and organs in the United States are screened for HIV.

URI (upper respiratory infection)

Upper respiratory infections are common conditions with predominant damage of respiratory tract. URI is caused by various aetiologic agents (viruses, micoplasmas, bacterias). Immune system after past diseases is strongly compound-specific to virus of influenza, parainfluenza, herpes, rhinovirus.

That is why one and the same person may get diseased with acute respiratory disease up to 7 times throughout a year. The source of infection is  a diseased person with clinically showed or hiden symptoms of acute respiratory disease. Virus transmission occurs mainly via airbone. URI occurs as individual cases or epidemic outbreaks.

Symptoms and the course
URI is characterized with mild symptoms of general intoxication, damage of upper respiratory tract and benign course. Damage of respiration organs shows as rhinitis, rhinopharyngitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia.

Some aetiologic agents besides manifestations mentioned above also cause another symptoms: conjunctivitis, mild symptoms of herpangina in enterovirus diseases, syndrome of catarrhal croup in parainfluenza infections. The duration of the disease without pneumonia is 2 – 8 days. In pneumonia (often caused by microplasmas, respiratory syncytial virus and adenovirus along with bacterial infection) the duration is 3 – 4 weeks and is more hardly cured.

Recognition
URI is recognized clinically – diagnosis “URI” is made and its breakdown is given (rhinitis, nasopharyngitis). Etiological diagnosis is made only after laboratory tests.

Treatment
Antibiotics and other chemotherapeutic compounds are not effective because they do not act on the virus. Antibiotics may be prescribed in acute bacterial respiratory diseases. Treatment is performed at home. In ceses when patient suffers from fever it is recommended bed regimen. Are prescribed nosotropic and fever-reducing remedies.

Preventive Measures
Vaccination is performed. In order to prevent A influenza it is recommended to use remantadin.

Rabies

Rabies is a virus disease with severe injuring of central nervous system (CNS). Is transferred mainly via bite of diseased animals (dog, cat, wolf, rat) when saliva containing virus gets into wound. The virus spreads then by lymphatic ways and partially by blood-vascular system and achieves salivary glands and nerve cells of cerebral cortex, affecting of which causes severe irreversible damage.

Symptoms and course
Incubation period is 15-55 days, but it can last half- year or even more.  The disease has three periods:
1) prodrormal period lasts 1-3 days. It is followed by increase of temperature, depression state, bad sleep, insomnia, feeling of anxiety. Pain of the bite usually feels even after it was skinned.
2) arousal period lasts 4-7 days. It is characterized by hypersensitiveness for sensation of sense organs: bright light and various noises cause cramps of limb muscles. Diseased become aggressive; hallucinations, insanity, feeling of fear appear.
3) period of paralysis of eye-muscles and lower limbs; severe paralytic disorders of breath cause death. General duration of the disease is 5-8 days, in some cases 10-12 days.

Recognition
Here important is presence of bite and getting saliva of the diseased animal on affected skin. One of the main important symptom of the disease is hydrophobia that is characterized by spasm of pharyngal musculature only at sight of water and food what makes it impossible to drink even a glass of water. Also there can be a symptom of aerophobia – muscle cramps that appear at every air motion. Hypersalivation is definitive symptom, in some cases diseased get their saliva leaked out of angles of their mouth.

There is no need in laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis but it is possible to make examination with the newest method of rabis virus antigen detecting by using the footprints from the surface eye membranes.

Treatment
There are no effective methods what makes in majority of cases problematic life saving of the diseased. It is necessary to use nosotropic methods to ease painful condition. Doctors remove motor excitement with alleviant remedies, they remove cramps with muscle relaxant. Breathing problems are compensated with tracheotomy and connection of the diseased to artificial lung.

Preventive Measures
Fighting with rabies among dogs, extermination of vagabond dogs. People bitted with a diseased animal should immediately wash wound with warm boiled water (with or without soap) and to process it with 70% spiritus or iodine alcoholate, and as soon as possible, to go to the doctor to vaccinate. It consists of serum injection or antirabic immunoglobulin and is made deep in the wound and in soft tissues around it. You should know that vaccination is effective just in case when it is made within 14 days from the bite of rabid animal and in case that for that purpose is used hyper-immune vaccine.  

Rubella

Rubella is a virus disease with specific small spotted rash called exanthem, generalized  lymphadenopathy, moderately frank fever and affect of fetus of women being pregnant. The disease is caused by the agent called togavirus and has a RNA genome. It is nonpersistent in external environment, dies rapidly when heated up to 56° C, when drying, under the action of ultraviolet rays, either, formalin and other abluents. The focus of infection is man diseased with rubella, especially being in subclinical form that passes without rash.

In interepidemic period selected cases are observed. The maximum number of cases are registered in April – June. The disease represents a particular risk for pregnant because of fetal infection. Rubella virus releases into external environment one week before the rash appears on skin and during the week when rash has appeared. Infection is transmitted via airborne.

Symptoms and course
Incubation period lasts 11-24 days. General condition suffers weakly that is why the first noticeable symptom is rash resembling with measly or scarlatina rash. Ill men suffer from little weakness, lack of energy, headache, pain in muscles and in joints. Temperature of the body often is subfebrile, although it in some cases  riches 38-39°C and keeps 1-3 days. When physical examination low-grade symptoms of catarrh, little redding of pharynx and conjunctivitis are observed.

From the very first days of disease appears generalized lymphadenopathy (in other words, the affection of lymphatic system). The most expressed are increasing and painfulness of back-necked and occipital lymph glands. Exanthem appears on 1-3 day from the beginning of disease, first on the neck and after several hours spreads on the whole body and it can be itching. Also there is some inspissation of rash of extensor surface of limbs, back and buns.

Elements of the rash represent little spots with diameter of 2-4 mm, usually they do not merge, are kept for 3-5 days and disappear without living pigmentation on skin. In 25-30% of cases rubella progresses without rash and is characterized by moderate fever and lymphadenopathy. The disease can course without symptoms, having the only manifestation of viremia and increasing of titre in blood of specific antibodies.

Complications
Arthritis, Acute Encephalitis.

Recognition
Clinical and laboratory data help to carry out the recognition of the disease. Nowadays virologic methods are not used widely. From serological tests are used the neutralization test and hemagglutination-inhibition test  injected together with paired sera taken 10-14 days apart.

Treatment
There is prescribed comfort care when uncomplicated rubella. When arthritis doctors usually prescribe 0.25g of  chingamin (chloroquine) 2-3 times per day during 5-7 days. Also are advised diphenylhydramine (0.05g two times a day), butadiene (0.15g 3-4 times a day), nosotropic treatment. When encephalitis, are advised corticosteroid remedies.
The general prognosis for rubella is favorable, excepting when encephalitis which has mortality of 50%.

Preventive Measures
Are very important for women in child-bearing age. Some specialists recommend to vaccinate girls of 13-25 years. People diseased with rubella should be isolated up to five days since appearing of rash.