How long can one generally live with HIV? What are the ways to prevent AIDS?

Since the advent of AIDS, scientists have not yet developed a method to combat AIDS, so everyone is still very afraid of AIDS, especially when there are AIDS patients around them, so they will not come into contact with the patients. What are the symptoms after being infected with AIDS? How long can one generally live with HIV infection? What are the ways to prevent AIDS?

1. The origin of AIDS

Research believes that AIDS originated in Africa and was later brought to the United States by immigrants. On June 5, 1981, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a case report of five AIDS patients in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, which was the first official record of AIDS in the world. In 1982, the disease was named "AIDS". Soon after, AIDS spread rapidly to every continent. In 1985, a foreigner who traveled to China fell ill and died soon after being admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital. He was later confirmed to have died of AIDS. This was the first case of AIDS discovered in my country.

HIV-infected people will develop into AIDS patients after an incubation period of several years, even up to 10 years or more. Due to the extremely reduced body resistance, various infections will occur, such as herpes zoster, Oral mold infection, tuberculosis, enteritis, pneumonia, encephalitis caused by special pathogenic microorganisms, severe infections caused by Candida, Pneumocystis jiroveci and other pathogens, etc. In the later stage, malignant tumors often occur, and long-term consumption occurs, even systemic failure and death. .

Despite the tremendous efforts of many medical researchers around the world, no specific drug has yet been developed to cure AIDS, and there is no effective vaccine for prevention. AIDS has been listed as a Class B notifiable infectious disease in my country and is listed as one of the infectious diseases monitored by border health.

2. How long can a healthy person live with AIDS?

A healthy person is generally divided into three stages from the time he is infected with HIV to death. The first stage is called HIV emergency. During the infection stage, after infection, a small number of infected people will develop symptoms similar to those of influenza, such as fever, pharyngitis, rash, swollen lymph nodes, etc. These symptoms will disappear naturally within 2-3 weeks.

Then, the infected person enters the second stage. This stage is called the asymptomatic period, which accounts for about 80% of the entire process from infection to death. The patient at this time is called an HIV carrier. On the surface, most infected people are healthy and no different from normal people, except that their immune systems are engaged in an invisible battle with the virus.

HIV destroys a large number of immune cells every day, and the bone marrow compensates by accelerating the production of new cells. However, the rate of replenishment of new cells cannot always keep up with the rate of cell loss. In a normal human body, there are about 800 to 1,000 immune cells per cubic millimeter of blood. In infected people, the number of immune cells per cubic millimeter of blood gradually decreases at a rate of 50-70 per year. When there are only about 200 cubic millimeters of blood, the rate of decline accelerates. The duration of the asymptomatic period of an infected person can be long or short, ranging from 2 years to 20 years. The length is closely related to the route of infection. Generally, people with menstrual blood infection (mainly illegal blood collection and ** *with syringe) is 4-5 years, and intrasexual infection is generally 11-13 years. If an infected person's asymptomatic period can reach 13 years, he can be called a long-term survivor.

When the immune cells in the infected person's body can no longer compete with HIV, it marks the final stage of HIV infection, which is called the symptomatic stage. At this time, the infected person is called an AIDS patient. They are very susceptible to infection by other diseases. Some common infectious diseases that usually do not pose a threat to human life, such as pneumonia, will become uncontrollable once they enter the body of AIDS, and people usually die within 6 to 24 months.

Experts say that AIDS patients will suffer from various emergencies, such as contiguous skin herpes, meningitis, cancer, tuberculosis, hepatitis, etc. A man weighing more than 100 kilograms can lose weight to more than 70 Weight, sunken eyes, hair loss, muscle atrophy, difficulty breathing, unbearably itchy skin, and even dementia, loss of memory, and death like a skeleton wrapped in skin.

3. Methods to prevent AIDS

1. Prevent the sexual transmission of AIDS. Keep yourself clean and maintain a loyal and single sexual relationship; use condoms correctly when having risky sexual behaviors; and treat sexually transmitted diseases in a timely manner.

2. Prevent the blood transmission of AIDS. To prevent HIV from being transmitted through blood, we must first take strong social preventive measures, which mainly include the following important aspects:

(1) Ensure the safety of medical blood and blood products; To promote blood safety, we encourage citizens to donate blood free of charge, minimize or eliminate blood sales, educate blood donors on the prevention of STDs and AIDS, and encourage people with high-risk behaviors not to donate blood.

(2) Strictly control the indications for blood transfusions in medical treatment, do not use untested blood products, and reduce unnecessary blood transfusions. This is also an important measure to reduce the spread of HIV through blood transfusions.

(3) Comprehensively strengthen the implementation of measures to prevent hospital infections and prevent the spread of HIV in medical and health services (including patients infecting medical staff, patients with infectious diseases, and medical staff infecting patients)

(4) Personal preventive behaviors are also important in reducing the risk of HIV infection through menstrual blood. Everyone should pay attention to the following issues: 1) Do not use other people’s razors. 2) Do not take drugs in any way, stay away from drugs, especially do not inject drugs with syringes used by others.

3. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission. HIV can be spread during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding after the child is born. Women infected with HIV should avoid becoming pregnant and should have an abortion if they become pregnant. Antiviral drugs used by pregnant and postpartum women before and after delivery can reduce the chance of mother-to-child transmission. Artificial feeding can also reduce the risk of HIV infection. Improve women's nutrition, prevent anemia, treat infections, prevent pregnancy and postpartum bleeding, and reduce unnecessary blood transfusions. Women infected with HIV should avoid pregnancy. If pregnant, they need to use AZT or similar drugs during pregnancy, use cesarean section for delivery, and avoid breastfeeding after delivery. Provide early HIV diagnosis to newborns after delivery and regular check-ups and treatment.

4. Caring for, helping and not discriminating against AIDS patients and people living with HIV, and encouraging them to participate in AIDS prevention and treatment are important aspects of AIDS prevention and control.

5. Contaminated waste can be incinerated. HIV itself is sensitive to heat and can be inactivated at 60°C for 60 minutes. Items that need to be reused can be sterilized by boiling or high-pressure steam. Items that are not suitable for boiling can be soaked in glutaraldehyde, 75% alcohol, etc. Bleaching powder, sodium hypochlorite and alcohol are commonly used to disinfect contaminated environments and object surfaces. Disinfectants commonly used for hepatitis B can also be used for HIV disinfection.