Full Form of AIDS : Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome
The complete form of AIDS has acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This is a serious medical condition in which an individual’s immune system becomes extremely weak and the body is unable to fight any infection. The common cause of AIDS is HIV or the human immunodeficiency virus, which attacks the T cells of the body’s immune system very gradually and, when ignored, completely.
When the body’s immune system is weakened, it is easy for viruses, bacteria, and fungi to attack the body and cause disease. If HIV is not detected and treated at a very early stage, it leads to AIDS. During the initial stage of HIV infection, a person will have symptoms of a common flu-like illness.
AIDS is a term used to refer to a condition when HIV infection has reached its advanced stage. Several health centers and other associations have made great strides to educate people around the world on how to prevent AIDS / HIV. Since AIDS was first identified in 1981, more than 30 million people are reported to have died.
AIDS Complete Form – Additional Information
The world is dealing with enemies that have become formidable over time. We are talking about diseases or ailments that have taken over the world and caused the suffering of millions. It is impossible to find a place on earth that is not affected by the spread of dangerous, life-threatening diseases. The saddest reality is that many of these diseases have emerged recently and there is a lack of proper treatment or preventive measures, thus ending hopelessness until your death.
The current difficult conditions regarding the treatment of these life-threatening diseases have become a major concern for world leaders, who are investing billions in R&D to foster advanced and rapid research on this problem. Despite the efforts of world leaders to alleviate the effects of such diseases, many diseases have visibly outwitted the scientific community and caused a great crisis in different parts of the world, particularly in underdeveloped and developing nations, which lack sufficient resources to address them effectively. Even developed nations seem powerless in the face of the virulent effects of these diseases. An example of this is the Ebola outbreak that claimed the lives of many people on the African continent.
Of such diseases that the world fears, AIDS is the most commonly known disease, as there has been much debate and research in the recent past and continues to occur to this day. The nature and consequences of this disease are fatal to the individual and ultimately lead to death. Research institutes around the world are still grappling with the task of finding an absolute treatment for this problem.
AIDS is not a regional problem and therefore everyone must be actively involved in the process of understanding and preventing AIDS. There are some key points about this disease that need to be understood, as they highlight important aspects that are generally overlooked by the public. To understand AIDS, the following ten things should be known about it. Let’s discuss more about AIDS Full Form.
AIDS Basics:
Also known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, it refers to a number of conditions resulting from the human immunodeficiency virus. When a person is affected by this virus, they suffer from a number of health conditions that slowly deteriorate the body’s immune system. In the early stages, a person often reports suffering from influenza, but in later stages, the body begins to weaken and become vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis that generally do not occur in people with a healthy and responsive immune system. The symptoms, which occur in the later stages, are known as AIDS. At this stage, the person may suffer from lung infections, weight loss, skin disorders, and other illnesses.
Stages of AIDS:
AIDS occurs in stages, which are marked by certain conditions that differ with each stage. The more stages a person goes through, the weaker and more vulnerable the immune system becomes to disease. It has three stages: acute infection, clinical latency, and AIDS.
The first stage is the acute infection stage. It is the initial stage in which individuals develop symptoms similar to those of the flu or mononucleosis. Apart from these symptoms, there is fever, sore throat, and pain in private areas. The symptoms observed during this stage are not safe and therefore early detection of AIDS becomes difficult.
The second stage is clinical latency, which is also known as the chronic HIV stage. The duration of this stage depends on whether early treatments were carried out in this regard and varies from three to twenty years. The most common symptoms during this stage are weight loss, gastrointestinal complications, muscle aches or unusual enlargement of the lymph nodes, etc.
The final stage is AIDS, which is defined in terms of cell counts or the appearance of symptoms scientifically associated with HIV infections. If it is not treated in the early stages, people develop AIDS within ten years. The most common symptoms during this stage are specific and therefore clearer indicators of the virus. Some of the symptoms are pulmonary tract infections, cachexia, Pneumocystis pneumonia, etc. At this stage, almost all the organs of the system are generally affected and weakened.
Causes of HIV / AIDS infection:
There are many prevalent stereotypes regarding AIDS and its transmission, such as eating together, sharing rooms, etc. These are nothing more than ways of harassing people with AIDS and preventing them from social interaction and other benefits of the community to which they belong. HIV infection is transmitted through sexual contact, body fluids, and vertical transmission (which is mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding)
Sexual contact is the leading cause of AIDS. Having sex with an HIV-infected person can transmit the infection to the unaffected and that is why the condom push became a worldwide phenomenon. Reports have indicated that unprotected sex runs a high risk of contracting HIV infections and statistics are highest in developing and underdeveloped countries, where public awareness is below the minimum standard and prevailing social constraints negate access to condoms.
Body fluids are the second leading cause of HIV infection, which occurs through blood and blood products. Sharing needles, sticking with a needle, transfusing infected blood, or using non-sterile injections are the most common ways of transmitting HIV infections. Additionally, people who get tattoos and piercings are also at high risk of becoming infected with the virus.
Vertical transmission is the third leading cause of transmission of HIV infection. It usually occurs during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding and that is why it is recommended that women take AIDS tests to ensure the safety of the child. Let’s discuss more about the full form of AIDS.
AIDS prevention:
There are many preventive measures available to slow the spread of the HIV virus. These preventive measures have become core elements of the global public awareness campaign that seeks to raise public awareness of the causes and effects of AIDS and teach them how people can protect themselves from such risks. The most frequently suggested preventive measure is the use of a condom during sexual intercourse. Using condoms has been reported to reduce the risk of infection by about 80%.
There have been many female condoms on the market, which are considered just as effective as male condoms. Antiretroviral treatment is an effective way to prevent HIV infection from infecting your body system. Pre-exposure prophylaxis is considered effective if daily medications are taken and normal health procedures are observed.
To avoid vertical transmission, certain measures should be observed and followed periodically. For examples where children are at risk for HIV infections, mothers should choose bottle feeding over breastfeeding. There is no licensed AIDS drug, but research has been done and some success has recently been achieved.
Treatment for AIDS: Full form of AIDS
Currently, there is no cure for AIDS, but there are certain steps that can be taken to treat it. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a systematic diet for those with AIDS. It has been stated that the AIDS patient should adopt a diet enriched with nutrients that provide effective remedies for the treatment of AIDS in the early stages. Evidence shows that micronutrients have benefited AIDS patients and significant advances have been reported in many types of research.
Researchers recommend that opportunistic infections should be fought, as they are primarily responsible for the weakening of the immune system in the first and second stages. Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT), the tuberculin skin test are some of the tests that are recommended to the patient with AIDS. These tests provide substantial protection against such infections.
Expanse of AIDS:
AIDS is a global pandemic and has spread to almost every corner of the world and is therefore one of the most serious concerns for international society. In 2012, it was reported that current statistics stand at approximately 35 million patients, who are affected by AIDS or HIV infection. The result shows that the number has dropped to a great level since 2000 and this success is mainly attributed to public awareness programs.
South Africa has the largest number of HIV-infected patients in the world, with an estimated 6 million. The sub-Saharan region, in general, is the most affected and the majority of patients are women. Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent, the second worst affected region in the world, with 2.4 million patients in India alone.
However, AIDS is less common in East Asia. In the European region, the most affected are Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia and Portugal. There are signs of a decline in the number of HIV patients since the last decade, but the outlook remains bleak and much remains to be done about it.
Social stigma about AIDS: AIDS ka full form
HIV patients have to go through social isolation and harassment due to their health status. Many stereotypes have emerged that have added to the misery of these patients. There are states that allow forced HIV testing without consent, breach of confidentiality, and violence against these individuals. Much of the stigma stems from fear of contracting the disease.
With the aim of ending those stigmas that only aggravate the patient’s condition, worldwide campaigns have emerged that challenge established orthodox notions about AIDS patients and raise awareness about the falsehood of such notions. After years of campaigning, positive results have emerged as people have become more aware of the nature of the disease and have begun to shed the stigma against AIDS patients.
Economic impact of AIDS:
AIDS impacts not only society but also the economy of a nation and this has been proven by various surveys and statistics. The loss of human resources due to the disease is palpable in the Gross Domestic Product and underdeveloped and developing nations are the most affected. There is a lack of health and treatment services for AIDS patients, which has only made the situation worse.
Reports suggest that HIV infection reduces the taxable population, naturally putting pressure on the state for other means of financial resources. A study in Côte d’Ivoire showed that areas that host HIV patients have spent twice as much on health costs. This clearly shows that AIDS has had a major impact on the global economy and that is why world leaders are investing so much to ensure that an early and effective solution is reached before it is too late.
Criminal transmission:
It is the most regrettable case that criminal transmission becomes rampant and hinders the efforts of States to curb the disease. Criminal transmission, as the name implies, is the deliberate transmission of HIV infection. Many cases have shown that HIV-infected people often undertake such activities out of anger and revenge against society, but there are cases where such transmission is due solely to abnormal reasons.
Public awareness programs have started precautionary campaigns against such transmission and advise people to exercise caution when dealing with doctors or physicians. Most criminal transmission occurs in clinics and therefore patients must undergo the necessary evaluations before undergoing any treatment.
Misconceptions about AIDS:
Although normally it should have been covered in the Social Stigma section, this requires a different heading as it indicates the staggering lack of awareness about the causes and effects of this disease. There are some alarming misconceptions about HIV infection; one is the belief that sexual intercourse with a virgin cures AIDS. This belief is largely prevalent in South Africa and is one of the root causes of the increase in the number of HIV patients in that region.
There is another belief that HIV only infects homosexuals and drug addicts. Another is that anal intercourse between two uninfected people causes HIV. Apart from this, discussions about AIDS in schools, kissing, sharing food or the toilet seat, etc., are mistakenly believed to cause AIDS. The interesting thing is to note that there are conspiracy theories, for example, the United States has been accused of creating the disease. Public campaigns have addressed this problem and raised strong voices against these baseless misconceptions based on idiotic theories and reasons.