Brief Answer:
there is alot of information on HIV
Detailed Answer:
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic
What questions do you have about HIV?
HIV is transmitted by sexual intercourse, use of infected needles, infected blood transfusions and from mother to child.
It does not survive in the environment and is not transmitted by contact with surfaces.
It is not spread through tears, sweat , faeces or urine.
Once a person is infected they may not experience any symptoms though some persons may complain of symptoms a few weeks later. These may include
fever, muscle ache or pain, gastrointestinal pain, sorethroat, sores,
malaise.
The main screening test is the
ELISA test. This looks for
antibodies to the HIV virus. Antibodies are formed when the body reacts to the presence of the virus.Because it can sometimes take a while for the body to react enough to be detectable, the window period for the elisa test is 3 to 6 months.
The window period is the time it takes for a test to be able to definitively determine if an infection is present or absent.
IF this test is positive then it is confirmed by a test called Western blot.
There are other screening tests other than the ELISA such as pcr test. This has a shorter window period of 2 to 3 weeks because it looks for the virus itself.
If hiv is not present the persons is stated to be HIV negative, if it is present the persons is HIV positive.
If positive there are effective treatment available that can reduce the HIV
viral load (amount of virus) in the blood.These treatments may be best administered by someone specialising in HIV care.
HIV attacks the immune system and predisposes the person the another of different infections that they may not be able to fight effectively.
I hope this answers your questions, if there are any additional questions feel free to ask