How is H.I.V. Transmitted?
By: Mr. LaDeur
Pre-quiz over HIV and AIDS
True/False
• 1. HIV can be passed to humans from animal or
insect bites?
• 2. HIV attacks a person’s immune system, which
is responsible for fighting disease?
• 3. HIV can be passed from an infected person to
an uninfected person through saliva (spit)?
• 4. A pregnant woman with HIV will most likely
pass it on to her baby?
• 5. People with HIV can live longer now than
people with HIV did in the past?
Pre-quiz over HIV and AIDS
True/False
• 6. The population most infected with HIV are
gay men?
• 7. HIV can be cured if a vaccine can be
developed for it?
• 8. AIDS is another word for someone who has
HIV?
• 9. If you touched something a person with HIV
bled on, you could get HIV?
• 10. HIV is the most common STD in the United
States?
Vocabulary
•
•
What does H.I.V. stand for?
Human Immuno-deficiency Virus
• What does A.I.D.S. stand for?
•
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
• What is the difference between the
two?
•
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS
What does HIV do?
• Once HIV is inside the body, it attacks our
immune system.
• Our immune system has very important
cells that keep us healthy and fight
infections, these cells are called white
blood cells.
• There are 2 main kind of white blood cells:
B-Cells (fighters) and T-Cells (thinkers).
• Your T-Cells and B-Cells work together as
a team to destroy viruses, bacteria, and
other infections.
What does HIV do?
• Normal infections attack our B-Cells in an all out
battle to the death, and mostly our B-Cells win
the fight.
• When a virus enters the body, the T-Cells
recognize it first and then identify it to the BCells.
• This is important to know because B-Cells can
not recognize an invader in our body, they need
the help of the T-Cell.
• Likewise, T-Cells can not fight an infection, they
can only warn the B-Cells about one.
What does HIV do?
• HIV is the only virus on the planet that
attacks the T-Cells, not the B-Cells.
Without the helper T-Cells around to tell
the fighter B-Cells what to fight, the body
is constantly filled with diseases.
• As if that’s not bad enough, we are only
born with a certain number of T-Cells,
generally around 1200 and we can not
make more!
How is H.I.V. Transmitted?
• Direct blood contact
(menstrual blood)
• Semen
• Vaginal Secretions
• Breast Milk
Activities That Allow
Transmission
• Unprotected sexual
contact
• Direct blood contact
(including injecting
drug needles)
• Accidents in health
care settings or certain
blood products
• Mother to Baby
High Risk Behaviors
• Unprotected
intercourse (either
vaginal or anal).
• Sharing needles with
someone.
Low Risk Behaviors
Oral Sex
• Through cuts in mouth
• Reports of people
becoming infected
through oral sex.
Blood Transfusions
• Safer now than before
because of screening,
nearly impossible to get
HIV from a transfusion.
Mother to Child
• During birth
• Through breast milk
• The statistical
likelihood that a
woman will give HIV
to her baby is 25-30%
Myths about transmission
Many times we think that because H.I.V.
travels through some of our body fluids
that it travels through all of our body fluids
and this is simply not true.
Body fluids that are not carriers
of H.I.V.
•
•
•
•
•
Saliva
Tears
Sweat
Feces
Urine
Stages of H.I.V.
• There are three stages of H.I.V. When a person gets the
virus, 3 to 6 weeks later they experience symptoms very
similar to the flu. This stage can last for a week to a
month.
• 1st stage: Asymptomatic: A period of time during which a
person infected with HIV has no symptoms. Could last
up to 10 years.
• 2nd stage: Symptomatic: The immune system has been
broken down to the point where other infections which
would have been fought off now make the person ill.
Examples are swollen glands, weight loss, and yeast
infections.
• 3rd stage: AIDS: The most serious stage of HIV, the
person’s T-cell count is below 400 and they are regularly
hospitalized for opportunistic infections.
How do you know when you have
AIDS?
• To be diagnosed with AIDS, there are only three
criteria needed:
• 1. A person needs to be HIV positive
• 2. Have a severely damaged immune system.
The person’s T-cell count needs to be around or
below 400. (A healthy person has around 1200).
• 3. The person needs to be continually
hospitalized from opportunistic infections, which
are illnesses such as pneumonia, tuberculosis,
meningitis, yeast infections, herpes, Kaposi's
sarcoma.
Kaposi’s Sarcoma
Kaposi’s Sarcoma is caused by
the human herpes virus 8 (HHP)
and is one of the AIDS defining
illnesses.
How can you test for H.I.V.?
• When someone becomes infected with H.I.V.
their body starts making antibodies to fight the
virus.
• There are two different tests used to discover if
your body is making H.I.V. antibodies: E.I.A.
test & Western Blot test.
• Sometimes these tests are not accurate because it
takes time to make HIV anti-bodies. So, their
doctor may tell them they don’t have HIV when
they really might.
Review Questions
• 1. How does HIV attack the immune
system?
• 2. How is HIV transmitted?
• 3. What are 3 common myths about HIV
transmission?
• 4. Describe the 3 stages of HIV.
• 5. Describe how HIV is tested in the body.
• 6. What are the 3 requirements for having
AIDS?
Scenario
Knowing this information, how would you handle
the following situation. Your 8 year old boy is
good friends with an 8 year old boy next door.
They spend a lot of time together. Your neighbor
is in an accident and contracts HIV from a blood
transfusion. What would you do? Would you
continue to let them play together? Would you
impose rules? How would you explain the
change/situation to your son?
Scenario
We know that H.I.V. is a blood borne pathogen,
meaning it can’t travel through the air. But if
someone infected with H.I.V. sneezed without
covering their mouth, would you feel
uncomfortable? Would you think there still
might be a chance you would catch the disease, I
mean what if there is blood in the sneeze…?
Explain.
Strategies to remain HIV and STI free
•
•
•
•
•
•
Abstinence until marriage
Do not share needles with others
Do not hang out with people who might
pressure you to have sex
Be careful around other people’s blood
Use protection while engaging in sexual
activity
Get tested and have future partners tested
before having sex
True/False quiz answers
Let’s review what we’ve learned
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
H.I.V. can be spread by four different
fluids, who can tell me them?
Blood
Semen
Vaginal secretions
Breast milk
Review cont.
•
There are three different activities that we
talked that spread H.I.V.
1. Unprotected sexual contact
2. Direct blood contact
3. Mother to baby
Review cont.
• What is the only way to be 100% sure way
to make sure you do NOT put your self at
risk to contract H.I.V.?
1. Abstinence – from sex, alcohol, other
drugs and risky behaviors in general!