Teens Unaware Of The Dangers Of AIDS

Teens Unaware Of The Dangers Of AIDS.
The import that AIDS is having on American kids has improved greatly in brand-new years, thanks to productive drugs and prevention methods. The same cannot be said, however, for children worldwide. "Maternal-to-child carrying is down exponentially in the United States because we do a good job at preventing it," said Dr Kimberly Bates, chairman of a clinic for children and families with HIV/AIDS at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

In fact, the chances of a mollycoddle contracting HIV from his or her mother is now less than 1 percent in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, concerns exist. "In a subset of teens, the or slue of infections are up. We've gotten very usefulness at minimizing the stain and treating HIV as a chronic disease, but what goes away with the acceptance is some of the messaging that heightens awareness of risk factors.

Today, multitude are very unclear about what their actual risk is, especially teens". Increasing awareness of the risk of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is one purpose that health experts hope to attain. Across the globe, the AIDS growth has had a harsher effect on children, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Health Organization, about 3,4 million children worldwide had HIV at the end of 2011, with 91 percent of them living in sub-Saharan Africa.

Children with HIV/AIDS regularly acquired it from HIV-infected mothers during pregnancy, emergence or breast-feeding. Interventions that can up the odds of mother-to-child transmission of HIV aren't widely available in developing countries. And, the care that can keep the virus at bay - known as antiretroviral cure - isn't available to the majority of kids living with HIV. Only about 28 percent of children who have occasion for this treatment are getting it, according to the World Health Organization.

In the United States, however, the prospect for a child or teen with HIV is much brighter. "Every time we stop to have a discussion about HIV, the release gets better. The medications are so much simpler, and they can prevent the complications. Although we don't recognize for sure, we anticipate that most teens with HIV today will live a normal life span, and if we get to infants with HIV early, the assumption is that they'll have a regular life span". For kids, though, living with HIV still isn't easy.

And "The toughest department for most young common people is the knowledge that, no matter what, they have to be on medications for the rest of their lives. If you miss a measure of diabetes medication, your blood sugar will go up, but then once you take your medicine again, it's fine. If you slip-up HIV medication, you can become resistant". The medications also are pricey. However a federal program made imaginable by the Ryan White CARE Act helps people who can't pay their medication get help paying for it.

Then there are the side effects. "Every medicine has arrogance effects, and there are at least three separate medications for HIV. They can cause a disruption of sleep, diarrhea, and abdominal issues. They can be toxic to the kidneys and liver. The healthier folk are, the better able they are to brook the side effects, and we have other therapies that can help minimize some of the side effects". There's also uneasiness about how these medications might affect growing children and their developing brains.

Nonetheless, "we're very happy to have the luxury of pensive about what we need to do to make the best life for a child with HIV. We used to be planning for a child's death". Children with HIV are in the main well-accepted today in US communities, unlike the reception some received in the past. Because most children are being treated, their viral responsibility - referring to the level of HIV in the blood - is often undetectable, which means the betide of HIV transmission is very low.

So "Folks in the community are as likely as not a greater risk to a child with HIV, because of all the infections they can give them, than a child with HIV is to them". Yet as far as form care has come in the treatment of HIV, a cure remains elusive. In the spring, researchers reported that, for the foremost time, a baby had achieved long-term remission of HIV after receiving remedying for HIV within 30 hours of birth. Though touted by some as a cure for HIV, the researchers persist cautious.

At least in part, that could be because HIV doesn't act in the same way in every person. "Some clan have the ability to fight off the virus even without any medication, and that's a positive thing for those people and we're in reality looking at those people to get an idea of how we might be able to better target the virus. When we get to the point where there's a rectify for HIV, I think it will be like the polio vaccine. It will still exist in some places, but it will be hugely rare".

In the meantime, one nearly surefire way to prevent new infections in children is to get expectant mothers who are HIV-positive on antiretroviral therapy. "The fantasy situation is for someone who knows she's HIV-positive, who has planned her pregnancy, to cut her viral load as low as possible without medications that we don't vouch for in pregnancy," said Dr Geralyn O'Reilly, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. "Unfortunately, we have a lot of patients who get diagnosed with their fundamental prenatal blood draw.

As soon as we can, we get them on antiretroviral therapy, which helps tremendously to put the transmission rates down". Depending on how well the medication reduces a woman's viral load, she may be able to give confinement vaginally. If the viral load is too high, a cesarean ancestry is scheduled because that further reduces the chance of transmitting the virus.

So "It's never too late," O'Reilly said. "Even if a woman had no prenatal care, there are ways we can try to prevent transmission of HIV". More word Learn more about HIV/AIDS on the AIDS view website.Gov website, sponsored by the us department of health and human services. This HealthDay testimony tells about a mother and daughter who campaign against HIV transmission.