Red Cross Cites Facts, Myths about HIV Transmission
By: Leilani S. Junio, Philippines News Agency
MANILA, Philippines — In observance of World AIDS Day on Thursday, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), in its official Facebook account, shared some facts and myths on the transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
According to the post, there are three ways to transmit HIV — unprotected sexual contact (without use of condoms); blood transfusion (including through needle-sharing among injecting drug users); and mother-to-child transmission (during pregnancy).
On the other hand, the infographic showed that HIV could not be transmitted through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, breathing the same air or sneezes, sweat or contact through sports, tears from someone crying, toilet seats, food utensils or drinking cups, clothes, public baths or swimming pools, mosquito bites, bed bugs, and any other biting insect or animal.
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It is important to know that HIV, the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), does not survive long outside the human body and it cannot reproduce outside a human host.
HIV attacks and weakens the immune system of a person found positive with it. If that person does not get anti-retroviral treatment (ART), his/her immune system will continue to get weak as he/she is exposed to opportunistic infections.
HIV is found in blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal fluids. Semen and vaginal fluids can be transmitted during unprotected sexual acts. If a person had sexual contact with a person positive with HIV, he/she could get infected, especially if the sexual contact was unprotected.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), it is important that those who suspect or are unsure if they have acquired HIV are tested voluntarily.
Testing can be done in different testing centers in the country, such as hospitals, clinics and other testing hubs being run by the health department and its partners from local government units (LGUs) and other organizations wanting to remove the stigma of getting tested.
Some of these testing centers can be found in Klinika Bernardo in Cubao, Quezon City and Klinika Novaliches in Novaliches, QC.
There are also testing centers being run by NGOs, such as loveyourself.
Through confidential testing, testing centers help people who discover they are HIV-positive get the necessary anti-retroviral treatment (ART) provided by the government.
ART can help reduce the harmful effects of HIV and prolong the life of a patient so long as he/she follows the advice of doctors and maintains a healthy lifestyle.
The only way for one to know that he/she has HIV is to get tested.
Early testing can lead to proper diagnosis and will thus give patients hope.
According to the DOH’s Epidemiology Bureau Report, there were 34,999 cases of HIV in the country as of last June.
The figure is projected to rise as the department is aggressively conducting tests to save the lives of patients.
The department noted that from only one case being diagnosed in a day in 2008, the daily figure rose to four in 2010, nine in 2012, 17 in 2014, and at least 26 at present.
This means that in the current trend, at least one Filipino is infected with HIV every hour.
(Source: InterAksyon.com)