What Does HIV Do to the Body?

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a disease that makes it difficult for the body to fight off infectious diseases. The human immunodeficiency virus known as HIV causes AIDS by infecting and damaging part of the body's defenses against infection — lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell in the body's immune (infection-fighting) system that is supposed to fight off invading germs.

HIV can be transmitted through direct contact with the blood or body fluid of someone who is infected with the virus. That contact usually comes from sharing needles or by having unprotected sex with an infected person. An infant could get HIV from a mother who is infected.

Though there are treatments for HIV and AIDS, there are no vaccines or cures for them. But there are things you can do to prevent you and your child from getting the disease.

What Does HIV Do to the Body?

The virus attacks specific lymphocytes called T helper cells (also known as T-cells), takes them over, and multiplies. This destroys more T-cells, which damages the body's ability to fight off invading germs and disease.

When the number of T-cells falls to a very low level, people with HIV become more susceptible to other infections and they may get certain types of cancer that a healthy body would normally be able to fight off. This weakened immunity (or immune deficiency) is known as AIDS and can result in severe life-threatening infections, some forms of cancer, and the deterioration of the nervous system. Although AIDS is always the result of an HIV infection, not everyone with HIV has AIDS. In fact, adults who become infected with HIV may appear healthy for years before they get sick with AIDS.

How Common Are HIV and AIDS?
The first case of AIDS was reported in 1981, but the disease may have existed unrecognized for many years before that. HIV infection leading to AIDS has been a major cause of illness and death among children, teens, and young adults worldwide. AIDS has been the sixth leading cause of death in the United States among 15- to 24-year-olds since 1991.


In recent years, AIDS infection rates have been increasing rapidly among teens and young adults. Half of all new HIV infections in the United States occur in people who are under 25 years old; thousands of teens acquire new HIV infections each year. Most new HIV cases in younger people are transmitted through unprotected sex; one third of these cases are from injection drug usage via the sharing of dirty, blood-contaminated needles.

Among children, most cases of AIDS — and almost all new HIV infections — resulted from transmission of the HIV virus from the mother to her child during pregnancy, birth, or through breastfeeding.

Fortunately, medicines currently given to HIV-positive pregnant women have reduced mother-to-child HIV transmission tremendously in the United States. These drugs (discussed in detail in the Drug Treatments section of this article) are also used to slow or reduce some of the effects of the disease in people who are already infected. Unfortunately, these medicines have not been readily available worldwide, particularly in the poorer nations hardest hit by the epidemic. Providing access to these life-saving treatments has become an issue of global importance.

How Is HIV Transmitted?
HIV is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or body fluid of someone who is infected with the virus.

The three main ways HIV is passed to a very young child are:

while the baby develops in the mother's uterus (intrauterine)
at the time of birth
during breastfeeding
Among teens, the virus is most commonly spread through high-risk behaviors, including:

unprotected sexual intercourse (oral, vaginal, or anal sex)
sharing needles used to inject drugs or other substances (including contaminated needles used for injecting steroids and tattooing and body art)
In very rare cases, HIV has also been transmitted by direct contact with an open wound of an infected person (the virus may be introduced through a small cut or tear on the body of the healthy person) and through blood transfusions. Since 1985, the U.S. blood supply has been carefully screened for HIV.

Signs and Symptoms of HIV
Although there may be no immediate physical signs of HIV infection at birth, signs of the infection might appear within 2 to 3 months after a child is born. Kids who are born with HIV can develop opportunistic infections, which are illnesses that can develop in weakened immune systems, such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). A child with HIV may also get more severe bouts of other common childhood infections, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, which generally causes mild illness in most kids. In developing countries, tuberculosis has been a particularly common problem and often the cause of death of children and adults.

A baby born with HIV infection most likely will appear healthy. But sometimes, within 2 to 3 months after birth, an infected baby may begin to appear sick, with poor weight gain, repeated fungal mouth infections (thrush), enlarged lymph nodes, enlarged liver or spleen, neurological problems, and multiple bacterial infections, including pneumonia.

Teens and young adults who contract HIV usually show no symptoms at the time of infection. In fact, it may take up to 10 years or more for symptoms to show. During this time, they can pass on the virus without even knowing they have it themselves. Once the symptoms of AIDS appear, they can include rapid weight loss, intense fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, persistent diarrhea, night sweats, or pneumonia. They, too, will be susceptible to life-threatening opportunistic infections.

Diagnosing HIV Infections and AIDS
Every pregnant woman should be tested for HIV to have a better chance of preventing transmission to her unborn child.

If a woman knows she is HIV-infected and already has children, it is recommended that all of her children be tested for HIV. Even if she has older children and they seem healthy, they could still have an HIV infection if she was HIV-positive at the time they were born. A blood test is needed to know for sure.

However, when a new baby is born to an HIV-infected mother, there is no immediate way to know whether the baby is infected with the virus. This is because if the mother is infected, an ELISA test (which checks for HIV antibodies in the blood) will almost always be positive, too. Babies will have their HIV-infected mother's antibodies (which are passed to the baby through the placenta) even if they are not truly infected with HIV. These babies may remain HIV-antibody positive for up to 18 months after birth, even if they are not actually infected.

Infants who are not actually infected with the virus (but are born to HIV-positive mothers) will not make their own antibodies; the HIV antibodies that came from their mothers will gradually disappear from their blood before they reach 2 years of age. Any blood tests performed after this point will likely be HIV-negative. Infants who are infected with HIV from their mothers will begin to make their own HIV antibodies and will generally remain HIV-positive after 18 months of age.

The most accurate diagnosis of HIV infection in early infancy comes from tests that show the presence of the virus itself (not HIV antibodies) in the body. These tests include an HIV viral culture and PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a blood test that looks for the DNA of the virus.

Older children, teens, and adults are tested for HIV infection by an ELISA test to detect the presence of HIV antibodies in the blood. Antibodies are specific proteins that the body produces to fight infections; HIV-specific antibodies are produced in response to infection with HIV. Someone with antibodies against HIV is said to be HIV-positive. If the ELISA test is positive, it is always confirmed by another test called a Western blot. If both of these tests are positive, the patient is almost certainly infected with HIV.

Can Young Children Spread HIV?
Across the United States, there have been only a handful of reported cases where HIV infection was contagious from a child to another person. All of those cases involved direct blood contact within a household. The typical baby secretions (urine, drool, spit up, vomit, feces, etc.) do not seem to transmit the virus, so routine care of babies with HIV is considered safe.

Despite widespread concerns, there are no reported transmissions of HIV within a school or child-care setting. Because the danger in transmitting HIV involves direct contact with blood, personnel at schools and child-care programs should routinely use gloves when any child has a cut, scrape, or is bleeding.

Transmission of HIV Among Teens
Among teens, HIV is spread mostly through unprotected sex with an infected person or sharing intravenous drug needles. Education of children and teens is vitally important to help prevent sexual transmission of HIV, as well as other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, syphilis, and genital warts. Many STDs cause irritation, sores, or ulcers of the skin and mucous membranes that the virus can pass through. Having an STD, such as genital herpes, for example, has been proven to increase a person's risk of getting HIV if he or she has unprotected sex with someone who is HIV-positive.

HIV is not spread through:

casual contact, such as hugs or handshakes
drinking glasses
sneezes
coughs
mosquitoes or other insects
towels
toilet seats
doorknobs
Opportunistic Infections
Opportunistic infections (infections that take advantage of a person's weakened immune system) are the most common complication of HIV/AIDS. Sometimes adults with HIV/AIDS can get an infection from germs that do not normally cause illness in a healthy person (like cryptococcus). People with AIDS (especially children) can get a severe version of a more common infection, such as salmonella (a type of diarrhea-causing bacteria) and chickenpox.

In kids with HIV, the following opportunistic infections and conditions can frequently occur:

viral infections like a form of chronic walking pneumonia called lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP), herpes simplex virus, shingles, and the cytomegalovirus infection
parasitic infections such as PCP, a pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis carinii, a microscopic parasite that can't be fought off due to a weakened immune system, and toxoplasmosis
serious bacterial infections such as bacterial meningitis, tuberculosis, and salmonellosis
fungal infections such as esophagitis (inflammation of the esophagus), and candidiasis or thrush (yeast infection)
Other Complications
Children with HIV are also at higher risk for some forms of cancer because of their weakened immune systems. Lymphomas associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection are more common in older kids with HIV.

The most difficult conditions to treat in kids who have HIV or AIDS are the wasting syndrome (the inability to maintain body weight due to long-term poor appetite and other infections related to HIV disease) and HIV encephalopathy (due to HIV infection of the brain that causes swelling and then damage to the brain's tissues over time). HIV encephalopathy results in AIDS dementia, especially in adults. Wasting syndrome can sometimes be helped with nutritional counseling and daily high-calorie supplements, but preventing HIV encephalopathy remains extremely difficult.

Treating AIDS and HIV
Two major advances in the treatment of HIV/AIDS have occurred over the last 20 years. One is the development of drugs that inhibit the virus's growth, preventing or delaying the onset of AIDS and allowing people living with HIV to remain free of symptoms longer. The other is the development of medications that have proven very important in reducing the transmission of the virus from an HIV-infected mother to her child.

Drug Treatments
As medical understanding about how the virus invades the body and multiplies within cells has increased, drugs to inhibit its growth and slow its spread have been developed. Drug treatment for HIV/AIDS is complicated and expensive, but highly effective in slowing the replication (reproduction) of the virus and preventing or reducing some effects of the disease.

Drugs to treat HIV/AIDS use at least three strategies:

interfering with HIV's reproduction of its genetic material (these drugs are classified as nucleoside or nucleotide anti-retrovirals)
interfering with the enzymes HIV needs to take over certain body cells (these are called protease inhibitors)
interfering with HIV's ability to pack its genetic material into viral code — that is, the genetic "script" HIV needs to be able to reproduce itself (these are called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors [NNRTIs])
Because these drugs work in different ways, doctors generally prescribe a "combination cocktail" of these drugs that are taken every day. This regimen is known as HAART treatment (HAART stands for highly active antiretroviral therapy). Doctors may also prescribe drugs to prevent certain opportunistic infections — for example, some antibiotics can help prevent PCP, especially in kids.

Although a number of medicines are available to treat HIV infection and slow the onset of AIDS, unless they are taken and administered properly on a round-the-clock schedule, the virus can quickly become resistant to that particular mix of medications. HIV is very adaptable and finds ways to outsmart medical treatments that are not followed properly. This means that if prescribed medicines are not taken at the correct times every day, they will soon fail to keep HIV from reproducing and taking over the body. When that happens, a new regimen will need to be established with different drugs. And if this new mix of medicines is not taken correctly, the virus will likely become resistant to it as well and eventually the person will run out of treatment options.

Aside from the difficulty of getting young children to take their medication on a timed schedule, the medications present other problems. Some have unpleasant side effects, such as a bad flavor, whereas others are only available in pill form, which may be difficult for kids to swallow. Parents who need to give their child these medications should ask the doctor or pharmacist for suggestions on making them easier to take. Many pharmacies now offer flavoring that can be added to bad-tasting medicines, or your doctor may recommend mixing pills with applesauce or pudding.

Because the number of drugs described above is still limited, doctors are concerned that if children fail to take their medicines as prescribed (even missing just a few doses), the virus could eventually develop resistance to existing HIV drugs — making treatment difficult or impossible. It is then doubly important that kids take their medications as directed. One of the most important home treatment messages for any parent or caregiver that the child should take all medications consistently, at the time the prescription indicates. This can be difficult — but many HIV/AIDS family support groups and experienced medical providers can help families with practical suggestions to help them be successful with the many day-to-day challenges they face.

Many of the new medications that fight HIV infection are expensive. One of the major challenges facing individuals, families, communities, and nations is how to make these medications easily available to all that need them.

Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV
When a pregnant HIV-infected woman receives good medical care early and takes antiviral medications regularly during her pregnancy, the chance that she will pass HIV to her unborn baby is dramatically reduced.

It is important that any pregnant woman who knows she is HIV-positive start prenatal care as soon as possible to take full advantage of such treatments. The sooner a mother receives treatment, the greater the likelihood her baby will not get HIV.

An HIV-infected mother can receive medical treatment:

before the birth of her baby: antiviral treatments given to the mother in the third trimester can help prevent HIV transmission to the baby
at the time of birth: antiviral medications can be given to both the mother and the newborn child to lower the risk of HIV transmission that can occur during the birth process (which exposes the newborn to the mother's blood and fluids); in addition, the mother will be encouraged to formula-feed rather than breastfeed because HIV can be transmitted to her baby through breast milk
during breastfeeding: because breastfeeding is discouraged among HIV-infected mothers, this type of transmission is rare in the United States. However, in places in the world where formula is not readily available, both the mother and child can be treated with medication to lower the risk of the HIV infection to the breastfeeding child.
In the past, before antiviral medicines were routinely given, almost 25% of children born to HIV-infected mothers developed the disease and died by 24 months of age. Recent studies have shown that mothers with HIV or AIDS who get good prenatal care and regularly take antiviral drugs during their pregnancy now have less than a 5% chance of passing HIV to their babies. If these babies do get the HIV virus, they tend to be born with a lower viral load (less HIV virus is present in their bodies) and have a better chance of long-term, disease-free survival.

Long-Term Care of Kids With HIV/AIDS
Cases of HIV infection and AIDS in children are complicated and should be managed by experienced health care professionals. Kids will need to have their treatment schedules closely monitored and adjusted regularly. Any infections that could become life threatening must be quickly recognized and treated.

Medicines are adjusted in relation to the child's viral load. The child's health is also monitored by frequent measurement of T-cell levels because these are the cells that the HIV virus destroys. A good T-cell count is a positive sign that medical treatments are working to keep the disease under control.

Children will need to visit their health care providers often for blood work, physical examinations, and discussions about how they and their families are coping socially with any stress from their disease. Some immunizations during routine visits may be slightly different for infants or children with HIV/AIDS. A child whose immune system is severely compromised will not receive live virus vaccines including measles-mumps-rubella and varicella (chickenpox). All other routine immunizations are given as usual, and a yearly influenza vaccine (flu shot) is recommended as well.

If a family seeks health care in a hospital emergency department, parents should be sure to tell the nurse who registers the child that the child has HIV. This will alert medical caregivers to look closely for any signs of diseases from opportunistic infections and provide the best possible treatment.

Outlook for HIV and AIDS
There is no known cure for HIV or AIDS. Children who acquire HIV at birth develop AIDS sooner and tend to have more serious complications than adults with the virus.

Although all children, teens, and adults with HIV will eventually become sick, recent medical advances have significantly improved their chance for survival. Drug treatments can allow people living with HIV to remain free of symptoms for longer and can improve quality of life for people living with AIDS.

Preventing HIV and AIDS
Prevention of HIV remains of worldwide importance. Despite much research, there is no vaccine that will prevent HIV infection. Only the avoidance of risky behaviors can prevent HIV infection. Among U.S. teens and adults, HIV transmission is almost always the result of sexual contact with an infected person or sharing contaminated needles. Infection can be prevented by never sharing needles, and abstaining, or not having oral, vaginal, or anal sex.

Risk can be substantially reduced by always using latex condoms for all types of sexual intercourse, and avoiding contact with the blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk of an infected person.

Avoidance of alcohol and drugs is also key in preventing the spread of HIV — not because a person can get HIV directly from drinking and doing drugs, but because drinking and drug use often leads to risky behaviors that are associated with an increased risk of infection (such as having unprotected sex and sharing needles).

The most important means of preventing HIV/AIDS in infancy is to test all pregnant women for the virus. If the result is positive, treatment can immediately begin before the baby is born to prevent HIV transmission.

Talking With Kids About HIV and AIDS
Talking about HIV and AIDS means talking about sexual behaviors — and it's not always easy for parents to talk about sexual feelings and behavior with their kids. Similarly, it's not always easy for teens to open up or to believe that issues like HIV and AIDS can affect them.

Doctors and counselors suggest that parents become knowledgeable and comfortable discussing sex and other difficult issues early on, even before the teen years. After all, the issues involved — understanding the body and sexuality, adopting healthy behaviors, respecting others, and dealing with feelings — are topics that have meaning at all ages (though how parents talk with their children will vary according to the child's age and ability to understand). Open communication and good listening skills are vital for parents and kids.


Posted by: Adnan

What is HIV ?

What is HIV?

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)
HIV is a virus. Viruses infect the cells that make up the human body and replicate (make new copies of themselves) within those cells. A virus can also damage human cells, which is one of the things that can make a person ill.

HIV can be passed from one person to another. Someone can become infected with HIV through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who already has HIV.

HIV stands for the 'Human Immunodeficiency Virus'. Someone who is diagnosed as infected with HIV is said to be 'HIV+' or 'HIV positive'.

Why is HIV dangerous?
The immune system is a group of cells and organs that protect your body by fighting disease. The human immune system usually finds and kills viruses fairly quickly.

So if the body's immune system attacks and kills viruses, what's the problem?

Different viruses attack different parts of the body - some may attack the skin, others the lungs, and so on. The common cold is caused by a virus. What makes HIV so dangerous is that it attacks the immune system itself - the very thing that would normally get rid of a virus. It particularly attacks a special type of immune system cell known as a CD4 lymphocyte.

HIV has a number of tricks that help it to evade the body's defences, including very rapid mutation. This means that once HIV has taken hold, the immune system can never fully get rid of it.

There isn't any way to tell just by looking if someone's been infected by HIV. In fact a person infected with HIV may look and feel perfectly well for many years and may not know that they are infected. But as the person's immune system weakens they become increasingly vulnerable to illnesses, many of which they would previously have fought off easily.

The only reliable way to tell whether someone has HIV is for them to take a blood test, which can detect infection from a few weeks after the virus first entered the body.

When HIV causes AIDS
A damaged immune system is not only more vulnerable to HIV, but also to the attacks of other infections. It won't always have the strength to fight off things that wouldn't have bothered it before.

As time goes by, a person who has been infected with HIV is likely to become ill more and more often until, usually several years after infection, they become ill with one of a number of particularly severe illnesses. It is at this point in the stages of HIV infection that they are said to have AIDS - when they first become seriously ill, or when the number of immune system cells left in their body drops below a particular point. Different countries have slightly different ways of defining the point at which a person is said to have AIDS rather than HIV.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is an extremely serious condition, and at this stage the body has very little defence against any sort of infection.

How long does HIV take to become AIDS?
Without drug treatment, HIV infection usually progresses to AIDS in an average of ten years. This average, though, is based on a person having a reasonable diet. Someone who is malnourished may well progress to AIDS and death more rapidly.

Antiretroviral medication can prolong the time between HIV infection and the onset of AIDS. Modern combination therapy is highly effective and, theoretically, someone with HIV can live for a long time before it becomes AIDS. These medicines, however, are not widely available in many poor countries around the world, and millions of people who cannot access medication continue to die.

How is HIV passed on?
HIV is found in the blood and the sexual fluids of an infected person, and in the breast milk of an infected woman. HIV transmission occurs when a sufficient quantity of these fluids get into someone else's bloodstream. There are various ways a person can become infected with HIV.

Ways in which you can be infected with HIV :
Unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person Sexual intercourse without a condom is risky, because the virus, which is present in an infected person's sexual fluids, can pass directly into the body of their partner. This is true for unprotected vaginal and anal sex. Oral sex carries a lower risk, but again HIV transmission can occur here if a condom is not used - for example, if one partner has bleeding gums or an open cut, however small, in their mouth.
Contact with an infected person's blood If sufficient blood from an infected person enters someone else's body then it can pass on the virus.
From mother to child HIV can be transmitted from an infected woman to her baby during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding. There are special drugs that can greatly reduce the chances of this happening, but they are unavailable in much of the developing world.
Use of infected blood products Many people in the past have been infected with HIV by the use of blood transfusions and blood products which were contaminated with the virus - in hospitals, for example. In much of the world this is no longer a significant risk, as blood donations are routinely tested.
Injecting drugs People who use injected drugs are also vulnerable to HIV infection. In many parts of the world, often because it is illegal to possess them, injecting equipment or works are shared. A tiny amount of blood can transmit HIV, and can be injected directly into the bloodstream with the drugs.
It is not possible to become infected with HIV through :
sharing crockery and cutlery
insect / animal bites
touching, hugging or shaking hands
eating food prepared by someone with HIV
toilet seats
HIV facts and myths

People with HIV look just like

everybody else
Around the world, there are a number of different myths about HIV and AIDS. Here are some of the more common ones :

'You would have to drink a bucket of infected saliva to become infected yourself' . . . Yuck! This is a typical myth. HIV is found in saliva, but in quantities too small to infect someone. If you drink a bucket of saliva from an HIV positive person, you won't become infected. There has been only one recorded case of HIV transmission via kissing, out of all the many millions of kisses. In this case, both partners had extremely badly bleeding gums.

'Sex with a virgin can cure HIV' . . . This myth is common in some parts of Africa, and it is totally untrue. The myth has resulted in many rapes of young girls and children by HIV+ men, who often infect their victims. Rape won't cure anything and is a serious crime all around the world.

'It only happens to gay men / black people / young people, etc' . . . This myth is false. Most people who become infected with HIV didn't think it would happen to them, and were wrong.

'HIV can pass through latex' . . . Some people have been spreading rumours that the virus is so small that it can pass through 'holes' in latex used to make condoms. This is untrue. The fact is that latex blocks HIV, as well as sperm - preventing pregnancy, too.

What does 'safe sex' mean?
Safe sex refers to sexual activities which do not involve any blood or sexual fluid from one person getting into another person's body. If two people are having safe sex then, even if one person is infected, there is no possibility of the other person becoming infected. Examples of safe sex are cuddling, mutual masturbation, 'dry' (or 'clothed') sex . . .

In many parts of the world, particularly the USA, people are taught that the best form of safe sex is no sex - also called 'sexual abstinence'. Abstinence isn't a form of sex at all - it involves avoiding all sexual activity. Usually, young people are taught that they should abstain sexually until they marry, and then remain faithful to their partner. This is a good way for someone to avoid HIV infection, as long as their husband or wife is also completely faithful and doesn't infect them.

What is 'safer sex'?
Safer sex is used to refer to a range of sexual activities that hold little risk of HIV infection.

Safer sex is often taken to mean using a condom for sexual intercourse. Using a condom makes it very hard for the virus to pass between people when they are having sexual intercourse. A condom, when used properly, acts as a physical barrier that prevents infected fluid getting into the other person's body.

Is kissing risky?
Kissing someone on the cheek, also known as social kissing, does not pose any risk of HIV transmission.

Deep or open-mouthed kissing is considered a very low risk activity for transmission of HIV. This is because HIV is present in saliva but only in very minute quantities, insufficient to lead to HIV infection alone.

There has only been one documented instance of HIV infection as a result of kissing out of all the millions of cases recorded. This was as a result of infected blood getting into the mouth of the other person during open-mouthed kissing, and in this instance both partners had seriously bleeding gums.

Can anything 'create' HIV?
No. Unprotected sex, for example, is only risky if one partner is infected with the virus. If your partner is not carrying HIV, then no type of sex or sexual activity between you is going to cause you to become infected - you can't 'create' HIV by having unprotected anal sex, for example.

You also can't become infected through masturbation. In fact nothing you do on your own is going to give you HIV - it can only be transmitted from another person who already has the virus.

Is there a cure for AIDS?

HIV medication can slow the

progress of the virus
Worryingly, surveys show that many people think that there's a 'cure' for AIDS - which makes them feel safer, and perhaps take risks that they otherwise shouldn't. These people are wrong, though - there is still no cure for AIDS.

There is antiretroviral medication which slows the progression from HIV to AIDS, and which can keep some people healthy for many years. In some cases, the antiretroviral medication seems to stop working after a number of years, but in other cases people can recover from AIDS and live with HIV for a very long time. But they have to take powerful medication every day of their lives, sometimes with very unpleasant side effects.

There is still no way to cure AIDS, and at the moment the only way to remain safe is not to become infected.



Posted by: Adnan

HIV & AIDS in Pakistan

Fighting HIV & AIDS in Pakistan: UNICEF Strategy

Executive Summary
Fighting HIV/AIDS in Pakistan: UNICEF Strategy and Major Lines of Action explains a strategy and six lines of action for the HIV/AIDS intervention of the UNICEF Pakistan Country Programme. The need for this strategy arose from UNICEF decision to develop HIV/AIDS as a cross-sectoral theme, several international and UNICEF global commitments, the funding of the Government of Pakistan’s Enhanced HIV/AIDS Control Programme, and a growing understanding of the potential impact of HIV/AIDS on young people in Pakistan. While there is limited data on risk behaviours and HIV prevalence in Pakistan, there is evidence to show high levels of risk behaviours among vulnerable groups. This includes low condom use among female sex workers and syringe sharing among injecting drug users – both predictors of a growing epidemic. WHO/UNAIDS forecast modeling estimated, in 2002, that there were approximately 70,000-80,000 people infected. What this might mean for young people is uncertain, as no sero- or behavioural surveillance of young people have been conducted.
In order to better understand UNICEF’s challenges in developing and implementing HIV/AIDS programming for young people, including adolescents, a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) was conducted. The proposed lines of action for UNICEF reflect its comparative advantages and existing opportunities.
Despite the many challenges to delivering HIV prevention programming to young people around the world, there is growing evidence, after two decades of experience, that risks and new infections among young people can be reduced. It is from the hopeful perspective that UNICEF chooses to confront an epidemic, which shows signs in Pakistan, of advancing from a low prevalence/emerging epidemic to a concentrated epidemic in the near future.
Accepting the possibility of an expanding epidemic, the Government of Pakistan and its bilateral and multilateral development partners have moved quickly, in recent years, to develop the national, provincial and district response to HIV/AIDS. Given the early stage of the epidemic, a policy decision has been made to focus the majority of efforts on the prevention of new infections. For UNICEF, this means balancing between a focus on prevention work with the wider general population of young people, including adolescents, and a focus on those young people who are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Finding this balance will be a matter for ongoing review and adjustment.


Posted by: Adnan

Know about Ovarian Cancer

Women must be very attentive at any sign or symptom that could indicate an ovarian cancer. The symptoms generally match with other affections too but if the patient goes at the doctor’s for a check-up the doctor will be able to tell whether it is cancer or not.Some of the key symptoms are abdominal pain or pressure, bloating or swelling, urgent urinating and pelvic discomfort. Some might experience an indigestion that lasts a long time, nausea, the loss of appetite and weight, fatigability, discomfort during sexual intercourse, and even a low back pain. Diagnosing ovarian cancer can take a lot of time from three to six months because at first the digestive affections have to be eliminated and then the urinary problems too. only if the symptoms persist a lot of time then the doctor would consider the ovarian cancer a possibility.The causes of the ovarian cancer are not known exactly, some doctors say that one cause is the tissue repair process that starts functioning after the egg is released, and others say that the feminine hormones are guilty for the uncontrollable division of the cells.The scientists have classified the ovary tumors in three: the epithelial tumors which affect the postmenopausal women; the germ cell tumors who affect young women and the stromal tumors which can be found in the tissue that is responsible with the production of the feminine hormones.It seems that there are persons which are more exposed to ovarian cancer than others. Persons that have inherited a gene which is responsible with breast cancer or with colon cancer occurrence are exposed to ovarian cancer too. Those who have a family history of ovarian cancer are also at risk of having themselves the disease after some years. Women who are at the menopause and who have never given birth are at risk. Those women that have an ovarian cyst, who suffer of unexplained infertility and who are obese since they were 18 can develop ovarian cancer at a moment in their lives. The best thing is to pay attention to any malfunctioning of your body and to go for a check-up periodically because ovarian cancer is easier to treat in its early stages and the recuperation of the patient is faster if treatment is applied promptly.



Posted by: Adnan

Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer and more....

If you experience any of the above symptoms over two or three weeks and if it gets worse with time, you should get yourself tested for ovarian cancer. As these symptoms could be associated with any other disease or minor ailment, it is impossible to diagnose ovarian cancer on their merit alone. The doctor will conduct a pelvic exam, an abdominal or vaginal ultrasound, and a blood test to check for the presence of CA 125. None of these tests are conclusive in themselves. But, a positive count on two or more of the tests should be followed by a biopsy (laparotomy) or a laparoscopy to rule out or diagnose ovarian cancer. A very small percentage of women facing these symptoms are diagnosed with the dreaded disease. And sometimes, women can reach the very last stages of cancer with no symptoms at all. The best you can do is to maintain a healthy lifestyle and undergo an annual examination to catch the cancer before it metastasizes.


Posted by: Adnan

Abortion raises premature birth risk and more about it....?

Premature birth (also known as preterm birth) is the birth of a baby before the standard period of pregnancy is completed. In most systems of human pregnancy, prematurity is considered to occur when the baby is born sooner than 37 weeks after the beginning of the last menstrual period (LMP). The opposite condition, postmature birth, is defined as birth more than 42 weeks after the LMP. The standard length of a human gestation is 266 days. However, for convenience most timing is based on the LMP, with conception being assumed to occur approximately 14 days after the LMP, making a standard term pregnancy 280 days or 40 weeks. Premature or preterm birth is defined medically as childbirth occurring earlier than 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Approximately 12 percent of babies in the United States or 1 in 8 are born prematurely each year. London: Pregnant and planning abortion? Just give a second thought because it might triple the risk of your subsequent baby being born premature or underweight which is strongly linked to deaths in the first week of life. A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found that women who abort their child are likely to give birth to premature or underweight babies in future, 'The Times' reported today. The same holds true for women who have a miscarriage, according to the researchers. "Infections or adhesions (due to surgery) in the womb slow the growth of subsequent babies," lead researcher Tilahun Adera of the Virginia Commonwealth University in the United States was quoted as saying. The team came to the conclusion after analysing a data of more than 45,000 births. The records were linked to details of the mother's medical history, but did not distinguish between abortion and miscarriage. The data related to 1959-66, when abortion was far less common and women would have been reluctant to admit to having had one. The researchers found that a single abortion or miscarriage almost tripled the risk of low birthweight; two increased the risk about fivefold; and three increased the risk ninefold. A miscarriage or abortion increased the risk of a subsequent baby being premature by 70 per cent, two doubled the risk and three tripled it -- the results are published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure and heavy drinking were also taken into consideration. "Though the study is the largest done in the US, it has limits, the most salient being the data didn't distinguish between abortion and miscarriage”. For more details on Abortion raises premature birth risk visit www.halfvalue.com and www.halfvalue.co.uk For more information on books visit

Posted by: Adnan

King’s breakthrough in fight against Cancer

A team at King’s have identified a switch that could boost the body’s own anti-cancer mechanisms and fight tumours. Scientists believe that the body's immune system recognises abnormal cells and attacks them before they evolve to be cancerous, implying that cancer would be even a more common disease without this mechanism.The team led by Professor Adrian Hayday and Dr Jessica Strid, working with a team at Yale University led by Dr Mike Girardi, raised the prospect that this natural anti-cancer mechanism can be enhanced. Lead researcher Professor Hayday comments, ‘Increasingly, the scientific data suggest that every day, your incidence of cancer is limited by your immune system, it seems to be patrolling day to day, keeping cancer levels lower.’ The team reports in the journal Nature Immunology that the key lies in a molecule known as Rae-1 which is switched on in the skin of mice soon after exposure to carcinogenic chemicals and agents, and often long before a tumour is formed.The study shows quite unexpectedly, that this molecule is on its own enough to drive a re-organisation of the immune system that includes the rapid recruitment into the skin of a special subset of T lymphocytes cells not usually found there. When the white cells that recognise Rae-1 were removed, there was increased incidence of solid tumours after exposure to cancer causing chemicals. Professor Hayday says, ‘The seemingly inescapable conclusion is that as soon as Rae-1 is switched on during cell transformation, the event is visible to the immune system.’ In human beings, the immune system in the gut shares many features in common with mouse skin, including the rapid activation of a molecule, known as MICA, which is arguably the human equivalent of Rae-1. So perhaps the greatest clinical relevance is to bowel cancers.’It is thought that the reason the immune system fails, allowing cancer to develop is based on the fact that tumours can seemingly manipulate the manufacture of Rae-1 (and of other related molecules) so that, after a while, they actually begin to use the immune system's own tools to suppress the response. Indeed, Professor Hayday’s study clearly shows that some affected immune cell populations in skin were found to suppress the body’s capacity to reject tumours. As always, a fine balance needs to be achieved, but by identifying the key molecules involved, approaches to this seem plausible. Indeed, the study should breed "immense optimism" that the immune system contains within it cells that are indeed ready and able to identify tumours at an early stage of development, says Professor Hayday, and that if there is good "functional follow-through" tumour growth may indeed be stopped in its tracks.Professor Peter Parker Head of the Division of Cancer at King’s College London comments, ‘The recognition and elimination of cancerous and precancerous cells by the immune system has immense potential for the treatment of this disease. The identification by Adrian and his colleagues of Rae-1 as a cancer associated target for such immuno-recognition provides a strong impetus towards developing this as a line of therapeutic attack in patients.’ Professor Hayday explains, ‘The Rae-1 equivalent molecules in humans, MICA and MICB, clearly deserve investigation by drug companies so that a mimic might be developed to help turbocharge the body's anticancer mechanism, notably to help tumours of the bowel, lung, prostate and breast tumours. If it can be manipulated, it has relevance to the major solid tumours.’The paper 'Acute upregulation of an NKG2D ligand promotes rapid reorganization of a local immune compartment with pleiotropic effects on carcinogenesis' is available online. Notes to editorsKing's College LondonKing's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has 19,300 students from more than 130 countries, and 5,000 employees. King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres – more than any other university.

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New protein discovered to block HIV

New protein discovered to block HIV18 Jan 2008, PR 14/08 The discovery of a novel human protein called tetherin which appears to block the replication of HIV-1 thereby halting the spread of the virus, has been made by Dr Stuart Neil, Lecturer in the Department of Infectious Diseases at King’s College London.Dr Neil isolated tetherin whilst working in the group of Paul Bieniasz at Rockefeller University’s Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York. This breakthrough study published in Nature is particularly exciting because tetherin might be an important antiviral inhibitor of many diverse viruses. Lead researcher Dr Stuart Neil and a team of researchers in the Infectious Disease Department at King’s will set up a laboratory to focus on trying to understand the mechanisms by which the HIV-1 gene Vpu counteracts tetherin. Dr Neil comments; ‘With this new discovery there is potential for opening up a novel drug target for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Understanding how Vpu takes out the activity of Tetherin will facilitate the design of therapeutics to inhibit this part of the virus, allowing the cell’s natural defence systems to interfere with HIV replication.' The research will be funded by the Wellcome Trust.Understanding VpuHIV-1, the virus responsible for the AIDS pandemic, encodes several small proteins whose role is to subvert host mechanisms that block viral replication. One protein, termed Vpu, is known to overcome a factor in infected human cells that interferes with the release of new HIV-1 virus particles. This novel protein tetherin appears to block the replication of HIV-1 that lacks a Vpu gene by keeping newly produced viral particles stuck to the surface infected cells, and preventing the spread of the virus.The HIV protein Vpu is required for the release of viral particles, and evidence for a tetherin molecule has accumulated over the last few years. Paul Bieniasz and colleagues show that Vpu works to neutralize the host cell protein CD317, which they rename tetherin. In this way it allows efficient discharge of HIV-1 particles from infected cells. The team argue that inhibition of virus release by tetherin is a previously unknown mechanism by which organisms protect themselves against certain viruses. (Nature Press Release)In the absence of a Vpu gene, the production of HIV-1 from human cells is inefficient because a human factor prevents the release new viral particles, leaving them stuck on the cell surface. This effect is far more pronounced when cells are treated with Interferon, a protein released from virally infected cells that tells the surrounding tissue to shut-down virus replication. Dr Neil explains: ‘We isolated tetherin by looking for genes in human cells that were induced by interferon. Tetherin is a protein found in the cell membrane whose function was until now unknown. We showed that expression of tetherin was sufficient to block the replication of HIV-1 that lacked a Vpu gene, but a functional Vpu protein negated tetherin’s effect. Thus we believe HIV-1 encodes Vpu as a way of getting round the antiviral effects of Tetherin. Understanding the mechanism by which Vpu does this may allow us to design drugs that inhibit its function, allowing Tetherin again to block HIV release, and suppress the ability of the virus to spread to new cells.’The paper Tetherin inhibits retrovirus release and is antagonized by HIV-1 Vpu is available online.Notes to editorsFigure 1. In the absence of Vpu, expression of Tetherin causes newly made HIV-1 particles to remain stuck on the surface of infected cells, preventing their spread to new uninfected cellsKing's College LondonKing's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has 19,300 students from more than 130 countries, and 5,000 employees. King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres – more than any other university.


posted by Adnan