Whether infection vich in a life is possible or probable. Risk of hepatitis C infection in the home
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Two weeks after a child was first cured of HIV, scientists say that similar treatment can help adults.
The most important thing is to start treatment early, although this does not guarantee success.
Professor Azie Saez-Siriona(Asier Sáez-Cirion) from Pasteur Institute in Paris analyzed 70 people with HIV who were treated with antiretrovirals between days 35 and 10 weeks after infection. This is much earlier than HIV patients are usually treated.
The medication regimen of all participants was interrupted for various reasons. For example, some people have made the decision to stop taking their medications themselves, while others have tried other drugs.
In most volunteers, the disease returned after stopping treatment, and the virus recurred to the level it was before treatment. But 14 patients, including 4 women and 10 men, had no recurrence of the virus after stopping treatment conducted over a period of 3 years on average.
Although 14 patients had traces of HIV in their blood, their levels were so low that their bodies could control it without medication.
Treatment of HIV infection
Average 14 participants stopped taking medication 7 years ago, and one of them coped without drugs for 10.5 years.
More recently, a baby was declared "functionally cured" of HIV after being prescribed three antiretroviral drugs almost immediately after birth: zidovudine, lamivudine And nevirapine. However, experts have warned that quick treatment is not for everyone, but it is important to start as early as possible.
"There are three benefits of early treatment," Sáez-Siriona explained. "It limits the HIV reservoir, the diversity of the virus, and keeps the immune response to the virus in check."
However, none of the 14 patients was the so-called "super-controller", that is, 1 percent of people who are naturally resistant to HIV and quickly suppress the infection. In addition, most had severe symptoms that led to early treatment.
"As paradoxical as it may sound, the worse they were at the beginning, the better they felt afterwards", the scientists said.
How long does it take for HIV to show up?
A month or two (2-4 weeks at the earliest) after HIV has entered the body, the first signs of infection may appear. But sometimes symptoms of HIV may not appear for years or even a dozen years after infection. That's why it's important to get tested for HIV to help detect the presence of the virus.
The first signs of HIV
During the first 2-4 weeks after HIV exposure (and up to 3 months), 40-90 percent of people may develop acute flu-like symptoms. It is called " acute retroviral syndrome" and is a natural response to an HIV infection. At this time, the level of the virus in the blood is high, and a person can more easily pass it on to others.
Symptoms may be present such as:
Heat
night sweats
A sore throat
Muscle pain
Headache
Fatigue
Enlarged lymph nodes
After the early symptoms of HIV disappear, the virus becomes less active, although it is still present in the body. During this time, the person may not experience any symptoms. It is called latent phase, which can last up to 10 years and longer.
After HIV turns into AIDS, symptoms of fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, fever, chills, and others appear.
The likelihood of contracting HIV
The risk of HIV infection depends on various factors.
Transfusion of infected blood - about 90 percent
Pregnancy and childbirth - 30-50 percent
Breastfeeding - about 14 percent
Intravenous injection - 0.5 -1 percent
Accidental needle stick with HIV - 0.3 percent
Unprotected anal sex - 3 percent
Unprotected vaginal sex - about 1 percent
Hepatitis C is a common viral liver disease. Whom does it threaten? What are the modes of transmission of the virus? What precautions should be taken in everyday life in order not to encounter it? Let's consider these questions further.
It is worth emphasizing the danger of infection with the hepatitis virus: even when it becomes chronic, it causes irreparable harm to the patient's liver, eventually leading to cirrhosis. It also increases the chance of liver cancer.
Hepatitis is most severely tolerated by people who abuse alcohol, as well as children and the elderly. In some cases, hepatitis C is fatal.
How is the virus spread?
The virus bodies are transmitted through the blood and (much less often) through other bodily fluids. Since the main concentration of the virus in a sick person is observed in the blood, you should pay attention to the circumstances under which you can contact it directly.
Infection with a virus through the blood is inextricably linked with injury to the skin or mucosal surface.
In everyday life, you can become infected in the following cases:
Separately, it is worth mentioning the use of a common syringe needle: in medical practice in our time this is practically impossible, however, infection in this way occurs among disadvantaged segments of the population, in particular drug addicts.
Given the information provided, some precautions should be taken. First of all, pay attention to the observance of sterility during all procedures in which injury to the skin and mucous membranes is possible.
Visit only those beauty salons that have autoclaves for sterilizing instruments, and needles are in disposable sealed containers with a integrity indicator.
Feel free to ask your doctor or technician to show you disposable needles and a sterilization schedule for your instruments - your health and life depend on it.
If in tattoo parlors (especially in home studios) the master informs you that he boils the needles, you should refuse the procedure in such an institution. The same should be done if your dentist is using tools of dubious cleanliness or has not changed gloves for new ones in your presence.
The use of a shared toothbrush, as well as a shared needle or scissors, in any case does not carry a certain risk of transmission of the virus. Thus, you can get not only hepatitis C, but also many other dangerous diseases. Such actions violate the rules of hygiene in general and threaten various inflammations, including purulent ones.
There is also a small (about 3-5%) chance of contracting hepatitis through unprotected intercourse or kissing. Basically, this also happens when in contact with blood - i.e. with aggressive sex in case of damage to the mucous membrane or in the presence of wounds in the mouth.
To avoid infection, you should resort to barrier means of protection - condoms for anal and vaginal sex, special protective films - for oral. You should also avoid unprotected sex during your period. Usually, transmission of the virus in the absence of mucosal damage is possible only with reduced immunity in an uninfected person (chronic disease, HIV, hormone therapy, etc.).
Information posters often promote having a single, regular sexual partner as a preventive measure against hepatitis and other viral diseases. This is not entirely true: contact with one but infected partner is just as dangerous as contact with many. The only valid precaution is barrier contraception during intercourse and regular medical examination.
There is also a relatively small chance of mother-to-child transmission of the virus. This probability increases if there is damage to the skin of the newborn during childbirth, because. in this case, infected mother's blood can enter the wound.
Women with hepatitis are also advised to refrain from breastfeeding: there is no data on the content of the virus in milk, but if the baby accidentally injures the skin of the nipple, then he has a high probability of infection in this way.
There is a possibility of transmission of the virus in a fight, when the blood of an infected person gets on the mucous membrane or in the wound of a healthy one. This case, of course, is difficult to foresee, therefore, after severe beatings, accidents and other emergencies, blood should be donated for viral infections.
Prevention measures
The hepatitis virus is not transmitted by airborne droplets: there is no risk of infection from a person when talking, using shared utensils or clothing, or shaking hands. However, if the blood of an infected person has come into contact with common items, it is necessary to disinfect them with disposable gloves with a solution of chlorine or boil them for several minutes.
Subject to this rule, infection through common objects is also impossible. There is no chance of getting infected by the bite of blood-sucking insects.
If an infection occurs, symptoms of the disease do not always appear. This is partly due to the fact that sometimes the human immune system independently suppresses the activity of hepatitis and spontaneous recovery occurs.
But in most cases, the disease becomes chronic, and the person becomes a carrier of the virus. If this happens, it is necessary to regularly visit a doctor and undergo an examination, because the risk of virus activation persists throughout life.
Truths and myths about the transmission of the most dangerous virus of the XXI century
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We used to think that only those people who fall into the category of “vulnerable groups” (experienced drug users) or those who practice promiscuity - multiple sexual relationships, as well as non-traditional sexual orientation, can have HIV infection.
Many are still convinced that AIDS is just a horror story and that such a disease does not exist. Unfortunately, stubborn statistics tell a completely different story. According to experts, HIV infection has now gone beyond vulnerable groups. Today, the problem of HIV infection concerns everyone.
And such statements come again from statistics. On this moment There are more than 824,000 PLWHA (persons living with HIV/AIDS) registered in Russia. And one hundred thousand of them - only in 2015. Every year more and more people are diagnosed with HIV infection - quite socially prosperous, 30 - 40-year-old family people. Unfortunately, not all infected people are aware of their status. A person can live with the virus in the blood for some time without being aware of it. And infect others. Together with experts, we understand how the human immunodeficiency virus is transmitted.
MAIN ROUTES OF TRANSMISSION
1. Unprotected sex
The share of sexual heterosexual transmission of HIV on average in Russia is now 40.3%. And, for example, according to the chief physician of the Irkutsk Regional Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and Infectious Diseases (AIDS Center) Yulia Plotnikova, due to unprotected sex, 76% of patients identified since the beginning of 2016 in the Irkutsk region received the virus.
Moreover, women are infected from men three times more often.
This happens due to biological and anatomical features, - comments the head of the epidemiology department of the AIDS Center of the Moscow Region Evgenia Zhukova. - In addition, the transmission of infection is increased by sexually transmitted diseases, inflammatory diseases of the genitourinary system.
2. From infected mother to child
This is the so-called vertical path, from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, says Evgenia Zhukova. - If timely prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV with antiretroviral drugs is not carried out, the risk can be up to 50%. If three-stage prophylaxis with antiretroviral drugs is observed during pregnancy, during childbirth and another 4 weeks after the birth of the baby, as well as when breastfeeding is excluded, the risk of infection transmission is reduced to 1-2%.
Indeed, thanks to the prevention of vertical transmission in our country, the risk of such transmission of HIV infection from mother to child was 2.2%, which corresponds to the best international experience.
3. When using shared syringes
This route of infection was the most "popular" in 1990 - 2000, when young people massively tried injecting drugs. Now the share of this route of infection is declining, but the likelihood of HIV transmission through syringes and shared containers is still high.
4. Transfusion of infected blood
Such cases are now extremely rare. Because special security measures have been introduced in the preparation of blood and its components, and all donors undergo a mandatory HIV test.
5. Through manicure, shaving accessories
The likelihood of infection through personal hygiene items that can injure the skin or mucous membranes (including a toothbrush), although small, is still likely. It all depends on the amount of infected blood that could get on these items.
6. In a tattoo and piercing parlor
The general toolkit used in the tattoo parlor is also a risk area. It is very important that all tools in such salons, including manicure studios, be processed without fail. In tattoo parlors, the virus can persist, including in containers of ink (which is reusable, unlike disposable nozzles on tattoo machines). The human immunodeficiency virus is very unstable in the external environment and quickly dies if properly processed.
AND HOW TO GET A VIRUS IS DEFINITELY IMPOSSIBLE
1. When bitten by a mosquito
Numerous studies conducted on this subject clearly prove that this way of contracting HIV infection is impossible. As well as with the bite of ticks, bedbugs and other unpleasant insects.
2. When sneezing and coughing
The amount of HIV sufficient for infection is contained only in certain biological fluids: blood, semen, vaginal secretions. Sneezing and coughing is simply not possible to contract HIV.
3. Kissing and hugging
The fact that the virus is not transmitted either through a handshake, or with hugs, or even with kisses, has been proven by many couples in which one partner is infected and the other is healthy.
According to statistics, from 30 to 50% of HIV-positive patients live in so-called discordant couples, where one partner is positive and the other is not, explains Evgenia Zhukova. - If the HIV-positive partner takes antiretroviral therapy, the couple practices protected sex (with a condom), then such couples have a completely normal healthy relationship.
That is, hugging, greeting, kissing, making friends with HIV-positive people is completely safe. But, unfortunately, this is the most enduring myth that gives rise to a somewhat wary attitude in society towards people with HIV status. Because of this, alas, many people, having learned that they have HIV, refuse to register and start antiretroviral therapy in a timely manner. But it is capable of, if not ridding an HIV-positive person of the virus, then providing him with a completely normal, full life. Indeed, with proper treatment, the amount of virus in the blood can decrease to undetectable.
Fortunately, the days when employers denied positions to infected people, when colleagues turned away and abandoned friends, are a thing of the past. Now the attitude towards HIV-positive people who receive support from the state and undergo treatment is slowly but surely changing. Read about it in our material.
4. When using common dishes, towels, clothes
Even if contaminated blood gets on clothes or towels, the virus will break down with the most ordinary washing or washing with detergent.
5. In the dentist's office
According to the President of the Dental Association of Russia Vladimir Sadovsky, safety is carefully monitored in modern clinics - all instruments are disinfected, surfaces are treated. Therefore, you simply do not have a chance to get a virus in the dentist's chair.
There are still many myths around the human immunodeficiency virus. They breed fear, even panic. Especially those who find out that he is infected. And sometimes this panic prevents you from making the right decision. Namely - to get registered and start taking medications. After all, only timely therapy will save an HIV-positive person from the development of AIDS, give many years of a full life.
Therefore, the Ministry of Health of Russia pays great attention not only to the problem itself, the treatment of HIV-positive citizens, but, first of all, to the prevention of the development of the virus.
In solving this problem, the participation of every citizen is important. Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova. - Only a responsible attitude of a person to his behavior, compliance simple rules, as well as regular testing, can protect against HIV infection and prevent its further spread. It is important to remember that today HIV is not a death sentence. Timely diagnosis and treatment allow an infected person to live a normal life, create a family, and be happy.
IMPORTANT
Every year in Russia more than 30 million people are tested for free, and this figure continues to grow.
Even if you are completely confident in all your partners, you have never used drugs, you have never had a blood transfusion, and you always use only your hygiene items, it is still necessary to take an HIV test.
IN Lately HIV transmission through sexual contact is on the rise. Therefore, it is very important that not only you but also your partner know their HIV status. Unfortunately, most HIV-positive people simply do not know they are infected. And they infect others. Therefore, knowing the status of your partner is no longer just a matter of trust. If a person is offended by your offer to check their HIV status, think about whether he will take care of you and your health in the future?..
After all, you can get a free HIV test very simply and quickly: in polyclinics at the place of residence, psychosocial counseling and anonymous examination rooms in health care institutions and the Centers for the Prevention and Control of AIDS. detailed information Online
