Sexually Transmitted Infections
PROjECCT
A sexually transmitted infection is an infection that is transmitted via body fluids through sexual contact.
By far the most important of these STIs is HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)
HIV & TRANSMISSION
- Unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person
- Drug use involving sharing needle used by an infected person
- Transfusion of unscreened blood
- Infected mother to fetus
- Feeding a baby with milk from an infected mother
- Use of unsterilized surgical instrument.
HIV & PREVENTION
- Use of condom for sexual intercourse
- Abstinence from sexual intercourse
- Screening of blood used for transfusions
- Use of sterilized needles for drug injections
- Feeding a baby with bottled milk when the mother has HIV
- Use of sterilized surgical instruments
HIV & EFFECT
HIV causes AIDS i.e. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
- When HIV is initially introduced in the body, it infects lymphocytes (in particular, the T lymphocyte cells).
- Over a long period of time, HIV slowly destroys the T cells, that they become so low in number that they are unable to fight against other pathogens effectively.
- Because HIV attacks the very cells which would normally kill viruses - the T cells - it is very difficult for someone's own immune system to protect them against HIV.
- However, several years pass before the symptoms of AIDS develop.
- By this stage, the immune system of that particular person has weakened so much that he becomes very vulnerable to other infections, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.
Moreover, the person may also develop cancer (as one of the function of the immune system is to destroy body cells which may beginning to produce cancer cells)
Also, brain cells are quite often damaged by HIV too.
This way, due to the infection of HIV, a person's immune system is completely affected and damaged, and the very person with AIDS usually dies of a collection several illnesses