So much has been done over the years, with progress continuing to be made every day.  The ongoing efforts made by researchers, healthcare professionals, non-profit organizations, community-based organizations, activists, and people all over the globe have decreased the number of new cases and helped thousands of people to receive life-saving treatment. Still, 30 years after the disease was discovered, we are still fighting to stop it.

Hopefully you are not like me. I know how terrible the disease is but I can honestly say that I have become disconnected from it over the years. Besides purchasing a RED shirt from the Gap a few years ago, I can’t say that I have done my part.  Like most other people I can make the excuse that it’s tough in this economy to support every good cause and I do my best, but AIDS kind of fell by the wayside. And is it just me, or do we not hear as much these days about the AIDS cause as we used to?

Apparently it is not only me who has become complacent.

“It’s very striking that in the wealthy countries there is a perception that AIDS is over — there is far less investment in education programs.  The availability of treatment has resulted in a complacency which is becoming really dangerous.  Considering that today we’ve got as many new infections in Western Europe and North America as 10 years ago, there is no excuse for that.”  said Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS.

The annual AIDS Epidemic Update released on November 28th 2011 predicted there will be 45,000 new cases this year in North America and 30,000 in Western Europe. Nearly 1.5 million people in the industrialized countries will be living with the AIDS virus by the end of the year. I guess we need to move AIDS back to the front burner. This fight ain’t over yet.

Today is World AIDS Day and this years’ theme is “Getting to Zero.” Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths.  I watched “Beginning of the End of Aids”, the One Campaign to end AIDS by 2015 LIVE on YouTube:

Speeches were given by George Bush, Bill Clinton, President Obama, Bono, Alicia Keys and several others. The work of PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) was mentioned as well as the dynamic plan announced by Hillary Clinton in early November stating that if three key interventions are taken, there may be a possibility of breaking the cycle of new HIV infections. The three interventions are prevention of mother-to-child transmission, voluntary medical male circumcision, and antiretroviral treatment as prevention.

Some other interesting points in the speeches today:

• Clinton stated that countries that were providing aid monies need to make sure that the money is spent in the country and on the people that it was intended for. He said that currently only about 50% of funds are used how they were intended.
• We need to continue to invest in AIDS treatment and prevention programs. We need countries that promised to provide the contributions to actually do so and other countries that haven’t been involved previously, need to get involved.
• Clinton also stated that the pharmaceutical companies producing the antiretroviral treatments in the US need to be negotiated with. They currently produce on almost a sliding scale – they charge the wealthier countries more for the drugs than they do for the developing nations. He recommended that politicians negotiate for the US to receive the drugs at the lower generic costs for the next 2 years until the economy improves.
• Churches need to take a more active role with HIV/AIDS education, testing and providing care for patients or children of patients.
• There is still a stigma associated with AIDS which has a profound effect on the epidemic’s course. The WHO (World Health Organization) cites fear of stigma and discrimination as the main reason why people are reluctant to be tested, to disclose their HIV status or to be treated.
• We still do not encourage HIV testing enough. An unwillingness to be tested for HIV means that more people are diagnosed late, when the virus has already progressed to AIDS, making treatment less effective and causing early death.

After hearing the speeches for the campaign today, it does really seem possible that we can put an end to AIDS within the next few years as long as we continue fighting. Hearing a story told by Bono brought a tear to my eye. He described a time that he was visiting an AIDS canteen in Africa and discovered that all of the activists working there were HIV positive themselves and were not being treated. When the drugs arrived to the canteen the activists began fighting over the drugs and who would get them [as you would expect]. [As you wouldn’t expect] they were not fighting for the drugs for themselves; they pledged that they were the least important persons. They wanted the drugs for the victims they were there fighting for.

So as this World Aids Day continues we need to go beyond wearing the red ribbon, keep fighting and Get to Zero.

HIV is acronym for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is a lentivirus, a
genus of slow viruses of the Retroviridae family, generally known as a
retrovirus.  A retrovirus is an RNA virus that replicates in the host
cell and elicits reverse transcription in RNA strands of a normally
functioning cell. This basically violates the “central dogma of
biology.”

Transmission of HIV

HIV is transmitted through three main routes:

-       through the sexual route, due to unprotected sex
-       through infected blood – when it comes in contact with any open
wound, through a blood transfusion or through poor hygiene while using
injection equipment
-       from mother to child, during pregnancy, at childbirth or through
breast feeding

Two species of HIV are known and they are called HIV-1 and HIV-2.
HIV-2 transmits less frequently through the sexual and mother-to-child
route than HIV-1.

HIV Infection

HIV infection gradually decreases T-cell count and increases viral
load (the severity of infection). A T-cell is small lymphocyte that
develops in the thymus and directs the immune system’s response to
infected or malignant cells. Decrease in T-cell count renders the
immune system ineffective.

HIV infection has four stages – incubation, acute infection, the
latent stage and AIDS. In the incubation period, HIV infection does
not show any symptoms. Acute infection normally lasts for 28 days and
manifests symptoms that include fever, swollen lymph nodes, sore
throat, muscle pain, rash, general feeling of discomfort (out of
sorts) and sores in the mouth and esophagus. The latent stage may last
for 2 weeks or as long as twenty years or more but usually does not
present any significant symptoms.  The final and the most dreaded
stage of HIV infection is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome,
generally known as AIDS.

What is AIDS?

As is evident from the name, AIDS is an immune disease. It is a
progressive disease that inhibits the effectiveness of the human
immune system, which in turn, greatly increases chances of
opportunistic infections and tumors.  Symptoms of AIDS are mostly due
to pathogens  disease causing bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi
that are otherwise effectively controlled by a healthy immune system.
This can lead to a wide range of infections such as pulmonary,
gastrointestinal infections along with low grade fever and weight
loss. The patient also carries an enhanced risk of several types of
cancer. AIDS also has a neurological impact, either due to the
susceptibility of a weak nervous system or as a direct result of the
disease itself.  HIV/AIDS infected brain macrophages and microglia
lead to a metabolic brain disease known as AIDS dementia complex.

Some of the symptoms of the acute stage of HIV infection such as flu
like symptoms are similar to that of AIDS and also mimic many other
diseases. HIV infection does not occur unless there is a direct
exposure to the virus. A person with HIV infection is diagnosed as
having AIDS upon detecting the presence of one or more opportunistic
infections such as pneumonia or tuberculosis or an abnormally low
count of T-cells.

HIV/AIDS cannot be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms alone. The only
sure way of knowing is through an HIV test. There are a number of
tests such as a viral load test and the CD4 test. A home HIV
test is fast and does not require visiting in person a clinic or
advanced laboratory facilities.

We encourage everyone to get tested if they can. As we wrote earlier this month, in some parts of the US the incidence level of HIV is higher than it is in some African countries (see: “More Adults Have HIV in Washington, D.C. than Rwanda”). It doesn’t have to be this way – take an easy to do HIV test this weekend. Fight the stigma and know your status.

(Banner photo is of the iconic red ribbon at the White House, 2007).

There are many countries with less serious HIV/AIDS problems than the US. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, Washington, D.C. would fall in the 2 to 5 percent range, the first shade of brown/red. Click to expand.

What is the solution to this dilemma? According to Brad Ogilvie of the Mosaic Initiative, the answer is to get tested.

In an article by Jennifer Grant in the Chicago Tribune, Ogilvie describes the mission and strategy of his organization.  Their goals are to ensure everyone knows their HIV status and to expand home testing from the FDA Approved blood tests (that we currently carry) to other types of test, including a saliva test.  This would make the cost of getting an HIV self test only $8 instead of $50.  The technology is available and put to use in clinics each day but such tests are just not available over the counter yet.

Why aren’t these tests available over the counter?  This question has caused some frustration among HIV/AIDS activists such as Ogilvie.  The primary reasons seems to be concern that a person might self test incorrectly.  Here is a list from The Body of the conditions that are placed on the sale of rapid HIV tests:

“1. Sale is restricted to clinical laboratories that have

• an adequate quality assurance program, including planned systematic activities to provide adequate confidence that requirements for quality will be met, and
• where there is assurance that operators will receive and use the instructional materials.”

2. The test is approved for use only by an agent of a clinical laboratory.
3. Test subjects must receive a “Subject Information” pamphlet and pre-test counseling prior to specimen collection and appropriate counseling when test results are provided.
4. The test is not approved for use to screen blood, cell, plasma, or tissue donors.”

Do you think that sales should continue to be restricted? Or should such tests be available in the home market? Let us know what you think and remember that you can still obtain anonymous HIV testing with a home HIV test today.

While not everyone who is infected with HIV may start to show any symptoms, it is a known fact that the HIV/AIDS virus tires and weakens the immune system over time. Other viruses, fungi and bacteria find it easy to attack your body. These opportunistic infections cause a lot of harm and the human immune system is not able to fight back adequately.

How Does HIV Spread?

The only manner in which you can fight HIV/AIDS is to ensure that you are not infected with the virus. And therefore it is pertinent for you to understand the manner in which the virus spreads. The HIV/AIDS virus spreads in three ways – sexual transmission, blood transmission and mother to child transmission. While the specific method or manner may differ, these are the three main ways in which the virus spreads.

Symptoms of acute HIV infection.

Things You Can Do To Protect Against HIV/AIDS

With adequate knowledge of the manner in which the HIV/AIDS virus spreads, there are various things that you can do to ensure that you protect yourself against the virus.

1. Abstain from sex till you are older and make sure that you delay having sex for the first time until you are old enough to not get carried away and forget to take adequate preventive measures.

2. Practice the equivalent of monogamy and try and be faithful to one partner. This will ensure that you are not indulging in sex with those whom you do not know too well. It is assumed here that sex in a relationship will be caring and therefore your partner shall let you know if there is an issue and protect you from getting infected with HIV/AIDS if he already has been infected in some manner or another.

3. Irrespective of the situation, abstain from sex unless you or your partner have a condom that you can use. Make sure that the condom that you purchase is made by a reputed company and that it has not been lying around in your closet or cabinet for months (in other words, make sure it is not expired!).

4. Comprehensive sex education has been shown to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in communities. It is obviously essential that the communication be modified to suit the specific requirements of the community in terms of detail, language and explicitness. The education also needs to be practical. Asking teenagers to abstain from sex until marriage without any further explanation may not work in specific cultures.

5. Sharing of equipment (needles, etc.) while indulging in recreational drugs is another very common method in which the HIV/AIDS virus spreads. While a drug rehabilitation program and giving up an addiction are the best options, those who are not able to kick the habit must make sure that they do not reuse needles.

6. It is essential that you ensure a disposable one-use syringe is being used every time you are injected (at a hospital, for example). Though this is the norm in all medical institutions, greater caution does not hurt anyone in the case of HIV/AIDS.

7. In case you need blood to be transfused into your body after an accident or for some other reason, make sure the blood has been tested completely for HIV/AIDS.

The mother-child transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus is the most difficult to manage. However, this can also be attended to by using antiretroviral drugs that need to be administered during pregnancy and delivery. In some cases a caesarean section is helpful.

While these protection methods should be adhered to at all times, it is also necessary that you know your HIV status. This is especially true for the times when you do not stick to any of the aforementioned prevention methods. You can always test yourself privately and anonymously with an FDA Approved home HIV test. Early detection helps prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and can result in a better lifestyle after you contract the HIV/AIDS virus too.

You can check out our FDA Approved home HIV test kits here.

- Article by Anne Hamilton

Initial History of HIV

What led to the discovery of HIV and consequently to AIDS was the sudden occurrence in 1981 of Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a rare and an indolent form of benign cancer usually associated with the elderly, in gay men in New York. At about the same time, in California, a sudden surge in demand for the drug pentamine pointed towards an increase in the number of cases of a rare lung infection known as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). PCP occurs in infants or in persons with impaired immune systems. Whatever assumptions that were made about the possible causes were shown to be unfounded and HIV and AIDS still remained unknown.

Till that time it was considered that there was no risk from transmission and contagion to non-homosexuals as no case was reported outside the gay community. But by the end of the year, it became apparent the disease affected other population groups as well. Cases of PCP were reported among abusers using injections for delivery of drugs. This was also the time when the first case of HIV/AIDS was documented in the UK.

In June 1982, a group of cases among gay men suggested that the infectious agent could be transmitted sexually. In the US, 452 cases in 23 states had been reported by July 1982. Reports started filtering in of similar cases from Haiti and hemophiliac camps.

In September 1982, the Center for Disease Control defined the disease as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS. It was an appropriate name for a set of diseases (syndrome) caused by an immune deficiency that was not inherited but acquired.

A startling discovery was made in 1999. A similar virus, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) was discovered among simians in Africa.

How SIV became HIV

It was suggested that zoonosis (an animal disease that can be transmitted to humans) took place either due to eating the killed animal or infected blood getting into human wounds or a polio vaccine prepared from local chimps infected with SIV. Whatever the route, it is now generally accepted that HIV is a descendant of SIV. This is mainly because certain strains of SIV closely resemble the two types of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2.

How Did HIV Spread So Rapidly?

Disposable plastic syringes appeared on the scene in the 1950s. These were considered to be cheap as well as a more sterile method of injecting medicine. However, it is thought that in poor African nations doctors did not stick to a one-needle-one-injection formula due to the great cost of inoculation programs. Injecting multiple patients with one needle without sterilization could have led to rapid transmission of HIV infected blood from one person to another.

The world has become a smaller place with convenient means of fast travel. International travel by young men to take advantage of the gay revolution during the seventies and eighties may have played a part in taking HIV worldwide. HIV can also be transmitted through unprotected sex. Lack of awareness during the early years (and even now) can also be considered to a major reason for the fast spread of HIV.

Blood transfusion is part of medical treatments. In many countries, donors are paid to give blood. These were people who were desperate for cash and intravenous drug users could be among them. What made matters worse was the fact that doctors were unaware of HIV transmission and that it could spread so fast.

The HIV epidemic and the consequent disease, AIDS, along with the dangers associated with it, has led to extensive research. It is now possible to determine the presence of HIV in blood or plasma. There are even home HIV test kits that can be used to determine HIV infection with the same accuracy as a clinic or hospital without the need of having to go to a clinic.

Be sure you don’t have HIV.  Take an anonymous home HIV test today.

1.  Anonymous testing is not offered in every state. This is one of the reasons why the FDA Approved home HIV test is so important.  You simply cannot walk into a clinic and obtain an anonymous test in 11 states.  Your testing will still be accurate and confidential, but the anonymous testing option will not be available to you.  (Check out the Kaiser Family Foundation site for more information on this subject).

2.  In anonymous testing your name is never revealed.  In confidential testing, your name is reported to local government health officials. This is perhaps the greatest difference between the two types of testing.  If your test is found positive in confidential testing, your name is reported to local public health officials.  This is not necessarily a bad thing – such information is collected to provide better medical services and allows health officials to gauge the impact of HIV/AIDS on their population.  Confidential testing does NOT release your name by default to insurance companies or employers.  The federal government does not receive your name either, only the state.  Regulations vary state by state with confidential testing – if this is a concern of yours, please check with your state government for more information.

3.  Anonymous testing protects you from any and all risk of discrimination, or negative social impact from your test results. As mentioned above, confidential testing does not mean that your insurance company or employer will learn you were tested, or that you tested positive.  But as HIV/AIDS resource The Body points out, if you sign a release form to notify your personal physician, your status will be entered into your medical record forever, and may be available to employers and insurance companies.  In the case of anonymous testing, you run no risk of this whatsoever – you’re never a name, only a number.

4.  Anonymous HIV testing can be done in your home; confidential testing cannot. ALL of the FDA Approved home HIV tests on the market are anonymous.  You receive your results over the phone by supplying a numeric code – no-one ever knows your name, and only you know your results.  Since at the moment there are only two FDA Approved home HIV tests (both of which we carry), we can guarantee that home testing is 100% anonymous.

5.  Anonymous testing is the most private type of HIV testing you can get. If privacy is your priority, confidential testing will probably fall short for you for the reasons above – your name is reported, and you will have to go to a clinic or a doctor of some sort.  An anonymous home HIV test comes to your door in discreet packaging, and identifies you with an anonymous 11 digit code.  The package that is shipped to the lab doesn’t even include your return address.

The most important thing is to get tested, whether your choose anonymous or confidential testing.  Lots of people are doing it – the CDC reports 16-22 million people get tested per year – but still, not enough people are.  Make sure you take time to learn your status, either through confidential or anonymous HIV testing.

Their campaign is part of an effort to support the M-A-C AIDS fund.  With cosmetics company M-A-C they have created a line of lipsticks, 100% of the profits of which will go to the AIDS fund.

But why lipstick you ask?  Because they are trying to reach out to a younger generation of women who may go out with friends and not think about the importance of safe sex.  Instead of worrying about HIV/AIDS after the fact, keep it in mind at all times.  Too many segments of the population don’t think as much as they should about it, as often the disease is thought of as a disease affecting needle users, gay men, and African-Americans “only.”  But you don’t have to be in a high-risk group to be at risk.

It is important to make sure you are not at risk of spreading HIV/AIDS if you have had unprotected sex by HIV testing.  The CDC recommends that everyone gets tested annually regardless of risk.  You can get results quickly and anonymously from an FDA Approved Home HIV Test.

The campaign of Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper comes at a great time.  Hopefully it will also give a boost to the efforts of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (link is to our blog about that event) as well.

It’s good to be in such good company on this very serious issue.  You can check out an interview with Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga here at ABC News.

The statistics are quite staggering.  According to the CDC’s National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day page, an estimated 1.1 million people live with HIV infection, and 46% of those are African-American.  Yet blacks only represent 12% of the United States population.

The National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day official page offers more sobering facts.  For example, “Blacks accounted for 51% of the 42,655 (including children) new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 34 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting.”  This is definitely not a crisis on the wane, and there is a lot to be done.

Extremely important for all, but especially the black community, is to make sure you are HIV negative by getting tested regularly.  This can have a huge impact on the problem.  It’s one of the reasons a main strategy employed on this day is a massive HIV testing push.  If people can get in the habit of testing themselves annually or bi-annually, some of the stigma of testing will vanish, and healthier communities and individuals will result.

If you are hesitant to go to a community clinic for any reason, you can always get tested by ordering a home HIV test kit online.  The test is strictly anonymous and you are only identified by a code that comes with your kit and that you use to receive your results by phone.  The kits we sell are FDA Approved blood tests, so there should be no concern over the “does this really work” line of questioning – they are also 99.9% accurate, as reliable as those used by doctors and hospitals.

The home AIDS test allows you to test yourself at any time, in any place.  We hope you will make February 7th your day to test in order to raise awareness of one of the most devastating HIV/AIDS crises in the country.

Early diagnosis of HIV infection can delay progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and reduce transmission of HIV to others. Nonetheless, in 2006, an estimated 232,700 persons, 21% of those living with HIV infection in the United States, were not aware of their HIV infection status.

There are many options available, including any of our home AIDS tests.  But there is one thing you should definitely be aware of…

Make sure your test is FDA APPROVED!!!

We say this because there are other tests available online, some using saliva instead of blood, that are marketed as home HIV tests.  But these tests are not FDA Approved.  When you are looking for a test as important as an HIV test, it is necessary to know that the FDA has approved it and that you are in good hands.  Home Health Testing ONLY sells FDA Approved home HIV kits.  All of our AIDS tests come with telephone support for your results questions too.

So keep that in mind – make sure your test is FDA Approved!  Home Health Testing makes sure that all of our products in the Home HIV test category certainly are.