5 things to know about HIV / AIDS

Pro and conflicting voices have arisen as a result of community actions that even threaten to expel orphans under the age of 12 for fear of contracting HIV.

Is it true that HIV can be transmitted through social contact? Why do housewives rank among the highest rates of occupational AIDS? Is there really a medicine to prevent HIV?

Here are five things to know about HIV / AIDS.

Netizen for and against

"Idap HIV, three children from Samosir are banned from school and threatened with exposure" on the website of VOA Indonesia, which has been read more than 3,000 times in 12 hours since its download.

Meanwhile, on Facebook, the news has been distributed almost 100 times and commented by dozens of readers.

A user with an account named Kristian Horison Pandumpi wrote that these children should be "quarantined properly".

Meanwhile, the majority of other comments are more sympathetic. For example, the owner of Mr.Päunk's account who insisted on the experience of the three children was a sign of the importance of HIV / AIDS education, "not to be misunderstood ".

However, Mr Päunk's comments met the opposition of other Net surfers, Maindrat Rthee Manullang, who replied: "What about education? This disease (HIV) is contagious, so it's natural for them to worry. "

There are also those who express their surprise by reading the news on the VOA Indonesia website. Ronald Sekoh wrote: "Wow … intolerance is more contagious and dangerous than HIV."

While Duell Fine Sobar revealed that the three children were to be "complained", because they were "innocent, their parents were sinners".

He also asked the local government to deal with the case, "do not let this kind of problem be ignored".

After asking the three children earlier to leave the village of Nainggolan, Samosir and even clearing the forest for their residence, Samosir Regent, Rapidin Simbolon, Monday night (10/22), confirmed that he was " responsible, not allowing people to expel them ".

He claims that he is always looking for a "win-win solution" regarding the fate of the three children.

What is HIV / AIDS? Where does it come from?

HIV means human immunodeficiency virus.

The difference comes from the majority of other viruses, our body can not really cure itself of HIV. So, once infected with HIV, you will live with HIV forever.

According to information published on the website of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV would come from a type of chimpanzee in Central Africa.

Scientists believe that "the type of HIV that chimpanzees have infected and mutated, because humans hunt and eat animals." We are most likely infected with blood with chimpanzees infected with the virus. "

Studies reveal that the chimpanzee virus was infected by humans in the late nineteenth century.

And HIV attacks the immune system, especially CD4 cells. This cell works to help the immune system fight the disease.

If untreated, HIV will continue to kill CD4 cells, making the patient's body easily infected with various diseases.

This infection will essentially go through three phases if left untreated:

First phase2 to 4 weeks after infection, the patient will experience flu-like symptoms. This is the body's natural reaction to infection. However, many people with HIV are unconscious.

Second phase, lasts up to 10 years. At this stage, HIV reproduces in a very small amount, which prevents many patients from feeling the symptoms. However, by the end of the phase, the number of HIV viruses will increase significantly and we move to phase three.

Third phase, is the most serious phase called AIDS. The immune system of the patient has been seriously damaged. The number of CD4 is minimal, making various opportunistic diseases easy to attack and hard to heal.

The CDCs reveal a common symptom in people already in the AIDS phase: fever, cold, sweating, feeling tired and extreme body care. Without treatment, they can only survive "three years".

Although so far, there was no cure for HIV, but this virus can be controlled by antiretroviral therapy. By taking this medication, HIV-positive people can "live in good health" and have an optimal CD4 count, making their life expectancy "almost identical" to that of people who are HIV-negative.

In Indonesia, the majority of people with AIDS are housewives?

Based on cumulative data from the Ministry of Health from 1987 to December 2017, housewives are the second most affected person in Indonesia.

The number of housewives with AIDS reached 14,721, just below those whose occupation was "unknown", with a total of 28,253 people.

While bad workers with AIDS rank eighth with a total of 3,314.

However, at various times, the Ministry of Health has stated the cumulative magnitude of housewives with AIDS, but this does not mean that housewives are at greatest risk of HIV infection.

The high number, because "the Ministry of Health (more)) is aggressively conducting HIV testing among people whose behaviors are not high risk but who are at risk of contracting HIV because their husbands have high risk behaviors such as being needles and bad buyers ".

Nevertheless, this situation remains worrying as a mother can pbad HIV to the child she is carrying.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV can be transmitted to babies when the mother is pregnant, during delivery and when she is badfeeding (through bad milk).

However, contagion can be anticipated. By taking antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy, babies receive anti-HIV medications for 4 to 6 weeks after birth and mothers do not badfeed their babies, the risk of HIV transmission from a mother to the other can be reduced to less than 2%.

While in general in Indonesia, based on data from the Ministry of Health, the number of reported HIV cases continues to increase year by year.

If there were 859 HIV-positive people in 2005, their number would have risen to 21,591 in 2010 and 48,300 in 2017.

According to risk factors from October to December 2017, the majority of people infected (47%) were people who used needles, followed by heterobaduals (22%) and bad offenders ( 21%).

Myths about HIV transmission

The CDC states that HIV is "only" transmitted by "some" body fluids: blood, sperm, pre-ejaculation, bad fluid, badl fluid, and bad milk (ASI).

HIV in the fluid can be transmitted by contact with the mucous membranes (anus, bad, penis and mouth), the injured part of the body, or directly by injection into the bloodstream.

In general, HIV can be transmitted through unprotected bad or badl intercourse or without taking HIV prevention medication. HIV can also be transmitted by sharing needles.

In addition, even though the saliva of people living with HIV contains HIV in small amounts, the CDC insists that "HIV is not spread by saliva".

There are various myths circulating in the community about HIV transmission.

For example, many people believe that HIV is transmitted through social contacts, including the use of cutlery, alternately or in contact, by hugging with HIV-positive people. It is also said that HIV is contagious when swimming in a public pool.

This hypothesis is false. According to CDC research, HIV is not spread through air, sweat, touch, saliva, tears, urine, or even dirt.

Some say that HIV can be transmitted by mosquito bites.

It's also wrong. Until now, there was no medical evidence establishing that mosquito bites were one of the ways of spreading HIV. When moving the bite, the mosquito does not inject any blood from the previous person into his new "prey". In addition, the age of HIV in insects does not last long.

Is there really a cure for HIV?

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that the one-pill method of PrEP (Pe Exposure Prophylaxis) is an effective way to prevent people at risk from becoming infected with HIV. but with negative HIV status.

This Truvada brand pill is actually one of the drugs used to treat people who are already HIV-positive.

If people at risk (needle users, multiple badual partners, bad workers) and HIV-negative status take this drug every day, this drug will prevent HIV from multiplying and will not infect the body.

According to the CDC, if it is consumed daily, PrEP is effective in preventing HIV by 92%.

Nevertheless, PrEP does not prevent the transmission of other badually transmitted diseases.

In the United States, the initial price of this drug is $ 1,300 (Rp19 million) per bottle (for 30 days).

However, the majority of insurance in America contributes to the costs of PrEP.

Even those who have Medicaid or Medicare insurance need only spend about 8 USD (120,000 rupees) per bottle.

For other insurances, "only" users spend an average of US $ 40 per bottle.

So what about Indonesia?

Although it has been included in the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations as a deterrent to HIV, the PrEP method has not been implemented in Indonesia.

Many who want to follow this method choose Thailand's PrEP, even if it comes in the form of generic drugs, so the price is cheaper, around 250,000 rupees per bottle.

The Indonesian Ministry of Health has revealed that the main problem of providing PrEP in Indonesia is a matter of funds.

800 billion rupees from the Global Fund help the Indonesian government annually provide antiretroviral drugs to people living with HIV. "Thus, HIV-positive people can get free medicines."

But if PrEP is also applied in Indonesia, "the money seems heavy," said Wiendra Waworuntu, director of direct infectious disease prevention and control at the Ministry of Health. (Rh)