Hiv info

Dear Friends!!!
It's good to be well informed about HIV. There was a story on junk somedays back where it is said that a boy got infected by HIV virus by eating pani-puri. And there have also been rumors where people are affectedby the HIV virus when they got pricked by an HIV infected needle in
theaters which is rubbish. So read along!

I have seen this below mentioned mail floating across group email & Ifeel its my moral responsibility to correct all misconceptions
regarding HIV /AIDS. I can do this because I am educated enough to comment on this and for thosewho don't know my profession ...I am serving as Brand Manager(Product Manager) handling anti HIV/AIDS portfolio (called as
Antiretroviral Drugs) in Ranbaxy.

Please read following points carefully & don't send emails related to
Medical ailments without having complete knowledge about it (even
partial knowledge could be grossly dangerous).

* HIV (virus) requires *ONLY* *Blood or Semen* as medium to transmit
from
one body to another.

* HIV *cannot* transmit even through *Saliva*(mucous) i.e . even if
HIV-infected patient coughs or smooches and another person is exposed
to his sputum (cough) or saliva, the virus still can not transmit
because
concentration of virus particles in sputum is almost NIL & exposure
to air anyway kills virus in fraction of seconds.

* In case an HIV-infected person gets an injury (like the cut in below
mentioned story) and he is bleeding, the virus can transmit to
another person only if another person has a cut/wound in his body &
that
too when blood from both person comes in contact with each other* (this
is
also very very rare unless bleeding is very high) and not otherwise.

* HIV can *never survive in any other liquid* medium also other than
blood
or semen (& please for God sake ... never in Pani Puri wala pani)

* Even if one drinks an HIV infected blood (or semen) of someone
(ingest
through Gastro Intestinal track), the virus cannot survive in the
acidic pH of stomach*. Highest extent of acidity is 0 (practically not
possible) so imagine 1 as pH which is in our stomach. (This pH can burn
your own finger in less than a second if you dip in that acid).


* Exposure of less than 1 second in AIR KILLS the HIV virus*(hence
story of
needle pricks in Cinema theatres is crap). Even if blood from
a wound (of infected person) dries up (*blood clot*), *the virus
dies*and
cannot infect anyone else

* HIV transmission is *ONLY* an *INFECTION* i.e. entrance of virus in
one's
body. It *DOES NOT MEAN AIDS*.
*An HIV-infected person (after entrance of virus) can progress to a
condition of AIDS only after *8 to 10 YEARS *(not in 15 days as in the
Pani Puri story)

* It is *not HIV (virus) that kills a human* .....the virus attacks
immune
cells (cells that fight against foreign pathogens/antigens) and
hence a person's ability to fight against infections & diseases slowly
diminishes and person ultimately dies of a disease which could be as
simple as TB

* Most importantly, HIV is no longer a dreadful disease ... it is
"*CHRONIC
MANAGEABLE DISEASE*" just like Diabetes or Hypertension.

* If there is anything you need to be careful from to prevent HIV is
Unsafe
sex*, *Blood transfusion* (check before taking) /Blood donation
(use sterilized needles only) and any *blood contact during an accident
or so where amount of bleeding is very high.