My first week in this class was interesting and very chaotic. I'm not use to web courses so its been overwhelming. I know very little about HIV/AIDS so I felt that this course is going to help me gain a decent amount of knowledge of the disease. I plan on becoming a social worker when I graduate and I'll will come across people who have the disease and i honestly don't want to treat them like they have the plague. I want to be knowledge and get them the help they need. This disease scares me a lot, because it is spreading so rapidly. All I know about the disease so far is that it infects human; it targets the immune system and weakens it. Since I've started this class, I learned that it's a virus similar to a common cold or flu and can stay dormant for a long period of time. I find this interesting. What makes it stay dormant? And what makes it come out?
Victoria Brown
Actually, HIV is never dormant. It constantly reproduces, although with antiretrovirals it does so at a much slower rate. We use viral loads to determine just how active HIV is. When it is undetectable, which means you can't find it in the blood below 50 or the new number is 30, you are controlling its rate of reproduction.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is undetectable below 30, which is great. The lower level of HIV in her blood, the harder it will be to transmit in the event of an accident. Soon I hope they can use 20, which some research labs are using. It could mean that should could have sex with a condom with little fear of transmitting the disease to her partner if the condom should break. That would give her a near normal life. Something I am praying will be possible for her.