Hello everyone,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their comments to my last post. The question of the week was really interesting because I had to think about the situation as if it had happened to me and I was the center of it. If the school made a policy where they revealed that a student has been tested HIV positive and had unprotected sex, that would be the biggest violation of HIPAA laws. Also, it would bring embarrasment and humiliation to that student.

There is a research foundation called 'Perinatal HIV Research Unit' that serves as one of the largest AIDS research centers in Africa. Established over ten years ago, it continues to try and find methods of prevention and cure for perinatal transmission of HIV. It has a center for women aged 14-19 to provide free health care and social counseling regarding HIV. They have educational programs to understand the risk to HIV and hopefully reduce the prevalence and trasmission of HIV among these women.

Did You Know.......

The state of Florida's statute concerning HIV testing for pregnant women now includes testing not just for HIV but also for other STDs such as syphilis, gonorrhea at the first visit and the other towards the final weeks 28-32. They can refuse any or all of the tests but they have a sign a documentation for that. According to the Florida Department of Health, about 95 percent of HIV cases in children are acquired perinatal. There has been constant education for women on HIV and pregnancy which has led to perinatal transmission of HIV to below 2 percent.

Have a great week!

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Disease_ctrl/aids/Perinatal

http://www.hivsa.com/

Perinatal Transmission of HIV

I have learnt about HIV getting transmitted from the mother to her child during pregnancy or birth but never knew about some of the facts that I just read from the CDC website. It can also be transmitted while breastfeeding because milk is a bodily fluid. Zidovudine is a drug that can be injected to pregnant women who have HIV and it greatly decreases the risk for the child to contract HIV. Although, it increases the risk for the mother to develop resistence against this drug and progress further into the diseaseThere are more chances of prevention for perinatal transmission if the testing is done early in the pregnancy. There are about upto two hundred infants that get infected with HIV every year. According to the oxfordjournal website, 600,000 babies were born with perinatal infection of HIV in 1999.

This week's question of the week brought several interesting things to my mind. It was very interesting to know what other people thought about HIV, especially the ones that do not have a background in biological/health sciences. After interviewing my dad, I was thinking about how I would have responded to these questions if I was not enrolled in this class. It has made me realize that HIV is so widely spread and second highest rate is in India, the country I come from. I did not know about that. When I told my dad and cousin about it, they were surprised because they were not expecting to hear that. That also make me question the level of education provided around this topic. People in a country like India are conservative when it come to HIV and look down to it. I was thinking that the next time I get to go home, I would like to find out and volunteer in HIV education.

HIV and immigration

Hello everyone,
I found some interesting information on immigration laws for the HIV positive that I would like to share. According to the national immigration project website, individuals cannot be deported for being HIV positive or having an AIDS diagnosis. The Department of Homeland Security try to keep the infected people away from the United States except the United States citizens and the lawful residents. People who wish to enter the United States for visiting purposes and are HIV positive can be denied to enter because HIV considered is a "communicable disease of public health significance". People who wish to move to the U.S. are required to test for HIV infection. Although the Department of Homeland Security cannot change the present immigration status for an individual, it can definitely deny the desired status.

I also read about the AIDS Committee of London that works in partnership with people for support and education on HIV/AIDS. A few of their goals include increasing HIV awareness in the community, thereby decreasing the number of new HIV infections and increasing the quality of life for people infected with HIV or the people who live with these people. The website for the AIDS Committee of London provides with all the information and their support for the community.

third week of school

It is the third week of school and the first set of exams are coming closer and closer. The parking still seems to be completely out of control and completely ridiculous. It was a pretty normal day today. I went to my classes and started review for our first exam in one of my classes. I spent some time doing homework for this class - posting to the question of the week. I had never thought about what to do in a situation like that - especially if I have a cousin who would come and tell me about such a big situation that exists in her life.
I really got to know a lot from the assignments on thrush and PCP. When I was searching for information online, it made me realize how many complication HIV can result into. But the assignments provided me with knowledge that I can share with other people who do not know about it or have misconceptions.