Transcript HIV - ClassNet

HIV/AIDS
“When one member suffers, all members suffer”
1 Corinthians 12:26
The AIDS pandemic
• Young people (15-25) are the fastest-growing population of newlyinfected persons living with HIV/AIDS in the world
• Over 33 million people are currently infected in the world today,
2.6 million will be infected this year and 1.8 million will die from
the disease.
• Over 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS – it
is estimated that a child loses a parent to AIDS every 14 seconds.
• The orphans from the AIDS pandemic are much more at risk of
becoming victims of child labour and other abuses – and are more
at risk of being infected themselves.
• More than 2 000 children are infected daily (90% from parent-tochild transmission)
• What solutions do you think we, as Christians, are called to find?
The Catholic response to AIDS
• The Catholic response is a response of solidarity, or togetherness,
with those who suffer.
• Over 25% of all clinics to treat people affected with HIV/AIDS
worldwide are Catholic-run.
• There is a connection between:
• HIV and poverty – how can we create justice for the poor and sick?
• third-world debts and rates of HIV infection/treatment. This makes
the vulnerable more so.
• In general the Catholic response is: Pray, Learn and Act. Express
your opinions to the gov’t.
What is HIV/AIDS
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A – acquired
I – immune
D – deficiency
S – syndrome
A disease state caused by the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) that decreases the functioning of the immune system.
• When people are immune deficient, they are more susceptible
to certain severe infections and cancers.
How the immune system works
• Cold
• HIV disease
• Virus invades body
• Person gets a cold
• Virus invades body
• Flu-like symptoms may
appear
• Immune system makes
antibodies
• HIV takes over these
cells and begins
reproducing
• Immune system breaks
down
• Person gets more and
more ill
• Immune system makes
antibodies
• Virus destroyed by
antibodies
• Immune system
unharmed
• Person becomes well
How is HIV transmitted?
• By sexual contact where bodily fluids are exchanged with an
HIV infected partner
• By sharing needles with an infected person when injecting
drugs
• From an infected mother to her baby – during pregnancy,
during delivery or breastfeeding
• Through contaminated blood/blood products (before
November 1985)
How is HIV not transmitted
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Holding hands
Kissing
Doorknobs, telephones, table surfaces, toilet seats etc.
Sneezing, coughing, tears, sweat, saliva
Insect or animal bites
Sharing food or drinks
Swimming pools
If fluids are not exchanged, activities are considered low
risk for HIV
HIV and the immune system
• White blood cells protect against and fight disease.
• They create antibodies that fight disease-causing organisms
• They also create suppressor cells - these work to stop the fight
against invading germs
• In a healthy person, antibodies outnumber suppressor cells –
in a person with HIV, there are more suppressor cells
• This weakens the immune system and makes it ineffective
• AIDS patients eventually die from opportunistic infections
• Signs of HIV infections:
• Unexplained persistent fatigue
• Fever, chills, weight loss, swollen glands, persistent ill health
HIV infection timeline
Detectable antibodies
..…………………………………………………………………………………………………...........
Infected
with HIV
Symptoms
Able to infect others
AIDS
Statistics
• Number of positive HIV test reports – between 2000 and 2700 per
year in the past 15 years.
• Currently the highest rate of infection is in Saskatchewan,
followed by NWT, Ontario and Manitoba.
• Numbers of cases are highest in Ontario, Quebec, Alta and BC
(together make up 93% of the cases in Canada)
• In 2011:
• 1658 adult men tested positive for the first time
• 505 adult women..
• Risk categories include men who have sex with men,
heterosexuals and intravenous drug users (in that order)
• AIDS rates have gone down dramatically – good access to
treatment in Canada
Video
• The Catholic Church and Global HIV & AIDS, Part 1: Overview
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE93x9_LJzY
• The Catholic Church and Global HIV & AIDS, Part 6: Orphans
and Vulnerable Children
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do57IIcnUfA