A 16-year-old girl got pregnant and was infected with AIDS. Can the disease be seen from the outside? What is the only way to find out the infection?

Xiaoying, 16, got pregnant unexpectedly right after graduating from junior high school. Her parents had been at odds for a long time, and her mother worked away from home all year round. She was panicked and went to the hospital for an abortion under the guidance of her mother. During the routine preoperative examination, the doctor discovered that she was infected with HIV and syphilis. Her mother knew nothing about this.

AIDS, the full name of which is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is a chronic infectious disease caused by the HIV virus, which causes the human body to lose its immune function. It develops slowly, with an average incubation period of 8 to 9 years in the human body, and has a very high mortality rate.

It has been 40 years since the first case of AIDS was reported in the world, and HIV still threatens the world. How can we prevent it scientifically?

1. Transmission routes of AIDS

There are only three ways of HIV transmission: sexual contact, blood transmission and mother-to-child transmission.

1. Transmission through sexual contact: Currently, the main route of transmission in our country is sexual transmission.

The risk of infection is particularly high among unprotected homosexual intercourse between men.

2. Blood transmission:

The main risk of blood transmission is through injection drug use, especially sharing syringes with others. Tattooing or ear piercing in informal places without standardized disinfection measures, or sharing razors and toothbrushes with others, also have a lower risk of HIV transmission through blood.

Mother-to-child transmission:

If pregnant women infected with HIV do not receive standardized mother-to-child transmission prevention measures, the virus may be transmitted to the fetus.

2. The window period for testing is also contagious

That is, it takes a period of time from the time the virus infects the human body to the time when HIV nucleic acid, antigen or antibody can be detected in the blood. Although no antibodies or viruses can be detected during the "window period", the virus is still contagious. The length of the window period varies for different detection methods. The most commonly used is antibody testing, which has a window period of 4 to 12 weeks. Nucleic acid testing is currently the most advanced method, which can effectively shorten the window period to about 1 week after infection.

3. What are the symptoms of the latent period of AIDS?

1. Systemic symptoms The most common clinical symptoms of AIDS patients are recurrent low-grade fever (accounting for about 72%), accompanied by chills, weight loss, fatigue, and weight loss (up to 5 to 22 kg). Chronic diarrhea is also a very obvious early clinical manifestation of some AIDS patients.

2. The incidence of lymphadenopathy is 55% to 100%. When patients in high-risk groups experience systemic lymphadenopathy that cannot be explained by other reasons, it is likely related to HIV infection.

3. Skin damage

Skin and mucous membranes are one of the main sites of AIDS infection. Many AIDS patients present with skin damage as the first symptom. There are many clinical manifestations, such as rash, itching all over the body, condyloma acuminatum, contact warts, urticaria, etc.

4. How to prevent AIDS?

The source of infection is: AIDS patients and HIV carriers. HIV mainly exists in the blood, semen, vaginal secretions, pleural effusion, cerebrospinal fluid and breast milk of infected people. This includes the blood and blood products of HIV-infected people and AIDS patients, and instruments, equipment, and medical supplies contaminated by the body fluids of HIV patients.

1. The spread of AIDS is mainly related to human social behavior. It can be blocked by regulating people's social behavior and is preventable.

1) These people need to be tested proactively: those who have unprotected sex, have multiple sexual partners, have a partner/spouse that is HIV positive, have homosexual sex, share syringes to take drugs, take new drugs, or have sexually transmitted diseases;

2) The infection status of the sexual partner is unknown;

3) If dangerous behaviors occur repeatedly, regular testing should be conducted, and it is recommended that testing be conducted every 3 months.

2. Do not go to informal places to perform invasive procedures such as tattoos and ear piercing, and do not share razors, toothbrushes, etc. with others.

3. So far, there is still no effective vaccine or cure for the disease. After exposure, taking HIV post-exposure blocking drugs within 72 hours can effectively prevent HIV infection.

5. What should medical staff do to end AIDS? 1. December 1, 2021 is the 34th "World AIDS Day". The theme of this year's publicity campaign in my country is "Life First, End AIDS, Health Equality". AIDS cannot be seen from the outside, and testing is the only way to detect infection.

HIV is very fragile in vitro and cannot be transmitted through daily contact with air, food, water, etc. In addition, HIV cannot survive in mosquitoes and cannot be transmitted through mosquito bites.

2. Medical personnel have the responsibility and obligation to publicize knowledge on AIDS prevention and control, increase public awareness of AIDS, promote active testing, early detection, early detection, and early treatment. They must do a good job in popularizing scientific knowledge on AIDS, especially among young people, to popularize scientific knowledge on AIDS prevention, which can avoid many tragedies.

3. Medical personnel, police officers, etc. are in high-risk occupations and should strictly implement standard prevention and occupational exposure emergency response measures to prevent occupational exposure to HIV.