HIV Prevention

They say prevention is better than cure. Then why not observe the same for the deadly disease of HIV and save our precious life by observing some simple preventive methods?

There is no cure for HIV. Therefore, the one who has contracted it has no other option but to regret for his carelessness. Although, he can decrease the wrath of the disease with the help of advanced medications and new antiretroviral therapies, he cannot completely get rid of this fatal virus. Therefore, it always better to take HIV preventions, then suffer from it.

Taking HIV prevention does not involve any monetary expense or physical risks. However, it can save you from them. The best way to take HIV prevention is by putting up friction on its causes. Therefore, it is better to know what causes HIV:

• Injection of drugs with the help of used and contaminated syringe. If the syringe was previously used by an infected person, it maligns the syringe, to pass on the disease to the next user.
• Unsafe sex with a person having HIV.
• Unsafe sex with people who have multiple sexual partners. At some point, this group of people is likely to come in contact with an infected person. As he contracts the disease, he is likely to pass it on to his next sexual partners.
• HIV transmission is also very common amongst MSM (men having sex with men)
• From infected mother to her fetus. It is called vertical transmission of HIV
• From the infected mother to her child through breast feeding.
• Any contact of an infected person’s blood with a normal person’s blood

If a person keeps the ways of HIV transmission in mind, then he need not think much about HIV prevention. The following can help the prevention of HIV:

Injection of drugs and HIV transmission:

To avoid HIV transmission through injection of drugs takes the following HIV preventions:

• First of all stop using drugs.
• Avoid using syringes to inject drugs
• Do not use the same syringe on more than one person
• Do not use the syringe more than once.
• Bend and break the tip of all needles, so that it cannot be used by anybody in the future.

Sexual route of HIV transmission:

To avoid HIV contraction through sexual routes, keep the following things in mind:

• Use condoms: It restricts the movement of infected semen from one body to another. It also avoids unwanted pregnancy, and indirectly prevents vertical transmission of HIV too.
• Loyalty: Loyalty to one sexual partner can assure safety from HIV. The more the sexual contacts with more than one person, the greater the risk of HIV contraction.
• Abstinence from sex: staying away from sex for sometime, or where one can predict some risk, is a good way of HIV prevention.
• If you are a gay, then too the same rule applies. Use of precautions and loyalty to one partner can prevent HIV.

Vertical transmission of HIV from mother to the child:

To avoid vertical transmission of HIV, do the following things:

• Go for an antiretroviral treatment immediately after you get to know that you are pregnant.
• These days, there are lots of medicines that can completely spare your fetus from the deadly disease, and in 96% of the cases, give your child a healthy life.
• Listen to the doctors and go for regular treatments and check ups
• When your child is born, do not breast feed the baby if you are HIV positive. The virus transmits through breast milk.

The above mentioned points are very easy and smart ways of HIV prevention. It can not only save you from contracting the disease but also save several other lives.