World AIDS Day and the Future of Fighting the Virus
December 1st is World AIDS Day 2010. It has now been three decades since the first cases of men with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) were reported and an immunodeficiency syndrome was recognized that ultimately came to be called AIDs. The first female reported with AIDS was in July of 1982 and it was soon recognized that female partners of infected hemophiliacs, IV drug users and women partners in discordant heterosexual relationships were diagnosed with AIDS. There are now over 33.4 million people living with HIV and almost half of those getting infected are under the age of 25.
We have come far since the 1980’s in our understanding of this disease. AIDS is a viral disease (caused by HIV) that disrupts the immune system’s ability to fight opportunistic infections leading to life-threatening diseases and cancers. Infection with HIV can come from sexual activities in which semen, pre-ejaculate, blood, or vaginal fluids are passed from one person to another. Although most HIV is passed by unsafe sex~ contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth can also be a way to get infected. People are not likely to get HIV infection anymore from blood transfusions as we now screen blood products for this virus.
Although exposure to the virus is key in getting HIV/AIDS, it is also important to understand how people’s immune system reacts to exposure to HIV. There clearly are additional genetic factors that have yet to be discovered that can affect the likelihood that an individual will become HIV infected. Here in San Antonio, major research is underway in Dr. Sunil Ahuja’s lab at the University of Texas Health Science Center to examine why the some unique individuals will have come into contact with HIV yet remain uninfected. Our research group studies certain molecules present on or in immune cells and the genetic material (DNA and RNA) that allows these molecules to be made. These molecules may influence why one person will develop an infection and another will not, or why one person’s disease progresses more rapidly than another’s. We are studying individuals who are multiply exposed to HIV as shown through questionnaire of number of recent (6-12 months) sexual partners and use/lack of use of condom or by recent acquisition of other STD but whom remain uninfected. This group that remains HIV uninfected presumably has some genetic protection against HIV acquisition and we will work to determine this factor (or factors). Through this research and other ongoing research projects worldwide, it is hoped that a major breakthrough happens in our understanding of HIV infection and our immune system response to this and other infections.
Don’t assume you have immunity even if you have had exposure to HIV and remain uninfected! Every day more than 7000 people become infected with HIV and sexual activity is responsible for most of these infections. Until we know more ... prevention is still the most important thing we can all do to reduce the spread of HIV infection. Safer sex practices are a major way to reduce the chance of becoming infected. You can:
- Get tested- know your status!
- Abstain, stay in a safe, mutually monogamous relationship, or reduce the number of partners you have sex.
- Use condoms or a barrier method without spermicide for anal, oral, or vaginal sex (remember to wrap your sex toys!)
Check out additional ways to be safer: Center for Disease Control or at Planned Parenthood. For more information about HIV research or further general information, please feel free to call 210-861-9528 or e-mail me at gerardi@uthscsa.edu.
Dr. Margit Gerardi is Assistant Professor and researcher at UTHSCSA and has over twenty years of clinical experience providing direct reproductive health care as a nurse practitioner in a variety of settings. Her area of expertise is in sexually transmitted infection, health disparities, and reproductive health/medicine.
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