Hey everyone! We were asked to inform you about an infectious and non-infectious disease. Today we will be informing you about AIDS and asthma.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome which is also known as AIDS or HIV is an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV attacks the immune system and leaves the body vulnerable to a variety of life-threatening illnesses. HIV can not be spread by normal, physical contact. It can only be spread by blood, breast milk and semen. AIDS is mostly sexually transmitted.
An estimated 27,150 people in Australia live with HIV. In 2014, 1081 people were diagnosed with HIV. The number of new HIV diagnosed in Australia has remained stable for the past three years, with just over 1000 new cases. AIDS continues to be a major global public health issue. Since 2000, 38.1 million people have become infected with HIV, including 2.6 million children. In the same time frame, 25.3 million people have died from AIDS.
The symptoms of HIV can differ from person to person. Without treatment, the virus will get worse over time and damage the immune system. Some people will experience symptoms that can feel a lot like flu around one to four weeks after becoming infected with HIV. Early symptoms of HIV include belly cramps, nausea, vomiting, body rash, muscle and joint pain, headache, sore throat and weight loss. These first symptoms usually disappear in 2-3 weeks. Later symptoms may include diarrhea, fatigue, dry cough, and fever, loss of appetite, nail changes, confusion, mouth sores and skin rash.
There is no cure for HIV/AIDS as of right now. However, several treatments are available that can delay the progression of disease for many years and improve the quality of life. The most effective treatment for HIV is antiretroviral therapy (ART), a combination of several medicines that control the amount of virus in the body. The standard treatment consists of a combination of at least three drugs often called ‘highly active antiretroviral therapy’. ART has revolutionised HIV treatment in the past few decades with one-pill-a-day drugs, making life with HIV much easier and safer.
AIDS has not been proven to be cured yet. However this does not mean that we can’t stop it from spreading. People without HIV should get HIV vaccines, wear condoms and get circumcised. People contracted with HIV should take antiretroviral therapy and should never donate blood, plasma, organs and tissues.
Asthma is a non-infectious respiratory condition marked by attacks of spasm in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing and is usually connected to allergic reaction or other forms of hypersensitivity.
The exact cause of asthma is yet to be discovered, however many factors have been proven to trigger the symptoms of asthma. These include genetics, cold air, allergies, furry animals, high intake of processed foods, salts and lower antioxidants, lack of exercise, and environmental entities such as pollen, dust mites, moulds, gases, smoke and dust.
Australia has one of the highest rates of asthma in the world. 1 in 10 Australians have asthma. That’s around 2.3 million people. 334 million is the number of people worldwide that have asthma. The disease is more common in males aged 0-14, but more common in females 15 years and older.
Symptoms of asthma include coughing, especially at night, during exercise or laughing, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and wheezing.
Asthma is a long-term disease and therefore has no cure. However there are two types of medication: short and long-term, which treat sudden symptoms and prevent inflammation.
These are done by using an inhaler, which allows you to breathe in the medication.
Relievers are used to quickly soothe asthma symptoms. They do this by relaxing the bands of muscle that surround the airways. However, they do not reduce inflammation in the airways – to treat inflammation, you will need to take a controller medication.Relievers are to be used after experiencing asthma symptoms such as wheezing or running short of breath.
While relievers help you treat the symptoms of asthma, controller medications help to treat the underlying inflammation of the airways in a person with asthma. Controllers are to be taken daily. By controlling the inflammation, asthma symptoms will diminish and attacks will be reduced.
Although asthma is an incurable disease, there are many steps to take to help control and manage asthma.These include lifestyle choices and personal decisions such as eating healthy, exercising, maintaining medication and inhalers, and trying to avoid the triggers of your asthma.