Condoms and Olympics: A promise

The Sydney Olympics ran out. Athens doubled the number. So organisers of the Beijing Games are hoping 100,000 condoms will satisfy the needs of Olympic athletes.
While sex is not an Olympic sport it is expected to be an activity in the Beijing village housing 10,500 athletes, all of whom are in great shape and with plenty of free time on their hands once knocked out of the Games.
Athletes have received free condoms at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 to help raise awareness of AIDS, and Beijing is no exception.
"There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes' village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available," Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.
"A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters."
The UNAIDS, the Beijing organising committee BOCOG and International Olympics Committee are providing 100,000 condoms as part of a campaign on HIV prevention and anti-discrimination.
At the Sydney Games in 2000 athletes quickly exhausted a supply of 70,000 and another 20,000 had to be brought in. The Foundation for AIDS Research, amfAR, said 100,000 were distributed at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 after a plan to distribute 250,000 condoms met protests by religious groups and was scaled back.
At Athens in 2004 about 1,30,000 condoms were distributed. Hansen said the number available at Beijing was based on previous Games' experience and in keeping with previous Olympics would be available at medical centres at athletes' centres in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong rather than put in rooms.
"We have people here from all religions and cultural backgrounds, some of whom may feel uncomfortable or offended with condoms in their room," he said.
To be discreet, two condoms are tucked inside every a brochure about HIV that are available at medical centres. "No one can see that you are carrying condoms to save any embarrassment," said Hansen.
"People are encouraged to take the leaflets and to take as many as they like. They can use them or take them home for friends and spread the knowledge and awareness."
Chinese condom makers have jumped on the Olympics bandwagon. One manufacturer, Elasun, has come up with a set of cheeky advertisements featuring a stickman swimming over a rippled condom that looks like a wave, riding two condom rings like a bicycle, and using a condom as a basketball hoop.
Condoms depicting the five Olympics mascots are also for sale on various online sites although nowhere to be seen in official merchandise stories.

LIVE AND LET LIVE

"No life must be lost due to stigma attached with the scourge"

The stigma that is attached with the patients with AIDS is real hurdle in the step to remove the scourge prevalent in our world called AIDS..
There is so much stigma attached that ppl tend to forget tthat this disease is caused more due to blindness... than anthing else .... Yaa blindness related to the various causes of AIDS.. (In this blog you can also find the various causes of AIDS)....
Had Geeta known that her husband was HIV+ atleast she cud have atlaest protected herself as well as her baby from this.... And guess wat Rahul, Geeta s husband dint reveal this cos he felt that he wud be left alone in this world,.. knowing the stigma attached with this term..AIDS... realizing only later that he had done such a huge blunder... the outcome of which has propagated to the next generation ,....

So, Please do not deny the patients with HIV + their right to be human.......

LIVE AND LET LIVE

AIDS awareness: STATISTICS: A challenge

AIDS awareness: STATISTICS: A challenge

STATISTICS: A challenge

• Number of people living with HIV in 2005: 40.3-million
  Adults: 38-million
  Women: 17.5-million
  Children under 15 years: 2.3-million

• People newly infected with HIV in 2005: 4.9-million
  Adults : 4.2-million
  Children under 15 years: 700 000

• AIDS deaths in 2005: 3.1-million
  Adults: 2.6-million
  Children under 15 years: 570 000
  
  
  Source: AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2005
  

Ziduvudine- A saviour

• A woman who is HIV-positive can pass on HIV to her baby during pregnancy, during childbirth and during breastfeeding.

• In the absence of preventative interventions, the probability that an HIV-positive woman's baby will become infected is approximately 25% – 35%, according to Unicef.

• Two treatment options: Ziduvidine (AZT) and nevirapine, are available to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child.

Compulsory HIV test

Riya got married to Rahul. After a year of marriage she was pregnant and to her horror came to know taht she s HIV +. Rahul was also HIV+ and confessed of having very active sexual life before marriage.....


What do you think of this simulated case? Please post in the comments...


There are three main types of HIV test.

1) HIV antibody test.

• This test shows whether a person has been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
• Antibody tests are also known as ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) tests.

2) Antigen test.

• Antigens are the substances found on a foreign body or germ that trigger the production of antibodies in the body.
• The antigen on HIV that most commonly provokes an antibody response is the protein P24.
• Early in the infection, P24 is produced in excess and can be detected in the blood serum by a commercial test (although as HIV becomes fully established in the body it will fade to undetectable levels).
• P24 antigen tests are sometimes used to screen donated blood, but they can also be used for testing for HIV in individuals, as they can detect HIV earlier than standard antibody tests.
• Some of the most modern HIV tests combine P24 and other antigen tests with standard antibody identification methods to enable earlier and more accurate HIV detection.

3) DNA or RNA test.

• These types of tests detect the genetic material of HIV itself, and can identify HIV in the blood within a week of infection.
• Babies born to HIV positive mothers may be tested using a type of DNA test called a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction).
• Blood supplies in developed countries are screened for HIV using an RNA test known as NAT (Nucleic Acid-amplification Testing).
• When a person already knows that she or he is infected with HIV, they may also have a viral load test to detect HIV genetic material and estimate the level of virus in the blood.
• DNA/RNA tests are rarely used to test for HIV in adults, as they are very expensive and more complicated to administer than a standard antibody or P24 test.
  

Blindness causes AIDS

BLINDNESS CAUSES AIDS
Yes Blindness to the various causes of AIDS….
So kindly read on this article and protect yourself and the World around you…
REMEMBER WE HAVE TO COMBAT THIS DEADLY VIRUS


AIDS

1. No other word engenders as much fear, revulsion, despair and utter helplessness as AIDS.
2. Despite increased AIDS awareness, the terror persists. AIDS is, in fact, rewriting medical history as humankind's deadliest scourge.
3. With 40 million deaths forecast in this millennium, statistics tell their own sordid tale.
4. The first recorded sample of HIV was discovered in 1959 in a blood specimen obtained at Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) in the Belgian Congo.
5. The HIV is thought to have originally affected chimpanzees.
   The crossover of the virus from animals to humans may have occurred in the 1950s through an accident or a bite.
6. The first cases of AIDS were reported in the United States in 1981, amongst male homosexuals in Los Angeles and New York.
   
   AIDS and HIV infection are two different things:
   
   HIV has two major categories: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1, which currently has about 10 subtypes, is most common worldwide and the only form found in the US.
   HIV-2 is less virulent and though currently confined to West Africa—it's spreading.
   
   The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) basically provokes an infection, which destroys the body's immune system. And AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the advanced stage of this disease, when the immune system becomes irreparably damaged, engendering multiple infections and cancers.
   
7. HIV attacks Immune System:
   
   On invading the body, the virus specifically attacks T-cells, a core part of the human defence system, they mobilize other cells to seek and destroy contagious foreignelements besid es leading the immune system's fight against infections.
   T-cells are targeted because the AIDS virus parasitizes the CD4 molecules on their surface
8. HIV: A Deadly virus
   
   
   

Mode of transmission:
HIV is transmitted primarily by

• Sex : Anal, vaginal or oral sex with an infected partner,
• Injections (sharing contaminated needles for drug use or accidental piercing with a contaminated needle),
• from infected mother to child through pregnancy or breast-feeding.Infected semen and vaginal fluids, infected blood and blood products lead to the transmission of HIV.

High Risk Groups:

• Drug abuse with unsterilized needles is another high-risk activity.
• Unprotected sex with multiple partners is the primary cause of infection.

During unprotected sex, the infected fluid could enter the bloodstream through a tiny cut or a sore.

Anal penetration has a higher risk of transmission, which is why a high percentage of homosexuals develop the disease.

Bleeding during sex also raises the chances of infection. Therefore unprotected sex during menstrual periods and anal intercourse are best avoided.

An infected mother can also transmit the virus to her baby before or during birth or through breast milk.

Not Spread by:

Although traces of HIV have been detected in body fluids (saliva, urine, faeces and tears) there is no evidence that HIV spreads through these fluids. Nor is it water-borne, air-borne or transmitted through mosquitoes and other insects.


Prevention:
• Prevention is still the best bet.

• Promiscuous sexual behavior can leave a person highly susceptible to contracting the virus.

Protective measures that can be adopted

• Where abstinence is not possible, always use latex condoms.
• The female condom can also help protect both partners. Use only water-based lubricants.
• Oil lubricants (such as Vaseline) might even tear latex condoms.
• Use spermicidal (birth control) foams and jellies in addition to condoms. By themselves, spermicides may not be effective in preventing HIV.
• Avoid alcohol or drugs during sex, you might lose control of your senses and engage in unsafe sex.
• Stick to safer sex practices at all times and avoid having multiple partners. Practice monogamy.
• If this is a tall order, serial relationships are a lesser evil than multiple ones.

Avoid:

• High-risk sexual behavior should be avoided at all costs like oral genital sex involving contact with semen or vaginal fluids, oral anal sex, vaginal sex without a condom, anal sex sans a condom (active or passive), fisting or manual anal intercourse, the sharing of sex toys, using saliva for lubrication and blood contact of any kind during performance.
• If unable to resist oral sex, use a dental dam.
• If a woman is infected, avoid sex during the menses as menstrual blood is infectious
• For transfusions, use disposable syringes and needles. Ensure you get blood that is screened and certified as HIV-free. Better still, get blood from close family members rather than professional donors whose medical antecedents are nebulous.
  
  The presence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) increases the risk of contracting HIV from an infected partner. STDs could cause breaks in the skin of the vagina, penis or anus permitting the virus to enter your bloodstream. If you ever contract an STD of any kind, ensure you get prompt treatment.
  
  The CDC recommends that an HIV-positive woman should not breast-feed her baby. The infant should be given AZT for the first several weeks to substantially reduce the risk of infection.