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HIV is spread by three main routes: sexual contact, significant exposure to infected body fluids or tissues, and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding (known as vertical transmission). [18]
An infectious disease agent can be transmitted in two ways: as horizontal disease agent transmission from one individual to another in the same generation (peers in the same age group) [3] by either direct contact (licking, touching, biting), or indirect contact through air – cough or sneeze (vectors or fomites that allow the transmission of the agent causing the disease without physical ...
CD4 T-cell depletion and chronic inflammation are the two signature events that drive HIV pathogenesis and progression to AIDS. Infection of the cells of the CNS cause acute aseptic meningitis, subacute encephalitis, vacuolar myelopathy and peripheral neuropathy. Later it leads to even AIDS dementia complex.
While HIV is highly virulent, transmission through sexual contact does not occur when an HIV-positive individual maintains a consistently undetectable viral load (<50 copies/ml) due to antiretroviral treatment. This concept was first proposed by the Swiss Federal Commission for AIDS/HIV in 2008 in what is known as the Swiss Statement.
Estimated prevalence of HIV/AIDS by country 2011. In Western Europe, the routes of transmission of HIV are diverse, including paid sex, sex between men, intravenous drugs, mother to child transmission, and heterosexual sex. However, many new infections in this region occur through contact with HIV-infected individuals from other regions.
AIDS, in particular, has a long asymptomatic period—during which time HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS) can replicate and the disease can be transmitted to others—followed by a symptomatic period, which leads rapidly to death unless treated. HIV/AIDS entered the United States from Haiti in about 1969. [123]
Infection transmission can take place via many potential routes: [29] Droplet contact , also known as the respiratory route , and the resultant infection can be termed airborne disease . If an infected person coughs or sneezes on another person the microorganisms, suspended in warm, moist droplets, may enter the body through the nose, mouth or ...
A vertically transmitted infection is an infection caused by pathogenic bacteria or viruses that use mother-to-child transmission, that is, transmission directly from the mother to an embryo, fetus, or baby during pregnancy or childbirth. It can occur when the mother has a pre-existing disease or becomes infected during pregnancy. Nutritional ...