It Happened to Nancy

by Beatrice Sparks

  Call your local, city, county or state health department to find out where and when you can take the test. The tests are usually confidential and sometimes free.

  7. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?

  It usually takes one week before you will know your test results. Often retesting is suggested as it sometimes takes longer to become antibody positive. In rare cases it may take up to a year. DURING THAT TIME, IF INFECTED, YOU ARE CONTAGIOUS.

  8. WHAT IS HIV?

  When you become HIV positive, it means you have the HUMAN IMMUNO-DEFICIENCY VIRUS in your body. It is the first stage of AIDS, and is contagious. Anyone, male or female, can infect a sexual partner IMMEDIATELY after acquiring HIV from a sexual encounter with an HIV-infected person. IN OTHER WORDS, IF ONE HAS SEXUAL CONTACT WITH AN HIV-INFECTED PERSON ON FRIDAY NIGHT, AND BECOMES INFECTED, HE OR SHE CAN PASS THAT INFECTION ON TO SOMEONE ELSE ON SATURDAY—OR EVEN LATER THAT SAME DAY!

  9. WHAT IS AIDS?

  It is the second stage of HIV infection. AIDS means “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.” It is a disease you can be infected with. It is not an illness people are born with, like hemophilia.

  “Immune Deficiency” means that the AIDS virus causes your body’s immune system to break down. HIV is a tiny virus or germ that has to live inside a living cell. (See Backmatter.) When the virus invades your body, it breaks into the cells that are part of your immune system and turns the infected cells into virus factories, cloning out copies in such great numbers that they attack and conquer other cells that are key parts of your immune system. You then are open to all diseases, including rare ones that would not affect you if you were in normal health. As time passes, your body becomes less and less able to fight off infections and diseases.

  10. HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU HAVE AIDS?

  Many of the AIDS symptoms are like those of the flu—night sweats, fevers, a cough, shortness of breath, etc. You may have swollen glands for long periods—in your neck, under your arms or in your groin. You may have constant diarrhea or lose your appetite, feel tired and run-down, have rashes that persist, and white patches or sores in your mouth. If you have Kaposi’s sarcoma, you will have patches or bumplike bruises on parts of your body.

  11. IS AIDS REALLY EPIDEMIC? (“PREVALENT AND SPREADING RAPIDLY”—WEBSTER)

  Yes. AIDS, since 1981, when it was discovered, has been growing almost unchecked. Across the United States thousands of people die annually of AIDS; two or three times as many find out they are infected; many more go around not knowing they are infected!

  People infected with AIDS live in every state and in most countries.

  A study from the U.S. Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was presented at the 1993 International Conference on AIDS. It suggests that sex educators need to stress the message that pregnancy prevention and disease prevention are not the same thing.

  According to a 2001 survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 46% of high school students (grades 9–12) were reported as being sexually active. Among this group, 58% reported that they or their partner used a condom the last time they had sex and 18% reported that they or their partner used birth control pills.

  Dr. Victoria Cargill of Case Western Reserve University reported that many kids say, “Why am I going to use a condom for some disease you don’t even get for ten years?” Researcher Janet Collins suggests that “once an adolescent is protected against pregnancy, the motivation to use condoms seems to be reduced.”

  Kristine Gebbie, America’s former AIDS coordinator, and the thousands of other scientists who met at the annual international conference on AIDS repeatedly emphasized that prevention is the only way to stop the AIDS epidemic from continuing to spread widely and rapidly throughout the world, and that at this point AIDS prevention is an individual responsibility, with the exception of cases of rape, such as Nancy’s.

  12. WILL EVERYONE WHO HAS AIDS DIE?

  Today, as far as professionals know, AIDS is always fatal. Most people with it die within two years of their HIV having advanced to AIDS diagnosis; however, infected people react differently. Some test positive for HIV but go on for years without symptoms. Some people who are infected get very sick right away and die within a short time. Others drift back and forth between health and sickness.

  13. WHAT ABOUT BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS?

  Blood is carefully screened today, tested several times to make sure it is not contaminated with the AIDS virus. If you GIVE BLOOD, the blood bank uses a brand-new needle for every donor. There is no way you can pick up the AIDS virus there.

  For Vaccinations doctors also use a new needle and a new throwaway syringe for each patient and for each inoculation.

  14. CAN YOU BECOME INFECTED WITH THE AIDS VIRUS THE FIRST TIME YOU HAVE SEX?

  Absolutely, if your partner has the virus and does not use protection, or if the protection is ineffective. You can also get pregnant from having sex just once under the same circumstances. Most people in their twenties who have AIDS became infected with HIV when they were in their teens.

  15. HOW SAFE IS “SAFE SEX”?

  Not 100 percent. Even using latex condom with a spermicide is not 100 percent safe 100 percent of the time.

  16. WHAT IS CONSIDERED SAFE SEX?

  Obviously, not having sex is absolutely safe sex. So is sex with one faithful, long-term partner who is not HIV positive. If you are having sex with more than one partner, if your partner is infected or if you aren’t sure about his/her back ground, you MUST use condoms during sex—oral, anal or vaginal.

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  Invasion Period

  The virus invades the body. You may have no symptoms or you may develop a severe flu-like illness, with high fevers, sweats, rashes and fatigue. These symptoms, or others, can occur anytime after you become infected with the HIV virus and can last for a few days to a few weeks. But you are contagious.

  Laboratory tests for HIV antibodies is negative. But you are contagious.

  Time: From infection to development of antibodies is usually from six weeks to three months. Some people may take up to one year to develop antibodies. During this time you can infect others.

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  Incubation Period

  The virus is inactive—no symptoms. The person is infected and can infect others.

  Time: Includes invasion period from infection to symptoms. Can be from five to ten years.

  AIDS

  A sober assessment about the lack of substantial progress against the AIDS epidemic was sounded repeatedly in Berlin when thousands of scientists met at the annual International Conference on AIDS.

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  How the AIDS Virus Attacks

  Everyone has T cells, a protective type of white blood cell.

  Your immune system is constantly producing new T cells or antibodies. They destroy the germs or viruses you are exposed to every day.

  When you have been infected with the HIV virus it begins destroying your T cells.

  As the HIV-AIDS virus multiplies, it does more and more damage to your infection-fighting T cells.

  When T cells are destroyed, your immune system can no longer attack and destroy disease-producing microorganisms.

  You no longer have resistance against life-threatening infections.

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  Condoms can be bought in most drugstores. You don’t need a doctor’s prescription. Some drugstores and discount chains have sections marked “Prophylactics” or “Family Planning,” so you don’t have to ask for them.

  Always use latex condoms with a spermicide containing nonoxynol-9. Condoms made of animal skin can be penetrated by the AIDS virus.

  In 2001, New York City had 15 percent of all cases reported in the United States. Condoms are distributed in public high school clinics there in an effort to curb the AIDS disease.

  17. HOW SAFE ARE CONDOMS?

  The medical field considers condoms “unreliable barriers” against pregnan
cy. Condoms can break or leak if they are old or if they have been exposed to heat. Check the expiration date on each package. Always keep condoms at room temperature, not in a wallet or glove compartment. Do not buy unsealed condoms, and do not reuse them. Never use petroleum jelly or any other lubricant with an oil in it along with a condom. It may cause the condom to break. Instead use K-Y jelly, a water-based lubricant. THE FDA CRITERIA FOR CONDOMS SPECIFY THAT “IN ANY GIVEN BATCH, THE WATER LEAKAGE CANNOT EXCEED FOUR CONDOMS PER THOUSAND” (from Condoms for Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, sponsored by the American Social Health Association, Family Health International).

  18. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU GET AIDS?

  Most people who are HIV positive or have full-blown AIDS take medicines every day for various reasons. None of the drugs can cure AIDS, but doctors feel the earlier you start taking medication, the better your chances are of living longer. AZT is one of the most-often-used drugs. It was developed as a cancer drug but did not work there; however, it does slow reproduction of the AIDS virus in the body.

  Unfortunately, AZT has some negative side effects. It can damage bone marrow, leading to anemia, and it also irritates muscles. Sometimes the side effects are so bad that people choose not to take it. DDI, ddC, D4T, and 3TC are drugs that are often used in combination with AZT, although they too can have severe side effects. Researchers have also developed a new class of anti-HIV drugs known as protease inhibitors. Petamidine, as well as a number of other drugs, is used to treat and prevent pneumocystis pneumonia, but unhappily there is, at this time, no known cure for AIDS.

  19. HOW LONG BEFORE THERE IS A CURE FOR AIDS?

  Scientists are currently working on over 40 different drugs. A few tests are even bypassing the animal-testing methods usually used for new drugs. One problem with finding a cure for AIDS is that the AIDS virus is constantly changing and adapting itself to new conditions, including drugs.

  An AIDS vaccine, like a vaccine against smallpox or polio, is being worked on. A vaccine is a weakened or killed form of the virus that is the cause of a particular disease. When a healthy person is given a vaccine shot, his or her immune system develops antibodies that protect him or her from the weakened virus. Later, if the person is exposed to that particular virus, the antibodies will shield him or her from the disease. In 2003 the U.S. Government launched the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. This five-year, 15 billion–dollar plan nearly triples current U.S. Government spending on HIV/AIDS.

  20. HOW CAN YOU CATCH AIDS?

  AIDS it not airborne. The AIDS virus lives in human blood, semen or vaginal secretions. It is not a fragile virus. Outside the human body, it can survive in small amounts of blood in hypodermic needles or syringes for up to seven days.

  Nearly always, one person catches AIDS from another by doing certain things that let an infected person’s blood or bodily fluids into his or her own bloodstream. This can happen if you have sex with an infected person without using a condom (preferably latex with a spermicide containing nonoxynol-9). You can also get AIDS if you use a hypodermic needle without sterilizing the needle first. Your risk is high if you share a needle to shoot drugs, get tattooed, have steroid injections, acupuncture treatments, or your ears pierced by a careless person.

  Having unprotected sex with a stranger, or anyone you don’t know well, or with several partners is also extremely dangerous. Even if only one of the partners is infected, he or she could well pass it on to you, and you could infect others unknowingly.

  It is also risky to combine drinking or drug use with sex, because alcohol and drugs impair your reactions and long-range reasoning abilities, and you might possibly lose your head and forget or momentarily not care.

  If an HIV-infected man has unprotected sex, or uses “protection” that does not work, with a man or a woman, he can transmit the virus to him or her. Through the same kind of unsafe or ineffectively protected sex, a woman can infect men and other women.

  21. WHAT ABOUT AIDS BABIES?

  If a woman is infected with HIV and becomes pregnant, there is about a 30 percent chance that the baby will be born with the virus. Today thousands of babies are born HIV positive and will later develop AIDS. They could become infected before, during or soon after birth. A mother who is HIV positive and breast-feeds her baby could pass on the virus through her milk. HIV-positive women should not become pregnant or try to nurse.

  22. WOULDN’T NORPLANT BE GOOD FOR HIV-INFECTED WOMEN? EXACTLY HOW DO THEY WORK?

  Yes. The Norplant is composed of miniature strips implanted in a woman’s upper arm. It will keep her from becoming pregnant for up to five years. The Norplant is a minor procedure which can be done by a nurse in a few minutes. It keeps a woman from becoming pregnant but in no way protects her from getting or giving AIDS.

  A school in Baltimore has introduced a Norplant pilot program in hopes of curtailing their uncontrolled teen pregnancy problem.

  23. WHAT CAN AN HIV-INFECTED PERSON DO IF HE OR SHE GETS CUT?

  Advice to an HIV-infected person is always, “Take responsibility for your own blood.” Be sure to put the tissue, paper towel, etc., in a sealed plastic bag inside another plastic bag. People working with an AIDS patient’s blood always wear gloves and sometimes a mask, gown, cap and goggles if there is any chance of the blood splashing.

  Schools and public places are required by law to have proper disposal for possibly infected waste: AIDS, hepatitis B, etc.

  24. WHAT DOES AN HIV-INFECTED PERSON DO WITH USED TAMPONS?

  Flush them where possible. If not possible, put them in a plastic bag within another plastic bag.

  25. WHAT DOES AN HIV-INFECTED PERSON DO IF HE OR SHE HAS AN OPEN PIMPLE?

  Be safe. Take self-responsibility. Wash hands carefully with soap and water, perhaps cover the pimple with a Band-Aid.

  26. WHAT ABOUT AN HIV-INFECTED PERSON KISSING IF HE OR SHE HAS BLEEDING GUMS?

  Again, be self-responsible. Think of others. Give them the benefit of the doubt. IF YOU DOUBT, DON’T! Be careful about not using anyone else’s toothbrush.

  27. WHAT ABOUT USED PADS WHEN YOU HAVE RECTAL ULCERS?

  It is so sad to see a young boy have to wear Kotex pads because of rectal ulcers, but an HIV-infected person must, and must dispose of them carefully in double plastic bags.

  28. WHAT ABOUT URINE, LIKE WHEN I WET MY PANTS IN THE MOVIE?

  Very rarely would there be a problem in a situation like that. For bed-wetting, use heavy disinfectants like Purex when washing wet bedding. If there is blood in your urine, treat the urine as though it were blood.

  29. CAN ANIMALS GET AIDS FROM PEOPLE? CAN PEOPLE GET AIDS FROM ANIMALS?

  No, you cannot give AIDS to your dog, Red Alert, nor to your cat, Cougar, by sleeping with them and loving them. AIDS cannot be transmitted from insect or animal bites.

  30. HOW COULD I GIVE AIDS TO SOMEONE?

  You cannot transmit it by any kind of casual contact: shaking hands, holding hands, hugging, coughing, sneezing, eating utensils, toilet seats, doorknobs, etc.

  Studies have never shown the AIDS virus to be transmitted during any kind of kissing, but tiny amounts of the virus have been found in an infected person’s saliva, so you may want to be careful, especially if you have sores in your mouth or bleeding gums.

  31. HOW WILL AUNT THELMA CLEAN MY ROOM…WHEN I…YOU KNOW…?

  She will wear gloves and possibly a gown and disinfect it carefully. You need not worry about anyone else using the room. Everyone will love it as you do. Actually, they’ll love it even more because you were there.

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  Blood-to-Blood Transmission

  RISKIEST BEHAVIORS

  • Sharing drug works (including steroids and antibiotics)

  • Sharing tattoo equipment

  • Sharing ANY skin-piercing equipment (earrings, nose rings, belly rings, etc.)

  CO-FACTORS TO INFECTION

  • Drug abuse

  • Poor health!

  • Repeated exposures<
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  HOW CAN I GET AIDS?

  You can get HIV-AIDS if you have any unprotected or ineffectively protected sexual, or blood-to-blood, experience with an HIV/AIDS-infected person. You are now capable of passing the HIV-AIDS virus on to the next person you contact sexually or in a blood-to-blood experience.

  INVASION PERIOD: HOW LONG BEFORE I KNOW IF I HAVE AIDS?

  It may be six to twelve weeks before the HIV-AIDS virus shows up in an AIDS test, but you nonetheless are infectious and capable of passing it on to the next person you contact sexually or in a blood-to-blood fashion. Some people are infected and fail to test positive for up to one year.

  HOW LONG BEFORE I GO FROM HIV (THE FIRST STAGE OF AIDS) TO AIDS?

  After you are infected with the HIV-AIDS virus, you may go from five to ten years without few or no symptoms, or your body’s T cells, which are your infection-fighting cells, may begin to break down shortly after you are infected. During this time you are infected and contagious.

  WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET FULL-BLOWN AIDS?

  Today, as far as professionals know, AIDS is always fatal. The majority of people with it die within two years of their HIV having advanced to an AIDS diagnosis.

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