HIV in children and adolescents
According to statistics, 36 million people lived with AIDS in 2016, of which 2.1 million were children under 15 years of age. And is that, although the cases of death have been reduced since 2005 by 48%, it is still a problem worldwide. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease in which
According to statistics, 36 million people lived with AIDS in 2016, of which 2.1 million were children under 15 years of age. And is that, although the cases of death have been reduced since 2005 by 48%, it is still a problem worldwide.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease in which there is a progressive failure of the immune system, so that the body can not fight infections and other diseases. It is caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). It affects people of any age and condition, but in Guiainfantil.com we focus on HIV in children and adolescents.
HIV in children and adolescents, how is it transmitted?
The HIV virus can be transmitted in several ways:
- Through unprotected sex, it is the most common form of contagion of the disease. It is also a frequent route of infection among seropositive adolescents.
- Being exposed to blood contaminated with the virus es: is how people who use drugs or some patients transfused with blood and even medical personnel are infected.-
From mother to child : it is the most common form of infection in children. And it can be transmitted by the seropositive mother to the baby during pregnancy, at the time of delivery or even during breastfeeding.Treatment for HIV in children and adolescents
The main route of treatment for HIV is
antiretroviral treatment (ART). These drugs do not cure AIDS, but they do manage to keep it at bay. One of the main measures to make it work is good compliance with the medication guidelines and not skip any of the shots. The treatment is the same for adults and children. However, in the case of babies, there is the possibility of administering it in liquid form due to the inability to swallow pills from younger children.
Today there is no vaccine against the virus, nor a medication that completely cures those affected.
Antiretroviral treatments allow HIV-positive children to have a life expectancy of at least 35 years
. However, many of the affected children live in areas where these drugs do not arrive, which is why mortality is higher in these depressed areas.Discrimination in children and adolescents with AIDS
Children suffering from AIDS or children orphaned by AIDS suffer a phenomenon as cruel as the disease and la discrimination and violence by other children and adults.
They are children and adolescents who suffer the rejection of others who, out of ignorance and fear, fear to touch them or have the slightest contact with them. It is even difficult for them to find a school because they are opposed by many parents and intolerant teachers. How to help children victims of AIDS
To this day there are only two ways to stop the advance of HIV in children and adolescents:
-
Prevention
: with campaigns aimed at adolescents to raise awareness of the importance of having safe sex . -Early detection and treatment
: many AIDS patients do not know that they are until the disease has progressed. If pregnant women who are HIV-positive receive adequate treatment, they can reduce the spread of the disease to the baby until it reaches less than 1% of those affected.
