It’s World AIDS Day today, so we shall discuss some facts and figures that we need to know about the deadly but preventable and treatable disease.

What is HIV/AIDS all about?

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections.

HIV harms the body’s immune system by attacking certain kinds of cells which are a part of the body’s natural line of defense against illness. As time goes by, HIV destroys so many of these cells that the body is no longer able to defend itself against certain cancers, viruses, bacteria, or parasites. If left untreated, HIV can lead to AIDS and death.

Did you know that…

• more than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981?
  
• Africa has 12 million AIDS orphans?
• at the end of 2006, women accounted for 50% of all adults living with HIV worldwide, and for 61% in sub-Saharan Africa?
• young people (under 25 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide?
• in developing and transitional countries, 7.1 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 2.015 million (28%) are receiving the drugs?

How is AIDS transmitted?

HIV isn’t transmitted by casual contact. You cannot get it from sharing water fountains, toilet seats, pencils or pens. And it’s not spread through coughing or sneezing, tears, sweat, urine or saliva.

1. Sexual transmission

   Homosexuals and heterosexuals alike are at risk. Infected people can pass HIV to anyone with whom they have intimate contact. Men can infect female or male partners, as can women. If you’re promiscuous, you increase your chances of encountering someone who’s infected. To protect yourself, use condoms unless you’re absolutely certain your partner isn’t HIV-positive.

2. Drug and needle use

   Injecting drugs with someone who is HIV-positive puts you at risk. Dried blood can stay on a needle or inside a syringe, then be transferred to the next user. Because you can’t tell by looking whether a person has HIV, sharing needles is always dangerous.

   You’re also at risk if you have any part of your body pierced or get a tattoo. If you have either of these procedures, make sure the person providing the service uses only new or sterile needles.

3. Blood transfusions

   Today, blood that is used in transfusions in the United States is rigorously tested for HIV and several other contagious viruses, so there is only a slight chance of getting HIV from a transfusion. However, that wasn’t the case a decade ago.

How to reduce the risk of HIV or other STD transmission?

The following steps can help you prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.

• Get educated. Find out all you can about HIV and AIDS so that you can protect yourself. Share your knowledge with family members and friends.
• Choose not to have sex, or making an agreement with a partner who is not HIV-positive to be sexually faithful to each other, and sticking to it.
• Do not inject drugs of any kind. Do not share needles or syringes. Seek medical help if you have a drug problem.
• Have an HIV test if you’ve participated in unsafe sex or drug use. Encourage any friends who believe they may be infected to do the same.
• Postpone pregnancy if it’s possible you’ve been infected. Unborn children can contract the disease from their mothers, although there are medications that can prevent this. Your doctor can offer advice, as can family-planning services.

Interesting myths and facts you need to know about HIV/AIDS:

• The real truth about HIV @ pelf-ism is contagious
• How you really catch HIV? @ pelf-ism is contagious

Elsewhere:

• World AIDS Day — Take Action Now by Tiara @ EducateDeviate.
• World AIDS Day 2007 by Skeet @ Skeet’s Stuff

References:

October has come and gone, and in the past 31 days, I have managed to cover various topics concerning breast cancer on my personal blog — a deadly BUT preventable disease. Did you manage to follow the series of awareness posts on breast cancer? Did you learn a thing or two from those awareness posts?

What you need to know about breast cancer

• In Breast cancer? What?! I talked about what breast cancer is, what normal cells are and how they differ from cancer cells, and how the disease spreads.
• I shared with you some of the facts and figures related to breast cancer in Breast cancer-related statistics.
• Next, I did some online research and shared with you a quick and easy way to save your live — by performing Breast Self Exams (BSE) every month — in Breast cancer: Examine yourself.
• Are you at risk of breast cancer? What causes breast cancer? Find out about these, and other risk factors in Risk factors for breast cancer.
• Then we discussed some Breast cancer symptoms — do you see any swelling or thickness of your breast? Do you notice any changes in the appearance of the nipple? Is there any discharge from your breast/nipple?
• So if you (or somebody you know) have been diagnosed with breast cancer, what are the treatments available? In Breast cancer treatments, I talked about some of the more common approaches in treating breast cancer.
• And finally, in Breast cancer news, I have compiled some of the very interesting findings in the field of breast cancer and its treatments that could potentially save your life. Or that of someone you know/love.

Apart from those drop-dead-serious posts that were written to spread awareness on the disease, I have also written a couple of other lighter posts, but they were also related to breast cancer:

• I blogged about Lin @ Queen of the froggers who pledged to donate 5 pence for each comment left on her blog throughout the month of October to Cancer Research UK. She received a total of 435 comments throughout October, which means that she will be donating £21.75 to Cancer Research UK! :)
• I also blogged about some Pink Ribbon Cards made by breast cancer survivor, Lorelle.

Blogging for Boobs

And, I participated in an online campaign called Blogging for Boobs. A lot of other bloggers participated in the campaign as well, and their entries can be found at the official Blogging for Boobs site. Some of those that brought tears to my eyes were as follow (WARNING: Get some Kleenex!):

• Jennifer, who has a family history of brain, cervical, ovarian, lung, and breast cancers; diabetes; COPD and emphysema; Alzheimer’s; arterial blockages and blowouts; heart attacks; and strokes, wrote about how her mother fought breast cancer ever so fiercely.
• Michelle has breast cancer running through her veins and she knows that her risks of getting breast cancer are 75%. Hence she has made the decision to have a double mastectomy and radiotherapy to kill the rest of the breast tissue off when she reaches the age of 35.
• Someone Amanda loves dearly is dying of cancer, and she is currently looking after her “tiny children”, supporting her husband and keeping an agreement to make her laugh as much as I can and transcribing her journals into a book for her children to know her life as it has been until now.
• 70s flowerchild shared the story of how breast cancer just snuck up and stole her sister-in-law away.
• Dear Prudence recalled how she gambled with her life to carry her then unborn child to term, at the same time worrying about breast cancer.
• silly little imperfection wrote her sister, Steph, a poem. Steph was diagnosed in 1990, at 23, and spent the next nine years fighting for her life. She passed on in June of 1999, a week before silly little imperfection’s high school graduation.

How did your blog-hopping experience go? What did you find?

Did you know that:

• the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released a study in 1997 concluding that bottled water is not better for you than tap water.
• roughly 22 percent of bottled water brands have been found to contain, in at least one sample, chemical contaminants at levels above governmental health regulations.
• correlations have even been drawn between increased cavity decay and consumption of bottled water, due, some say, to the natural absence of fluoride in bottled spring water.
• in the first three years of this decade, the planet’s thirsty consumers drank over 500 million liters of bottled water?
• the World Wildlife Fund says the bottled water industry generates 1.5 million tons of plastic a year?
• that there is a No Bottled Water petition?

Chris Baskind @ Lighter Footstep rounded up 5 solid reasons to kick the bottled water habit:

1. Bottled water isn’t a good value.
2. It isn’t healthier than tap water. If you’re concerned about the quality of the water in your taps, you can have clean water without the disposable plastic. A filter system for your tap, or a filter jug in your fridge, is cheaper than buying bottled water and much, much greener.
3. Bottled water means garbage. Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. And while the plastic used to bottle beverages is of high quality and in demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are simply thrown away.
4. Bottled water means less attention to public system.
5. The privatization of water. Multinational companies are stepping in to purchase groundwater and distribution rights wherever they can, and the bottled water industry is an important component in their drive to commoditize what many feel is a basic human right: the access to safe and affordable water.

But if you had to buy a bottle of water, buy a local brand. This means less transport, and also that the water is being consumed closer to its source.

References:

1. Alternatives to bottled water
2. 5 reasons not to drink bottled water