Question: I’m a 65-year-old man who is dating a 58-year-old
woman. Recently, my grandson, who is rather outspoken, asked me if I was
protecting myself against AIDS. At the time, I thought the question was
ridiculous, but now I’m wondering.
Answer: A growing number of older people have HIV/AIDS. About 19
percent of all people with HIV/AIDS in this country now are over age 50. New
AIDS cases rose faster in the over-50 population than in people under 40.
Since the early 80’s, HIV in people over 50 accounted for about 10
percent of all cases. However, the method of transmission has changed.
Blood transfusion was once the major transmission mode. Now,
heterosexual contact and intravenous drug use are the main causes of HIV
infection in seniors.
Heterosexual transmission in men over 50 is up 94 percent, and it’s
up 107 percent in women, since 1991.
But there may even be many more cases, because doctors do not
always test older people for HIV/AIDS during routine exams, and older people
often mistake signs of HIV/AIDS for the aches of normal aging, so they don’t
get medical attention.
The number of HIV/AIDS cases among older people is growing every
year because older Americans know less about HIV/AIDS than younger people,
healthcare professionals often do not talk with older people about prevention,
and older people are less likely than younger people to talk about their sex
lives or drug use with their doctors.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the
immune system. This makes you vulnerable to diseases, infections, and cancers.
When that happens, you have AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome), which is the last stage of HIV infection.
HIV symptoms include headache, cough, diarrhea, swollen glands,
lack of energy, loss of appetite and weight loss, fevers and sweats, repeated
yeast infections, skin rashes, pelvic and abdominal cramps, sores and
short-term memory loss.
Your health care provider can test your blood for HIV/AIDS. You
can also test your blood at home with the “Home Access Express HIV-1 Test
System” that you can buy at your drug store. It is the only HIV home test
system approved by the Food and Drug Administration and sold legally in the
United States.
Anyone can get HIV and AIDS. HIV usually comes from having
unprotected sex or sharing needles with an infected person, or through contact
with HIV-infected blood.
You cannot get HIV from: casual contact, such as shaking hands
with someone who has HIV/AIDS; using a public telephone, drinking fountain,
restroom, swimming pool, hot tub; sharing a drink; being coughed or sneezed on
by a person with HIV/AIDS; giving blood, or being bitten by a mosquito.
You may be at risk if you do not use condoms, you do not know your
partner’s drug and sexual history, you have had a blood transfusion or operation
in a developing country, or if you had a blood transfusion in the United States
between 1978 and 1985.
There is no cure for HIV/AIDS. But if you become infected, there
are drugs that help keep the HIV virus in check and slow the spread of HIV in
the body. Doctors are now using a combination of drugs called HAART (highly
active antiretroviral therapy) to treat HIV/AIDS. Although it is not a cure,
HAART is greatly reducing the number of deaths from AIDS in this country.
If you have a question, please write to fred@healthygeezer.com.
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rights reserved. Copyright © 2008 by Fred Cicetti