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AIDS

hivxaids

About Me

I was born in Africa, nobody is sure exactly when, but there is proof that states I was around in 1959. I moved to North America sometime in the seventies, though nobody really noticed me until very early in the the eighties. I have since travelled all the world, making myself home in each and every country.My name is HIV, which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.'Human' comes from the fact that I only infect humans. I have cousins, SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) and FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus), among others, but this indicates that I can only be passed from human to human, I cannot be passed from, say, a monkey to a human.'Immunodeficiency' can be a bit of a mouthful. Basically, your immune system is made up of many kinds of white blood cells. One type in particular, CD4 cells (also called T-cells), make a perfect host for me. I invade these cells, which just happen to be the ones that coordinate the whole battle plan for the rest of your immune system, and for each cell that I invade, I destroy it and make 500 copies of myself, each copy in turn finding, destroying, and replicating in other CD4 cells. Killing off these CD4 cells creates a deficiency in your immune system, which is my middle name!'Virus' alludes to the fact that I am, indeed, a virus. One that just so happens to be a million times smaller than a human cell.All that destroying and replicating I do can be very hard on the immune system, and after your immune system is too weak to continue putting up a fight, I move into my next stage - AIDS.AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.'Acquired' means that I don't just float around in the air, waiting to be picked up by some poor fool who didn't wash his hands, she can't catch me from sitting on a dirty toilet seat, I'm not genetic, meaning that you're not going to get me just because your aunt, uncle, father, mother, brother, sister or cousin had me... you've got to DO something that brings me into your blood stream.I'll just group 'Immune' and 'Deficiency together, as I believe you've already got a basic understanding: A healthy immune system has anywhere from 500-1500 CD4 cells per microlitre of blood. In the United States, AIDS is defined as having less than 200 CD4 cells per microlitre of blood.'Syndrome' - A syndrome is, quite simply, a collection of symptoms. There is a number (26) of specific symptoms that are associated with AIDS infection. These are called opportunistic infections (OI's), and are called so because they take advantage of the weakened immune system. OI's include various sorts of cancers, pneumonias and other diseases that rarely affect those with healthy immune systems. In Canada, AIDS is defined as having one or more opportunistic infections along with the presence of HIV.

My Interests

My interests lie mostly in the invasion and destruction of CD4 cells in your immune system, allowing me to replicate myself. In fact, if you are infected with me and are using cocaine, it will speed up my replication 20-fold, so now I am making - not 500 - but 10,000 copies of myself for every cell I infect.

I'd like to meet:

You. Young or old, male or female, gay, straight, bi, trans, two spirited... I don't discriminate. I have infected children, Catholic nuns, rock stars, actors, actresses, sports heroes, and the girl next door.

Heroes:

Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), Ricky Wilson (1953-1985), Liberace, (1919-1987), Rock Hudson, (1925-1985), Anthony Perkins (1932-1992), Chuck Panozzo, Robbin Crosby, (1960-2002), Eazy-E, (1963-1995), Richard Hunt, (1951-1992), Ricky Wilson (1953-1985), Robert Reed, (1932-1992), Isaac Asimov, (1920-1992), Larry Kramer, Randy Shilts (1951-1994), Gia (1960-1986), Ryan White (1971-1990), Magic Johnson (b. 1959), Perry Ellis (1940-1986), Pedro Zamora (1972-1994) ...and many, many more.

My Blog

Live Free!

The Living Positive Resource Centre, the local ASO (AIDS Service Organization) I work for, has created a web site as part of our Live Free campaign.  It's all about living free from abuse, discri...
Posted by AIDS on Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:31:00 PST

How many people are infected world wide?* Check out - The AIDS Clock

www.unfpa.org/aids_clock/ * note: I have no way of verifying whether or not this count is completely accurate, however, it is a good estimate that one person is infected every 8 seconds....
Posted by AIDS on Thu, 02 Mar 2006 01:23:00 PST

Hey, Baby... What's your number? - The Sexual Exposure Chart


Posted by AIDS on Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:43:00 PST

So... How do I use it? - a simple guide to using condoms

Alright, so you've done it.  You've walked all the way from the pharmacy section to the cashier with a box of condoms in your hand, you've stood in the line up, and even looked the cashier in the...
Posted by AIDS on Sun, 26 Feb 2006 02:56:00 PST

Hello goes out to the second year university students in Chang Sha, Hunan, China.

Hello to all, I have recently heard that this site is being used as a learning tool for your AIDS education.  I'm glad to hear that you're interested in learning about the virus. HIV/AIDS is a vi...
Posted by AIDS on Sat, 25 Feb 2006 09:10:00 PST

THE EQUATION - how HIV is transmitted

In order for HIV transmission to occur, you need THREE things: 1. A body fluid capable of transmitting the virus - These include BLOOD, SEMEN (including PRE-CUM), VAGINAL FLUID, BREAST MILK and CEREBR...
Posted by AIDS on Wed, 22 Feb 2006 06:38:00 PST