Concept of HIV/AIDS, history of transmission, routes of transmission, and universal measures to protect law enforcement personnel from HIV infection in the line of duty

 HIV:

B-virus

I - immunodeficiency virus

L - human.

HIV is also called the AIDS virus

AIDS - C - means that AIDS is a syndrome. A syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms that are "associated with a specific disease or condition and occur simultaneously. AIDS is a syndrome because people with AIDS have related symptoms and diseases that can only occur at the same time if the person has AIDS.

H is acquired. This means that HIV is transmitted from an infected person to another person.

I - means immune and has to do with the body's immune system. It is made up of cells that protect the body from disease (form the body's immune system). Once HIV enters the human body it destroys the cells of the immune system and eliminates the natural protection of the human body against other infections, easily infecting the body and causing the death of the person.

D deficiency, is a sign, something is missing. In this case, the body lacks a certain type of cells that it needs to defend itself against infections. These are called - immune cells or "T" Themis. Over time, HIV infection affects these cells and the body's immune system becomes quite weak to perform its function.

For the first time, AIDS as a disease was officially recognized in 1981 in the United States, when health workers reported the appearance of pneumonia in young homosexual men, as well as tumors that could not be cured. In 1983, a virus was isolated in such patients, which causes a decrease in immunity, so it was called HIV, a person infected with HIV is HIV-positive.

Currently, HIV infection is registered in almost every country in the world. Almost every day around 7000 people are infected with HIV worldwide, and 9 out of 10 people do not know that they are infected with the virus.

Our country has the highest prevalence of the disease among the population of the former Soviet Union republics. Residents of Odessa, Lugansk, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Nikolayev regions, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the cities of Kiev and Sevastopol are the most infected with HIV.

Ukraine has the largest number of HIV-positive cases among young people aged 15 to 24 in Europe, with Portugal coming in second.

HIV/AIDS treatment is the most expensive of all types of medical care.

Medical examinations to detect HIV infection are subject to:

Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel who take part in joint exercises or perform other missions outside of Ukraine (in cases where the host country requires an appropriate certificate) 1 week before departure;
those who have come to Ukraine for more than 3 months for training or other purposes and do not have an appropriate certificate - upon arrival;
c/o who have had sexual contacts with an AIDS patient or HIV-infected person, upon detection, as well as after 6 and 12 months, if negative results were obtained during previous examinations - with their consent;
c/o who are in the risk group for HIV infection, upon detection:
a) drug addicts who use drugs by drug use - during their treatment in a medical institution, with their consent;

b) Persons who have had multiple transfusions of blood and blood products - with their consent;

c) persons found to have sexually transmitted diseases - with their consent;

d) homosexuals or heterosexuals with multiple partners - with their consent;

- donors of blood components and organs - at each donation;

- Patients who are hospitalized - for clinical indications;

- others in / c who have expressed a desire to be examined;

- medical personnel involved in the diagnosis or treatment of HIV-infected - once a year with their consent;

- Conscripts, in case they fall into one of the categories listed above - during the initial medical examination - with their consent

- Pregnant women with their consent at their registration or before delivery.

Ways of HIV transmission from one person to another:

- By sexual contact with an infected partner - when semen, blood, secretions from one person's vagina, that is, her sexual partner. This can be during vaginal intercourse without a condom; anal intercourse without a condom; contact of the mucous membranes of the mouth, vagina, rectum with blood, sperm of another person; oral sexual contact without a condom;

- From an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding

- Use of uninfected, blood-contaminated and therefore possibly HIV-contaminated needles and syringes in common use (injecting drug users) or under the same conditions - ear piercing, tattooing

- blood transfusion from an HIV-infected donor or transplantation of organs and tissues from such a donor (this route is now almost eliminated since donors are subject to mandatory HIV testing).

The human immunodeficiency virus is unstable in the environment, only being able to persist for some time in blood clots. That is why HIV is not transmitted:

through sneezing, coughing, i.e. through the air;
through utensils, food;
Through bedding and underwear, visiting public baths, toilets;
through money;
through water, toys, school supplies;
through door handles, handrails in public transport.
The role of ticks, mosquitoes, lice, bedbugs as vectors of the virus has not been confirmed.

There are no known cases of HIV transmission during artificial respiration. In case the victim is bleeding from the mouth, take a clean rag, wipe off the blood, and then start CPR. If you feel in danger of contamination, rinse your mouth with water several times.

Risks of infection for search workers include:

pricking yourself with a needle or other sharp object may place residual blood
ingress of blood or other body fluids into open wounds or abrasions in the skin or mucous membranes. Therefore, the person performing the search should adhere to the following rules:
Tape all cuts or abrasions on the skin of the hands with a medical plaster beforehand;
Wear leather gloves for the duration of the search, especially when searching places where there is a possible risk of cutting the skin;
To be particularly careful when examining clothes, where possible, to offer this to the person to be searched;
a) empty pockets and show underwear:

b) feel the clothes with your hands;

In case of violence, the risk of infection can occur through biting or stabbing with sharp objects. It is necessary to remember that the risk of contracting HIV from an injection or from blood, pierced, is quite small, but it exists. Therefore, it is important that police officers in such extreme cases are able to protect themselves through the following measures:

- assess the possibility of risk in advance;

- in case of conflict - call for help, use special means and equipment to prevent violence.

In the case of a situation that has given rise to the risk of infection (wounds to the skin or mucous membranes, ingestion of blood or other fluids of another person) the following should be done

- if contact with blood or other biological fluids was accompanied by violations of the integrity of the skin (prick, cut) immediately squeeze blood from the wound, treat the damaged place with one of the disinfectants, wash hands with soap and running water, on the wound to apply ettv, plaster;

- In case of contact of blood with mucous membranes of the oral cavity, eyes - immediately rinse the wound with running water and if possible disinfect the mouth and nose cavities - drop in 30% Albucid solution or use a solution of potassium permanganate

- immediately go to a medical institution for qualified medical aid, then - to the polyclinic at the place of service for possible emergency prophylaxis and medical examination.