Self Defense Awareness
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December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month
Wear Red to show your support on World AIDS Day!
Red is the known symbol for World AIDS Day and many people wear red on Dec. 1 or even on any regular day to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS. One can also wear a red ribbon on this day. By doing so, they can start a conversation with other people to help them become more aware of the facts and debunk the misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, therefore contributing to the fight against the stigma surrounding it.
Wear Red to show your support on World AIDS Day!
Red is the known symbol for World AIDS Day and many people wear red on Dec. 1 or even on any regular day to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS. One can also wear a red ribbon on this day. By doing so, they can start a conversation with other people to help them become more aware of the facts and debunk the misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, therefore contributing to the fight against the stigma surrounding it.
HIV kills CD4 cells. Healthy adults generally have a CD4 count of 500 to 1,500 per cubic millimeter. A person with HIV whose CD4 count falls below 200 per cubic millimeter will be diagnosed with AIDS.
A person can also be diagnosed with AIDS if they have HIV and develop an opportunistic infection or cancer that’s rare in people who don’t have HIV. An opportunistic infection, such as pneumonia, is one that takes advantage of a unique situation, such as HIV.
Untreated, HIV can progress to AIDS within a decade. There’s no cure for AIDS, and without treatment, life expectancy after diagnosis is about 3 years.
To develop AIDS, a person has to have contracted HIV. But having HIV doesn’t necessarily mean that someone will develop AIDS.
Cases of HIV progress through three stages:
- stage 1: acute stage, the first few weeks after transmission
- stage 2: clinical latency, or chronic stage
- stage 3: AIDS
As HIV lowers the CD4 cell count, the immune system weakens. A typical adult’s CD4 count is 500 to 1,500 per cubic millimeter. A person with a count below 200 is considered to have AIDS.
December 1st is World AIDS Day!
