AIDS IS A COLLECTION OF DEADLY DISEASE SYMPTOMS THAT NEED TO BE BEWARE WITH YOUNG GENERATIONS

By: Yan Ramona, Ph.D.

Corresponding Author: yan_ramona@unud.ac.id

AIDS, which is stand for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is a collection of symptoms of a deadly disease that appears suddenly in someone whose immune system is paralyzed due to being infected with the HIV virus. These symptoms appear several years after HIV enters the person's body and multiply on white blood cells, specifically T4 or CD4 cells (Simon et al., 2006). This will be very fatal, because the body of an infected person can no longer ward off pathogenic germs that enter the body, so that there will be a collection of symptoms of a disease similar to influenza, such as fever, headaches, fatigue, and prolonged pain throughout the body (Naif, 2013). In addition, enlargement or swelling of the splenic vessels can also occur. If such symptoms appear on us, then we must be vigilant and immediately consult a doctor to ensure the presence or absence of HIV in our bodies. Especially before these symptoms appear, there are several activities at risk of contracting HIV that have been carried out. What is meant by activities at risk of contracting HIV includes having a blood transfusion in an operation. Sometimes there is inaccuracy of medical personnel in doing this. Although it is highly unlikely that we will get blood containing HIV, it is not impossible to be careless in the analysis, blood containing small amounts of HIV escapes medical observations. Something like this was reported to happen several years ago, when sophisticated methods used to detect HIV were not available.

        Apart from blood transfusions, HIV can also enter a person's body through the use of syringes in injecting drugs into the body of an addict. Unsterile syringes can be an intermediary for the entry of HIV into the body of healthy people, if the needle has previously been used by people with AIDS. The use of shared needles will accelerate the spread of HIV between people. To avoid HIV, stay away from this unprofitable promiscuity. Moreover, being one of the drug addicts who can plunge us into using syringes with other people who already have AIDS. We will never know whether a person has carried HIV in his body before the deadly symptoms appear in that person, because that person looks healthy when the amount of virus is still not much.

        Transmission of HIV can also occur through sex with an infected partner. According to information from activists to prevent HIV transmission (through KSPAN lectures), HIV transmission can also occur through the exchange of genital fluids. HIV resides in sperm (seminal fluid) and vaginal fluid (vaginal fluid). If there is contact between these fluids, a person can be infected through sex. Surely this sex is very interesting to be done by teenagers who are entering puberty in its development. Teenagers with incomplete understanding of the mechanism of transmission will be very easily involved in promiscuity, because their curiosity is very high and want to try new things. Moreover, they are equipped or given excessive facilities by their parents in the form of sophisticated mobile devices. With this device they can surf in cyberspace without limits and access porn sites that ultimately tempt them to do things related to free sex. Unconsciously they can easily fall into this activity and eventually become one of the people who carry and spread HIV to other people who are healthy. Moreover, their courtship style that is often called the courtship nowadays who no longer see a taboo to have sex before marriage. Therefore, parents today are expected to monitor their children's development closely and always monitor their children's relationships, and if necessary help choose friends who are suitable to be sociable.

        The process of breastfeeding is also one of the causes of the spread of HIV from a mother to a breastfed child. Breast milk also contains HIV, so that it becomes an intermediary for the spread of HIV. Therefore, after the birth process, it is necessary to check the presence of HIV in the blood of a mother before breastfeeding her newborn child. If it is detected as having AIDS, the baby should not be given breast milk so that the mother does not have HIV.

                        Another way of transmitting HIV is through the use of medical devices in the birthing process. In remote areas (where sophisticated health facilities such as those found in big cities), the birth process is often assisted by a shaman who uses only makeshift tools in cutting the umbilical cord of the baby being born. If the device is not sterilized from germs, it will become a means for HIV to infect mothers and children to be born. It also needs to be watched out by the community to reduce the chance of getting HIV. The government is also expected to pay attention to this.