Texila American University

HIV/AIDs are a major concern of health care professionals all over the world. Laboratory diagnosis is the only method of defining HIV status of an individual. Since there is no effective treatment available, prevention is the only way to contain the infection. Early diagnosis is an important preventive strategy. This course provides information that goes beyond practical aspects of laboratory analysis of HIV, including the biology of the HIV virus, the pathobiology of HIV infection, the epidemiology and testing methods. It also gives an overview about types of tests and diagnosis of HIV in newborns.

HIV has emerged as a global pandemic with continuous rise in the cases. It is one of the major public health problems. The treatment options for HIV are still in the initial trial stage and are prohibitively expensive. While there is no vaccine in sight, multi-drug anti-retroviral therapy, is not a cure to the disease and may help only in prolonging the life of the patient. HIV/AIDS is not a disease which spreads randomly and is transmitted as a consequence of a specific behavioral pattern and has strong socio-economic implications. It not only costs huge sums of money in terms of controlling the opportunistic infections, but seriously affects individuals in their prime productive years causing serious economic loss to them and their families. This course provides insight into the prevention and control strategy including control of risk factors, behavior change and surveillance as a monitoring tool.

The introduction of effective ART and its demonstrated medical benefits has shown the usefulness and importance of expanding HIV Counseling and Testing services to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of HIV-infected persons. It has also been shown that early knowledge of HIV infection can result in tremendous public health benefits through decreasing risk behaviors that could transmit HIV to uninfected persons. Furthermore, uninfected persons may benefit from HIV testing if knowing their HIV status assists them in modifying or reducing risk behaviors. This course gives details about anti retro viral treatment, its monitoring, follow up, importance of ART adherence and care & support people living with HIV AIDS should receive.

HIV/AIDs are a major concern of health care professionals all over the world. Laboratory diagnosis is the only method of defining HIV status of an individual. Early diagnosis can help in modifying behavior and reducing the transmission. This course provides information that goes beyond practical aspects of laboratory analysis of HIV, including the biology of the HIV virus, the pathobiology of HIV infection, the epidemiology and testing methods. Thus it provides a comprehensive learning platform not only for use at the bench but also for teaching and training of HIV.

The term sexually transmitted disease (STDs) refers to a variety of clinical syndromes and infections caused by pathogens that can be acquired and transmitted through sexual activity. It is very essential to screen a person suspected of having STDs for HIV infection. HIV and STDs cannot be view separately 80% of HIV infections are transmitted through sexual route and having STD is a major risk factor for development of HIV infection. This course provides a detail lining of what are STDs and what is the risk it carries for HIV, what are the preventive methods and importance of partner treatment.

In the absence of any intervention, a substantial proportion of children born to women living with HIV, acquire HIV infection from their mothers either during pregnancy, labor/delivery or during breastfeeding. Without any inter venation, the risk of transmission of HIV from infected pregnant women to her children is estimated to be around 20-45%. Use of ART and nevirapine to mother-baby pairs has shown to be quite effective in reducing this transmission as low as 10 per cent. Use of single dose Nevirapine (sd-NVP) at the onset of labour significantly reduces pre-partum HIV transmission. This course provides an insight regarding use of ART in pregnant women, care during labour and delivery to prevent transmission of infection and infant feeding options.

Few pandemics in history have had a more pernicious effect than the targeting by HIV of the fetus and the infant through the infected mother’s plasma and milk and the vulnerability thus imposed on the infant in the peripartum process and postnatally. The infant is vulnerable particularly in that breastfeeding, the ideal form of sustenance—nutritional and psychosocial—is compromised as are its consequences in length and quality of life.

HIV infection has emerged as a pandemic affecting all the age groups and sex worldwide. It has been a challenging situation for all the international bodies to contain the spreading epidemic of HIV without any effective treatment. The only means of containing the epidemic is prevention of development of HIV infection for which it is very essential to understand the epidemiology of HIV infection.