Transmission of the virus

HIV has been isolated from semen, cervical secretions, lymphocytes, cell-free plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, tears, saliva, urine, and breast milk. This does not mean, however, that these
fluids all transmit infection since the concentration of virus in them varies considerably. Particularly infectious are semen, blood, and possibly cervical secretions. The commonest mode of transmission of the virus throughout the world is by sexual intercourse. Whether this is anal or vaginal is unimportant.

Other methods of transmission are through the receipt of infected blood or blood products, donated organs, and semen. Transmission also occurs through the sharing or reuse of contaminated needles by injecting drug users or for therapeutic procedures, and from mother to child. Transmission from
mother to child occurs in utero and also possibly at birth. Finally, the virus is transmitted through breast milk.

The virus is not spread by casual or social contact. Health care workers can, however, be infected through needlestick injuries, and skin and mucosal exposure to infected blood or body fluids. Prospective studies in health care workers suffering percutaneous exposure to a known HIV seropositive patient indicate a transmission rate of 0.32%. As of December 1999 there have been 96 reported cases of documented seroconversion after occupational exposure in such workers.

The precautions and risks for such groups are covered in detail in chapter 15. Finally, there is no evidence that the virus is spread by mosquitoes, lice, bed bugs, in swimming pools, or by sharing cups, eating and cooking utensils, toilets, and air space with an infected individual. Hence, HIV infection and AIDS are not contagious.

AIDS-defining conditions with laboratory evidence of HIV

Diseases diagnosed definitively

• Recurrent/multiple bacterial infections in child <13 years of age
• Coccidiomycosis – disseminated
• HIV encephalopathy
• Histoplasmosis – disseminated
• Isosporiasis with diarrhoea persisting >1 month
• Kaposi’s sarcoma at any age
• Primary cerebral lymphoma at any age
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: diffuse, undifferentiated B cell type, or unknown phenotype
• Any disseminated mycobacterial disease other than M. tuberculosis
• Mycobacterial tuberculosis at any site
• Salmonella septicaemia: recurrent
• HIV wasting syndrome
• Recurrent pneumonia within 1 year
• Invasive cervical cancer
• Diseases diagnosed presumptively
• Candidiasis: oesophagus
• Cytomegalovirus retinitis with visual loss
• Kaposi’s sarcoma
• Mycobacterial disease (acid-fast bacilli; species not identified by culture): disseminated
• Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
• Cerebral toxoplasmosis

AIDS-defining conditions with laboratory evidence of HIV

Diseases diagnosed definitively
• Recurrent/multiple bacterial infections in child <13 years of age
• Coccidiomycosis – disseminated
• HIV encephalopathy
• Histoplasmosis – disseminated
• Isosporiasis with diarrhoea persisting >1 month
• Kaposi’s sarcoma at any age
• Primary cerebral lymphoma at any age
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: diffuse, undifferentiated B cell type, or unknown phenotype
• Any disseminated mycobacterial disease other than M. tuberculosis
• Mycobacterial tuberculosis at any site
• Salmonella septicaemia: recurrent
• HIV wasting syndrome
• Recurrent pneumonia within 1 year
• Invasive cervical cancer
• Diseases diagnosed presumptively
• Candidiasis: oesophagus
• Cytomegalovirus retinitis with visual loss
• Kaposi’s sarcoma
• Mycobacterial disease (acid-fast bacilli; species not identified by culture): disseminated
• Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
• Cerebral toxoplasmosis

The definition of AIDS has changed over the years

The definition of AIDS has changed over the years as aиresult of an increasing appreciation of the wide spectrum of clinical manifestations of infection with HIV. Currently, AIDS is defined as an illness characterised by one or more indicator diseases. In the absence of another cause of immune deficiency and without laboratory evidence of HIV infection (if the patient has not been tested or the results are inconclusive), certain diseases when definitively diagnosed are indicative of AIDS. Also, regardless of the presence of other causes of immune deficiency, if there is laboratory evidence of HIV infection, other indicator diseases that require a definitive, or in some cases only a presumptive, diagnosis also constitute a diagnosis of AIDS.

In 1993 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the USA extended the definition of AIDS to include all persons who are severely immunosuppressed (a CD4 count <200 106/1) irrespective of the presence or absence of an indicator disease.

For surveillance purposes this definition has not been accepted within the UK and Europe. In these countries AIDS continues to be a clinical diagnosis defined by one or more of the indicator diseases mentioned. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also uses this clinically based definition for surveillance within developed countries. WHO, however, has developed an alternative case definition for use in sub-Saharan Africa. This is based on clinical signs and does not require laboratory confirmation of infection. Subsequently this definition has been modified to include a positive test for HIV antibody.

Early history of the epidemic AIDS

1981 Cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi’s sarcoma in the USA
1983 Discovery of the virus. First cases of AIDS in the UK
1984 Development of antibody test


The first recognised cases of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) occurred in the summer of 1981 in America.
Reports began to appear of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi’s sarcoma in young men, who it was subsequently realised were both homosexual and immunocompromised. Even though the condition became known early on as AIDS, its cause and modes of transmission were not immediately obvious.

The virus now known to cause AIDS in a proportion of those infected was discovered in 1983 and given various names. The internationally accepted term is now the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Subsequently a new variant has been isolated in patients with West African connections –HIV-2.

AIDS-defining conditions without laboratory evidence of HIV

• Diseases diagnosed definitively
• Candidiasis: oesophagus, trachea, bronchi or lungs
• Cryptococcosis: extrapulmonary
• Cryptosporidiosis with diarrhoea persisting >1 month
• Cytomegalovirus disease other than in liver, spleen, nodes
• Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection
• mucocutaneous ulceration lasting >1 month
• pulmonary, oesophageal involvement
• Kaposi’s sarcoma in patient <60 years of age
• Primary cerebral lymphoma in patient <60 years of age
• Lymphoid interstitial pneumonia in child <13 years of age
• Mycobacterium avium: disseminated
• Mycobacterium kansasii: disseminated
• Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
• Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
• Cerebral toxoplasmosis

The logical steps that should be taken to prevent and to cure people with AIDS are:

1. Prevent the causes of AIDS by educating the public about the toxic effects of the illicit drugs and alcohol;
2. Limit the use of glucocorticoids in the treatment of chronic conditions and in the treatment of people with AIDS;
3. Monitor the levels of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells in the blood of patients who are receiving medium or high therapeutic doses of glucocorticoids for significant times;
4. Discontinue the treatment of patients with AIDS and asymptomatic patients with AZT and protease inhibitors immediately. These are very toxic medications;
5. Provide proper clinical support and nutrition to patients with AIDS based on their medical needs. Prior to the development of full blown AIDS in drug users and homosexuals, the damage is caused by the use of drugs.

V1 Evidence that invalidate the HIV-hypothesis. The following is a list of medical facts that invalidate the HIV-hypothesis a claim which states that HIV selectively kills CD4+T cells and causes AIDS.

1. The reduction of CD4+ T cells in HIV positive homosexual men who used steroids was reversed after the cessation of the treatment with corticosteroids. If the HIV is the cause of AIDS in these patients then the cessation of the steroids will not reverse the disease.
2. The reversal of the reduction of CD4+ T cells in HIV-positive pregnant women following the feeding multivitamin and provided balanced diet disprove the idea that HIV is the cause of AIDS. The average CD4+ T cells increase in these patients from 426/ul to 576/ul (Fawzi, et al. 1998).
3. The lymph nodes of majority of the 505 HIV-infected individuals showed lymphoid hyperplasia that include T and B cells (Al-Bayati, 1999).
4. The lymphoid atrophy observed in HIV-infected patients include reduction in T cells (CD4+ and CD+8), B cells, and stroma (Al-Bayati, 1999; Muro-Cacho, et al., 1995).
5. HIV particles were found in CD4+, CD8+ T cells, B cells, and other cells indicating HIV do not need specific receptors as the HIV-hypothesis predict (Al-Bayati, 1999).
6. 90% of AIDS cases were reported to be in drugs users and homosexuals and the changes in the lymphoid organs of HIV-negative drug users or homosexuals were similar to those described in HIV-positive drug users and/or homosexual men ( Fauci, et al., 1998; Al-Bayati, 1999).

Global Problem - Yes or No?

Many countries have learned to combat the spread of HIV, statistics show that Turkey still suffers from a large number of diseases, and the Turks - of ignorance in this area.

"For high school students do not draw any educational sessions on HIV and AIDS, and yet, many of them already have sex," - says Mr. Nejat Yunlyu, head of the nongovernmental organization "Foundation for Positive Life."

"Around 5000 people in Turkey were infected with HIV in 2011, according to official data, whereas last year the number of infected people was 4525. And the hotbed of the disease has more than 25 million tourists a year, - says Mr. Yunlyu. - No discrimination against HIV infected patients, nor the number of patients has not decreased in recent years in Turkey, unlike other developed countries. The Ministry of Health is not serious to the problem. "

According to the World Health Organization, the actual number of AIDS patients is ten times higher than official statistics. Many patients deliberately do not go to hospitals to avoid possible discrimination. With such discrimination faced by all HIV-infected people in Turkey.

"Despite the growing number of newly infected, the Ministry of Health in Turkey has not taken any effective steps to address this problem. Officially, we have a National Commission on HIV, but in fact she was not going to never in the past three years.