HIV AMONG YOUTH

1. Eng 2 MT1323
Calimbas, Mary Frances Therese S.
Fast Growing Juvenile AIDS Victims
HIV or Human Immuno Virus is a Sexually Transmitted Disease that causes Active Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome. It breaks down the body’s immune system-our body’s protection against disease
that normally wouldn’t affect them. Some people develop HIV symptoms shortly after being infected.
But it usually takes more than 10 years. Symptoms may include swollen glands in throat, armpit, or groin
slight fever, fatigue and muscle aches. These symptoms may last for only a few weeks . that is why it can
be hard to determine if you have HIV.
Since the first cases of AIDS were identified in 1981, more than 30 million people have died from AIDS.
An estimated 1.7 million people died as a result of AIDS in 2011 alone. In the United States, more than
980,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the government. About 40,000 women and men in the
United States get HIV each year. And the highest rate of HIV population is located at Africa . Today,
there are an estimated 35.3 million people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. 1 out of 4 of new cases
in the world is among ages 13-24. Most of them do not know they are infected and unknowingly passing
the virus.
When and where this virus is originated? What are the ways it can be transferred? How can we stop
this? Why is it that juvenile HIV cases were present nowadays and what are the factors that affect the
fast growing of these cases? And is it curable? This were just some of the questions that usually takes
one’s mind when he’ll realized that our youth’s future have been abducted by this virus.
This paper aims to answer the reason of existence, factors of fast growing cases , and prevention of HIV
cases among youth. This will further answer the following:
1. What is HIV?
1.1 When and where this virus is originated?
2. How it is transmitted?
2.1 Vaginal sex;
2.2 Anal sex;
2.3 Oral sex
2.4 Injecting drugs;
2.5 Mother-to-child transmission;
2.6 Blood transfusions and blood products;
2.7 Infection in health-care settings and
2.8 Tattoos / piercing.
3. What is the cure for HIV?
4. How to stop the spread of HIV?

2. 5. What are the factors that affect the juvenile HIV fast growing cases?
5.1 Behavioral Factors;
5.1.1 Lack of Knowledge about HIV;
5.1.2 Sexual Behavior;
5.1.3 Relationship Dynamics;
5.1.4 Substance Use and
5.1.5 Mental Health Issues?
5.2 Biological Factors and
5.3 Structural Factors ?
5.3.1 Social and Environmental Contexts Associated
with HIV Risk?
5.3.2 Lack of Access to Testing, Care, and Youth-Friendly
Services?
HIV AIDS
AIDS is a medical condition. A person is diagnosed with AIDS when their immune system is too weak to
fight off infections. Since AIDS was first identified in the early 1980s, an unprecedented number of
people have been affected by the global AIDS epidemic. Today, there are an estimated 35.3 million
people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. Some people may refer to AIDS as advanced HIV infection.
HIV is a virus that gradually attacks immune system cells. As HIV progressively damages these cells, the
body becomes more vulnerable to infections, which it will have difficulty in fighting off. It i s at the point
of very advanced HIV infection that a person is said to have AIDS. If left untreated, it can take around ten
years before HIV has damaged the immune system enough for AIDS to develop.
TRANSMISSION
HIV can only be transmitted in certain ways , awareness of HIV transmission routes helps people who
are unsure if they have been exposed to HIV or not. HIV is found in blood and other body fluids of an
infected person, such as semen and vaginal fluids. HIV cannot live for long outside the body, so to be
infected with HIV you need to allow some body fluid from an infected person to get inside your body
(contact with saliva has never been known to transmit HIV). The virus can enter the body via contact
with the bloodstream or by passing through delicate mucous membranes, such as inside the vagina,
rectum or urethra.
Vaginal sex
HIV is found in the sexual fluids of an infected person. For a man, this means the pre -come and semen
fluids that come out of the penis before and during sex. For a woman, it means HIV is in the vaginal
fluids that are produced by the vagina to keep it clean and to help make intercourse easier. If a man with

3. HIV has vaginal intercourse without a condom, then HIV can pass into the woman's body through the
lining of the vagina, cervix and womb. The risk of HIV transmission is increased if the woman has a cut or
sore inside or around her vagina; this will make it easier for the virus to enter her bloodstream. A cut or
sore might not always be visible, and could be so small that the woman wouldn't know about it.
If a woman with HIV has sexual intercourse without a condom, HIV could get into the man's body
through a sore patch on his penis or by getting into his urethra (the tube that runs down the penis) or
the inside of his foreskin (unless this has been removed by circumcision).Any contact with blood during
sex increases the chance of infection. For example, there may be blood in the vagina if intercourse
occurs during a woman's period. Some sexually transmitted diseases – such as herpes and gonorrhea –
can also raise the risk of HIV transmission.
Anal sex
Receptive anal intercourse (i.e. sex where a man’s penis is inserted into a person’s anus) carries a higher
risk of HIV transmission than receptive vaginal intercourse. The lining of the anus is more delicate than
the lining of the vagina, so is more likely to be damaged during sex. Any contact with blood during sex
increases the risk of infection.If a man takes the insertive position in anal sex with a man or woman who
has HIV, then he too risks becoming infected.
Oral sex
Oral sex with an infected partner carries a small risk of HIV infection. If a person gives oral sex (licking or
sucking the penis) to a man with HIV, then infected fluid could get into their mouth. If the person has
bleeding gums or tiny sores or ulcers somewhere in their mouth, there is a small risk of HIV entering
their bloodstream. The same is true if infected sexual fluids from a woman get into the mouth of her
partner. There is also a small risk if a person with HIV gives oral sex when they have bleeding gums or a
bleeding wound in their mouth. However, HIV in saliva alone does not pose a risk.
Injecting drugs
People who inject drugs are a high-risk group for exposure to HIV. Sharing unsterilised injecting
equipment is a very efficient way to transmit blood-borne viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Sharing
needles and “works” (syringes, spoons, filters and blood-contaminated water) is thought to be three
times more likely to transmit HIV than sexual intercourse. Disinfecting equipment between each use can
reduce the chance of transmission, but does not eliminate it entirely.
Mother-to-child transmission
An infected pregnant woman can pass HIV on to her unborn baby during pregnancy, labour or delivery.
HIV can also be transmitted through breastfeeding. This type of HIV transmission is also known as
vertical transmission.

4. Blood transfusions and blood products
Some people have been infected through a transfusion of infected blood. These days, all the blood used
for transfusions in high-income countries is tested for HIV and HIV infection through blood transfusions
is now extremely rare. Yet this is not the case in some middle- and low-income countries, where a lack
of adequate blood safety procedures means HIV transmission through blood transfusions continues to
occur.
Infection in health-care settings
Hospitals and clinics should take precautions to prevent the spread of blood-borne infections. These
measures include using sterile surgical instruments, wearing gloves, and safely disposing of medical
waste. In high-income countries, HIV transmission in health-care settings is extremely rare. However,
cases continue to occur in some middle- and low-income countries where safety procedures are not so
well implemented. Health-care workers have on rare occasions become infected with HIV by being stuck
with needles containing HIV-infected blood. A few people have also become infected by HIV-infected
blood getting into the bloodstream through an open cut, or splashing onto a mucous membrane (e.g.
the eyes or the inside of the nose).
Tattoos / piercing
Anything that potentially allows another person's blood to get into your bloodstream carries a risk. If the
equipment has not been sterilized, there could be a risk of HIV from tattoos or piercings if the previous
person was infected with HIV.
CURE
There is currently no cure for AIDS or HIV infection. Although antiretroviral treatment can suppress HIV
– the virus that causes AIDS – and can delay AIDS-related illness for many years, it cannot clear the virus
completely.
However, there is hope and optimism around the possibility of a genuine cure for HIV being developed
within the next few decades. The launch of a new strategy to develop a cure, involving scie ntists, policy
makers, funders and people living with HIV, in July 2012, marked an increased focus on the development
of a cure as a potential approach to curbing the HIV and AIDS epidemic. 1
Antiretroviral Treatment
This is the main type of treatment for HIV or AIDS. It is not a cure, but it can stop people from becoming
ill for many years. The treatment consists of drugs that have to be taken every day for the rest of a
person’s life. The aim of antiretroviral treatment is to keep the amount of HIV in the body at a low level.
This stops any weakening of the immune system and allows it to recover from any damage that HIV
might have caused already .The drugs are often referred to as: antiretrovirals, ARVs, anti -HIV or anti-
AIDS drugs.

5. HOW TO STOP THE SPREAD OF HIV
As such, other ways of reducing the sexual transmission of HIV, such as male circumcision are being
promoted, while there is benefit in improving people's understanding of issues around sexuality and
safer sex, and the role of sex education.Raising awareness of the benefits of regular HIV testing as well
as the risk of other sexually transmitted infections is also important for the prevention of sexual
transmission of HIV.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE FAST GROWING JUVINILE HIV VICTIMS
BEHAVIORAL FACTORS
Lack of Knowledge about HIV
Because American youth today are growing up at a time when AIDS is considered to be a treatable
disease and complacency is widespread, young people may be more likely to have misconceptions about
HIV/AIDS, including modes of transmission and preventive measures. There has been minimal research
on adolescents’ understanding of scientific knowledge about HIV transmission.
Sexual Behavior
Sexual behavior is the primary mode of HIV transmission among young people. Adolescence marks a
period of sexual exploration that can translate into episodic and risky sex.
Relationship Dynamics
Because young people are just starting to explore the world of sexual relationships, they may not have
the psychological and interpersonal skills necessary to negotiate the safer behaviors that can protect
them from HIV, other STIs, and unwanted pregnancies.
SUBSTANCE USE
Many young people experiment with alcohol and/or drugs. Behaviors associated with substance use,
such as unprotected sexual activity and sharing of contaminated injection equipment can significantly
elevate a young person’s risk of exposure to HIV. Substance abuse may lead to inconsistent condom use
and selection of high-risk sexual partners by both young men and women.
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
A number of biological factors can increase risk for HIV infection. For example, unprotected sex can
place young women at particular risk for HIV for several reasons, including increased biological
vulnerability and the greater likelihood of infection through male-to-female transmission (which is two
to eight times more efficient than female-to-male transmission).Physiologically, women are more
susceptible to HIV than men because of greater mucous membrane exposure to seminal fluids during
sex. Young women may be especially vulnerable because of the developmental changes that occur in
their reproductive anatomy during adolescence.

6. STRUCTURAL FACTORS
Social and Environmental Contexts Associatedwith HIV Risk?
Runaway or homeless youth are vulnerable to HIV infection because they are more likely than non-homeless
youth to have multiple sexual partners, initiate sexual activity at younger ages,and use
substances including alcohol, cocaine, and methamphetamine daily.Homeless female youth are also
more likely to engage in transactional or survival sex in exchange for food, money, drugs, and shelter .
Lack of Access to Testing, Care, and Youth-Friendly Services?
Clinical services are often not available in settings convenient to teenagers. About one-third (32.3
percent) of all junior and senior high schools in the U.S. have no health services and most school health
clinics are restricted to first aid administration.
CONCLUSION:
From the study conducted the following conclusions are made:
1. HIV is acquired thru different types of transmission like oral and anal sex. It also includes
biological transmission or hereditary and may also passed thru breastfeeding. Laboratory
procedures such as getting blood thru syringe to the infected people and reusing without
disinfecting it may also transfer HIV.
2. HIV doesn’t have a cure and is hard to detect. But antiretroviral treatment may help to at least
reduce the risk of getting higher stages of this virus.
3. There are 35.3 million of people in the world who has this virus and 1/4 of this were at the age
13-24 .
4. Behavioral , structural and biological factors were the main reason of fast growing HIV among
youth.
5. Safer sex , such as using condom and circumcision among men may reduce the HIV spread. But
the lack of knowledge of the youth towards safer sex is the main reason of widespread juvenile
HIV cases.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Proper guidance among youth and sex education should be provided as early as late
elementary years for them to gain knowledge on proper sexing and to avoid this boosting
population of juvenile HIV victims.
2. Stigmatizing should be eliminated for it will just pose risk to their life. Proper medication and
attention should be given not only to adults but also to the youth who acquired this virus.
3. Condoms should be free to any medical center not only for adults but for everyone. Open
mindedness towards safer sex must be imposed to every locality.
4. Free consultation ad HIV testing should be given yearly to every high school student.

7. 5. New curriculum that will enable science subjects to have a 1 month HIV-AIDS topic FOR the
high school students.
SOURCES:
http://www.nastad.org/Docs/Public/Resource/2006327_Finding%20HIV-Positive%
20Youth%20(AIDS%20Alliance).pdf
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hiv+symptoms+in+men