There are two types of HIV, including HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is more dangerous than HIV-2. HIV-2 is seen in West Africa almost exclusively. It is somewhat more successful than HIV-1 because it doesn’t kill the host as aggressively so it can more easily be transmitted. HIV has a high risk of mutating to related but dissimilar forms of the virus, even in the same patient. HIV disease is much easier to catch in Africa, where fewer than one percent of the population has even been tested and HIV can more easily be passed from a woman to a man or from a woman to her child before or during birth. Because most people with the disease don’t know they have it, all blood is screened, which is also the case in other parts of the world. There are tests that look at the antibodies made to the virus, which help to detect exposure to the disease. The screening test will be correct in determining whether or not the patient has HIV disease more than 99 percent of the time. Even so, there is a two-step process in determining if the person has the disease. The person is generally tested right after exposure, six weeks after exposure, and then again at three months and at six months. If the test isn’t positive by six months after exposure, the person did not contract the disease.
TRICHOMONIASIS Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the protozoon called Trichomonas vaginalis. This leads to symptoms in just 30 percent of infected men and women. If infection occurs, it happens within a month of exposure, leading to genital itching, foul-smelling vaginal discharge, burning on urination and pain with intercourse. One of the biggest complications of trichomoniasis is an increased risk of getting an HIV infection. Trichomoniasis is usually spread through oral, vaginal, or anal sex but can also be contracted through the touching of another’s genitals. The parasite can be cultured from vaginal fluid and DNA testing for the organism. This infection can be treated with antibiotics; the sexual partner should also be treated. Having the infection once does not mean the person can’t get the infection again.
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