The ABC's of AIDS

We all know that there is no known cure for HIV/AIDS especially to those who are already infected. But According to the Guest speaker of the seminar we conducted when I was still in nursing college, The best cure for HIV/AIDS is prevention. The ABC's of aids which is the title of our seminar has some answers to this major problem. A stands for Abstinence, B for Blood and C for Condoms. The act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite or desire, especially for sexual intercourse, To protect patients and health-care providers against exposure to potentially contaminated blood and other body liquids, FDA established quality standards for latex and synthetic rubber gloves used during surgery and patient examination. U.S. manufacturers of these products are requested to test samples from each lot to make sure they show no sign of leakage when filled for two minutes with 1,000 milliliters of water, and that they meet the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials for stress resistance, tensile strength, materials, and dimensions. FDA also tests samples of domestic and imported surgical and patient examination gloves, using the same criteria. And excepting contaminated blood donors for blood transfusions.

Other than abstinence, and prevetion from exposure to contaminated blood, latex-rubber condoms are the best protection against sexual transmission of HIV. Latex condoms should always be used for oral, anal and vaginal sex in any relationship that isn't mutually monogamous, and if there is any other chance that either partner may be infected.

There are medical treatments that can slow down the rate at which HIV weakens the immune system. There are other treatments that can prevent or cure some of the illnesses associated with AIDS. Researchers are testing a variety of preventive and curative vaccine candidates, but a successful vaccine likely is years away.