HIV is starting to affect more and more children, especially runaways. Your are at high risk for AIDS if you:
are a drug user
a homosexual
a hemophiliac
a female prostitute
had blood transfusions between 1983 and 1985
If you have a friend with HIV do not be scared to be friends with them. HIV can not be spread by sharing a computer, telephone, office equipment, or pencils with someone who has HIV. HIV and AIDS are spread by:
blood to blood contact
Sharing needles or having transfusions
a mother to her un-born baby
sexual interaction
To protect yourself from AIDS:
Don't have sexual contact with many partners
Use condoms
Don't share needles with anyone
Don't use Drugs ( they give you poor judgement)
Poor judgement means you might make bad decisions about things like sexual contact and when you use drugs your body can not fight infections as well. These are good suggestions to prevent getting HIV or AIDS, but some people didn't get to make those decisions to prevent HIV and AIDS.
Many people with HIV contracted HIV when they we in their mother's womb. When a pregnant woman passes HIV onto her baby, the baby's condition is called Prenatal HIV Infection. The transmission of HIV from a mother to the fetus as early as the 8th week of Gestation. The percent of mother to child transmission is 13% to 42%. Not all mothers with HIV pass the disease onto their baby because there are ways to protect her baby from HIV. An HIV positive mother can: start AZT treatment after the 14th week of Gestation(this reduces the transmission rate by 70%),consider having a Cesarean section, which reduces the transmission rate by 50%, bottle feed, which reduces by 50%,not smoke because nicotine is toxic to the fetus, and the mother can have her baby tested for HIV. HIV positive mothers getting their babies treated with AZT have to pay quite a lot, but normally it is worth it.
Learing about HIV and AIDS has really made us think. We hope it makes you think too.
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