Greenwood County Red Cross
		Disease Prevention Education
About Our Chapter Home Office Location Office Staff Board of Directors Speaker's Bureau Email What's New Upcoming Events Press Releases Health & Safety Services Community Course Schedules Course Description Workplace Safety Programs Safety Tips Instructors Corner For Authorized Providers Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) Products for Sale Emergency Services About Emergency Services Class Schedules How You Can Help Financial Donations Volunteer Internships Links Links		AIDS is a leading cause of death among Americans aged 25 to 44. By learning the facts about HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) and acting on them, we can protect others and ourselves.   Our Basic HIV/AIDS Program helps people take steps to prevent the spread of HIV. Basic HIV/AIDS            Program: Fundamentals provides the opportunity to openly discuss the facts about HIV and AIDS and personalize the facts so they become more meaningful. It's a good way to encourage people to adopt revention behaviors to protect themselves and others from HIV. Basic HIV/AIDS Program: Prevention Skills can help people develop and practice skills that they can use in real life situations to protect themselves and others from HIV. Red Cross-trained instructors can conduct sessions of the Basic HIV/AIDS Program in your community. Here's more about what you will learn.   We use a variety of learning techniques in sessions specially designed for your community to help people-- Become aware of HIV transmission and prevention. Gain accurate knowledge of HIV and AIDS facts. Personalize the facts so that they become more meaningful to them. Develop decision-making skills to avoid the risks of HIV infection. Explore advantages in deciding to postpone sex or not to use drugs or alcohol. Develop skills to reduce their risk of HIV infection when having sex or when injecting drugs. The Fundamentals Program uses facts-based discussion to reinforce information about HIV transmission and prevention, dispel myths about HIV and AIDS, and help participants learn from their own experiences and those of others. Activities encourage people to apply the facts to their own behaviors. Participants in Prevention Skills apply the facts about HIV to risk situations in which they might find themselves. For example, participants practice how to refuse invitations to have sex or use drugs. Role-play can also equip them with ways to talk about using condoms before the situation arises. If you would like more information about HIV/AIDS education or would like to have this program presented to your group or organization, please contact the Sheri Twiggs at 229-3102. Click here for this month’s HIV/AIDS Facts.    Ì This Month's HIV/AIDS Facts These facts contain commonly accepted public health information about the prevention and transmission of HIV and AIDS. If this is not the information that you are seeking, please use the Back button on your browser to visit another section of our site. Thank you. Question: What are the signs and symptoms of AIDS? Answer: AIDS is a result of HIV infection. HIV-infected people have different signs and symptoms as their infection worsens. However, only a doctor can tell what the signs and symptoms mean. At first, many people with HIV have flu-like symptoms, followed by a period of no symptoms at all. As a result, people may not even know they have HIV infection. Later, some people may have severe or prolonged --              ·    Fever             ·    Fatigue.              ·    Diarrhea.              ·    Skin rashes.              ·    Night sweats.              ·    Loss of appetite.              ·    Swollen lymph glands.              ·    Significant weight loss.              ·    White spots in the mouth or vaginal discharge (signs of yeast infection).              ·    Red, brown, pink or purplish blotches on or under the skin, or inside the mouth, nose or           eyelids.              ·    Memory or movement problems. People with AIDS may suffer from a variety of opportunistic infection, as well as from cancers (including invasive cervical cancer in women, Kaposi's sarcoma, and lymphoma), pneumonias, and tuberculosis. Many of these illnesses do not readily occur in someone with a healthy immune system. In addition, people with AIDS may have trouble with certain body organs, such as the lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, and heart. Each person with AIDS may have a distinct set of signs and symptoms. People need to know these things: 1. Even if they look and feel healthy, all HIV-infected people (even those who are on combination therapy) should be considered able to infect others with the virus. 2. Having the signs or symptoms listed above may indicate symptomatic HIV infection or AIDS. 3. The only way for someone to determine if they are infected is to be tested for HIV infection. Sources: ·    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "How can I tell if I'm infected with HIV? What are the symptoms?" Accessed on the World Wide Web. www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/faq/faq5.htm. Last updated November 30, 1998. Accessed on April 25, 2002. ·    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MMWR, 1998; vol. 47, no. RR-5, "Report of the NIH Panel to Define Principles of Therapy of HIV Infection." DeVita, V., Jr., et al., eds. AIDS: Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention,