HIV cases rise 13 percent in 2009
Chaas Toborg
Issue date: 2/10/10 Section: News
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are not topics atop most lists of conversation pieces. The latest reports suggest these taboo and uncomfortable words should start inching their way up these lists.
Minnesota saw increases in 2009, with the Minnesota Department of Health reporting 66 more new cases of HIV and AIDS on record than in 2008.
HIV is passed from person to person through blood-to-blood contact and sexual activity. The most misunderstood fact of this disease is the spread of it. Heather Rage, a nurse at Fairview Hospital in the Twin Cities, offers a few quick facts.
"You would have to drink a gallon of an infected person's saliva to contract the virus. It gets better, though," Rage said. "The HIV virus can only live for 10 seconds in a completely oxygenated environment."
That means gulping 6.4 ounces of saliva per second, which is just about three-fourths of a can of pop. The virus' instability against oxygen gives reason for its ferocious nature within the body.
The only way for the virus to replicate itself is to infect other living cells. It thrives in humans because it attacks our immune systems, the mechanism used to fight off viruses.
Once this virus kills or damages enough immune system cells, the body loses its' ability to fight off any infections. When a patient reaches this point, they are diagnosed with AIDS. AVERT.com, an International AIDS charity from the UK working to avert HIV and AIDS world wide, says it takes approximately 10 years to develop AIDS after contracting HIV.
The yearly report was made public by the Minnesota Department of Health. The number of new HIV cases in Minnesota rose 13 percent, jumping from 326 to 368 (per 100,000 persons).
AIDS have been around since the early 80s, so why are the numbers so high 30 years later? To Rage, it seems to be a matter of education.
"People think that they can not use protection," Rage said. "They think that with today's [medical] technologies they can have unsafe sex and get any issues corrected at the clinic."
Minnesota saw increases in 2009, with the Minnesota Department of Health reporting 66 more new cases of HIV and AIDS on record than in 2008.
HIV is passed from person to person through blood-to-blood contact and sexual activity. The most misunderstood fact of this disease is the spread of it. Heather Rage, a nurse at Fairview Hospital in the Twin Cities, offers a few quick facts.
"You would have to drink a gallon of an infected person's saliva to contract the virus. It gets better, though," Rage said. "The HIV virus can only live for 10 seconds in a completely oxygenated environment."
That means gulping 6.4 ounces of saliva per second, which is just about three-fourths of a can of pop. The virus' instability against oxygen gives reason for its ferocious nature within the body.
The only way for the virus to replicate itself is to infect other living cells. It thrives in humans because it attacks our immune systems, the mechanism used to fight off viruses.
Once this virus kills or damages enough immune system cells, the body loses its' ability to fight off any infections. When a patient reaches this point, they are diagnosed with AIDS. AVERT.com, an International AIDS charity from the UK working to avert HIV and AIDS world wide, says it takes approximately 10 years to develop AIDS after contracting HIV.
The yearly report was made public by the Minnesota Department of Health. The number of new HIV cases in Minnesota rose 13 percent, jumping from 326 to 368 (per 100,000 persons).
AIDS have been around since the early 80s, so why are the numbers so high 30 years later? To Rage, it seems to be a matter of education.
"People think that they can not use protection," Rage said. "They think that with today's [medical] technologies they can have unsafe sex and get any issues corrected at the clinic."
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