FEW invites health educator to post

The Garden City Chapter of Federally Employed Women at Fort Gordon had a special speaker at their September meeting.They invited Sandra Wimberly, an Augusta public health educator, to the post Sept. 22 to talk about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and its trends in the local area.

Wimberly began her presentation at the Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center with some startling statistics. “Currently, there are about 48,000 cases of HIV and AIDS in Georgia,” Wimberly said.

“Most of the newer cases of HIV in the United States are young people under 25 [years old], she explained. One in four teens have a sexually transmitted disease.

Jim Acosta, a CBS correspondent based in Atlanta, recently talked about how over the past 10 years the number of older Americans who have contacted the disease has been on the rise. About 27 percent of people living with AIDS in America are 50 years old and older, according to Acosta’s report.

Some Americans are living quietly with the disease and trying to cope every day with it, Wimberly pointed out. “They are having difficulty finding and keeping jobs, if it becomes known to others that they have the disease,” she added.

Many of them are spouses who have contacted the disease from an unfaithful husband or wife, and some are good Samaritans who have stopped to help an injured person only to get HIV because they forgot to use Standard Universal Precautions when administering first aid. [SUPs refer to the practice, in medicine, of avoiding contact with patients’ bodily fluids, by means of the wearing of nonporous articles such as medical gloves, goggles, and face shields.]

Before 1985, some people got HIV from infected blood transfusion. Arthur Ashe, the first African-American male to win the U.S. Open in tennis, contacted HIV through a transfusion during that time period. He later died of complications related to AIDs. Today, the blood supply in the United States is tested so the

chances of getting HIV this way are small, according to Wimberly.

In Augusta we are seeing more young Black males having sex with other males, Wimberly said. Some young girls who like to dress well are in relations with older men because they can buy them nice clothes.

“Unfortunately, when we are invited into the Richmond County Schools to talk about the disease and how to prevent it we can only talk to the students about abstinence, Wimberly explained.

“Basically, it’s really your responsibility to know your sexual partner,” continued Wimberly. “Everyone needs to realize it’s your responsibility to take care of yourself.”

The public health educator distributed a pamphlet entitled, “HIV Facts,” and shared some information about the disease during her talk.

“HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system, the body’s natural defense system,”Wimberly said. “Without a strong immune system, the body has trouble fighting off disease. The virus is HIV and the disease is AIDS.”

White blood cells are an important part of the immune system.HIV invades and destroys certain white blood cells called CD4+cells. If too many CD4+cells are destroyed, the body can no longer defend itself against infection.

The last stage of HIV infection is AIDS.People with AIDS have a low number of CD4+cells and get infections or cancers that rarely occur in healthy people. These can be deadly.

But having HIV does not mean you have AIDS. Even without treatment, it takes a long time for HIV to progress to AIDS – usually 10 to 12 years, according to the

Wikipedia.org and thebody.com Web sites.

“If HIV is diagnosed before it becomes AIDS, medicines can slow or stop the damage to the immune system, Wimberly explained. “With treatment, many people with HIV are able to live long and active lives. However, there is no cure for the disease at this time.”

Wimberly went on to explain how a person can get HIV. “You can get HIV from contact with infected breast milk, blood, semen or vaginal fluids,” Wimberly said. “Most people get the virus by having unprotected sex with someone who has HIV. The disease can be contacted during vaginal, oral and/or anal sex.”

Another common way of getting the virus is by sharing drug needles with someone who is infected with HIV. The virus can also be passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, birth, or breast-feeding.

HIV doesn’t survive outside the body. So it cannot be spread by casual contact such as kissing, hugging or sharing drinking glasses with an infected person.

HIV may not cause symptoms early on. People who do have the symptoms may mistake them for the flu or mono. Mononucleosis (also called “mono”) is an illness, caused by infection with the Epstein-Barr virus that most often affects young adults. Symptoms of mononucleosis include high fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes (glands) and fatigue.

Common early symptoms of HIV include: fever, sore throat, headache, muscle aches and joint pain, swollen glands (swollen lymph nodes) and skin rash, according to the Wikipedia.org Web site.

Symptoms may appear from a few days to several weeks after a person is first infected. The early symptoms usually go away within two to three weeks.

After the early symptoms go away, an infected person may not have symptoms again for many years. Treatment usually keeps the virus under control and helps the immune system stay healthy. But without treatment, the virus continues to grow in the body and attacks the immune system. After a certain point, symptoms reappear and then remain.

Wimberly re-emphasized that there is no cure or vaccine to prevent the disease at this time. Although the medications to treat the disease are expensive they are available through the Ryan White Foundation.

“The standard treatment for HIV is a combination of medicines called antiretroviral therapy,” Wimberly explained. “The medicines slow the rate at which the virus multiplies and can reduce the amount of virus in your body and help you stay healthy.”

The Augusta public health educator encouraged attendees to protect themselves against getting the disease by getting educated, informed, tested and by making responsible choices about sex. “Don’t have sex when you’re drunk or use drugs before having sex,” Wimberly cautioned.

“Protect yourself from getting HIV by practicing abstinence or using a latex condom with a waterbased lubrication with every sex act,” she said “This is true whether you have oral, anal and or vaginal sex.”

Wimberly reminded everyone that condoms are not 100 percent effective.

There are several tests available to determine if you have HIV,” Wimberly said. The tests are Oral-Sure (48 hour return results), Oral-Quick (20 minute results) or blood test (10 working days results), according to Wimberly.

“It takes about three to six months from time of exposure to the HIV virus for antibodies to show,” Wimberly explained.

You can get HIV testing in most doctors’ offices, public health clinics, hospitals, and Planned Parenthood clinics. You can also buy a home HIV test kit at a drug store.

The Richmond County Health Department located at 950 Laney-Walker Blvd. in Augusta tests for HIV from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For testing call the health department at (706) 721-5830.

Testing is confidential and only the person testing will see the results. For more information about HIV testing or the disease callWimberly at (706) 667-4342.