Posts Tagged ‘hiv’
Joining a medical aid is always recommended especially if you have a family as the rising costs of private health care is not affordable for most South Africans. Medical aid cover will provide you with a sense of security and should any medical emergency arise, you can rest assured that your comprehensive cover will allow you the best medical services in South Africa. More importantly, it will spare you an experience in a South African state hospital which seems to be another important contributing factor for newcomers to medical aid services.
How is HIV infection monitored?
HIV infection is usually monitored by your medical practitioner using a combination of blood tests and presenting signs and symptoms. Your CD4 cell count will provide an indication of the state of your immune system and this count usually drops as the infection progresses. A healthy person who is not suffering with any chronic disease and is not HIV-positive will usually have a CD4 cell count of 900 cells/uL or more.
Preventing HIV/AIDS
The key to dealing with HIV/AIDS globally is prevention. While many medical experts believe that a vaccine will curb the spread of HIV, until the day arrives when a suitable vaccine is developed, we have to rely on sex education and HIV/AIDS awareness to reduce the number of infections. The approach to HIV/AIDS prevention focuses on three core principles :
The HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa seems set to continue with government’s education campaigns making little difference to the spread of HIV. The high infection rate, notably among adults in the 20 to 45 year age gap, means that this disease is now affecting South Africa’s economy as workers take more sick days or return to the homestead after battling HIV for years. While there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, there are numerous suitable therapeutic options to reduce the severity of symptoms, delay the onset of opportunistic infections and prolong the lifespan of the HIV/AIDS sufferer.
Extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) or also known as extensive drug-resistant tuberculosis is multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) that is resistant to three or more of the six classes of second-line drugs use for the treatment of tuberculosis. XDR-TB received widespread media attention in 2008 when a number of cases were reported in KwaZulu Natal (KZN), South Africa. This was due to a study in The Lancet that brought to light the outbreak of the highly virulent XDR-TB in KZN, South Africa.