Definition

The presence of HIV infection does not mean that a person has AIDS. AIDS occurs when the HIV infection has severely damaged the immune system, a process that may take years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses a public health reporting definition for AIDS that has changed several times since 1984 as more is known about the infection. The most recent definition includes a positive HIV blood test along with either a major opportunistic condition or a CD4 count less than 200/mm3. (A normal CD4 count is 800 to 1,200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood – written mm3.) The opportunistic conditions include the following types of cancer, infections, and syndromes that are often linked to AIDS.

Cancers:

    * Cervical cancer (invasive)
    * Kaposi sarcoma
    * Burkitt's lymphoma, immunoblastic lymphoma, or brain lymphoma
    * (for more information, see section on AIDS-Related Cancers).

Infections:

    * Coccidioidomycosis
    * Cryptococcosis
    * Cryptosporidiosis (chronic intestinal, greater than 1 month duration)
    * Cytomegalovirus disease (other than liver, spleen, or nodes)
    * Cytomegalovirus retinitis (with loss of vision)
    * Herpes simplex (chronic ulcer[s] or bronchitis, pneumonitis, or esophagitis)
    * Histoplasmosis
    * Isosporiasis (chronic intestinal)
    * Mycobacterium avium complex or M. kansasii
    * Mycobacterium, tuberculosis (any site)
    * Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
    * Pneumonia (recurrent)
    * Salmonella septicemia (recurrent)
    * Toxoplasmosis of the brain
    * Candidiasis of bronchi, trachea, lungs, or esophagus

(For further information on infection, see our document, "Infections in People with Cancer.")

Syndromes:

    * Encephalopathy (HIV-related; AIDS dementia)
    * Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
    * HIV wasting syndrome

This definition has been used for finding and reporting AIDS in the United States. It is less helpful these days because most patients are treated before these problems can happen. The number of HIV-infected people has become more important than the number with AIDS.

Most doctors use the CD4 or T cell count and the amount of HIV in the blood to make decisions about how to treat people with this infection. When possible, most doctors prefer to start treatment of HIV infection before it has progressed to an opportunistic illness or AIDS.

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Many people have latent TB infection: they are not sick, but they are carrying the bacterium (as shown by a positive reaction to the TB skin test). They may have acquired the TB infection much earlier in life.

Such waiting-to-attack infection can become definite illness when a person's defenses are weakened by HIV.

Health authorities recommend an annual TB skin test called a tuberculin test for all persons who are HIV positive. If the test is positive, a chest X-ray and complete physical exam are in order. But a negative test does not rule out TB disease in an HIV patient.

Also, additional tests, which can include another tuberculin skin test, a chest X-ray, and a complete physical exam, may be requested of people with a negative skin test reaction who are HIV infected. Damage to the immune system, such as that caused by AIDS, can result in a falsely negative TB skin test result even when TB infection is present.

Preventive treatment with isoniazid is essential for someone who has tested positive for both HIV and the TB bacteria. Health authorities recommend at least twelve months of preventive therapy for HIV infected individuals.

In persons with HIV infection, tuberculosis sometimes affects other parts of the body, not just the lungs; these may include bones, joints, the gastrointestinal tract, and other areas. People who are HIV positive should therefore be alert for unusual symptoms anywhere.

TB is treated with a combination of antibacterial drugs on a schedule that may continue for nine months or longer; among the most widely used drugs are isoniazid, rifampin, and pyrazinamide. TB is contagious while the disease is untreated, but the typical patient becomes noninfectious very rapidly after beginning treatment, within several days to a few weeks.

Recently there has been an increase in the number of cases of TB that are resistant to one or more drugs. Multidrug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB) first develops when a patient with TB does not complete his or her full drug therapy.

If a patient who is being treated for TB stops taking their medicine or is inadequately treated, and gets sick again with TB, the TB bacteria may not be affected by the drugs previously used to treat the illness. The bacteria have become "resistant to" those drugs.

MDR-TB can also be transmitted to other individuals in the same way that tuberculosis is transmitted. MDR-TB cases are especially hard to treat because the physician has a limited range of drugs that can be used. MDR-TB is especially dangerous for individuals who are HIV infected.

 

Name of Project	Organization	Budget	Duration	Summary
Youth Development Program	DMA / Eden Youth Council	R50,000	05/05 – 10/05	AIDS awareness and Training of 40 HIV peer group counsellors in the DMA area
Food Security	UNIEP Uniondale Integrated Empowerment Programme	R50,000	05/05 – 03/06	Food Security for 250 vulnerable children, 3 times a week in Uniondale area
Health Care  Workers	UNIEP	R50,000	04/05 – 10/05	Training of 20 unemployed youth as community carers in DMA
Food Security & Life Skills Program	Albertinia Care Centre	R130,000	02/06 – 03/07	Food Security for vulnerable children & Life Skill programmes for out-of-school youth
HIV/AIDS Education & Awareness, Food Security & food gardens	ACVV Mossel Bay	R130,000	02/06 – 03/07	HIV/AIDS Education and Awareness programmes in schools, pre-primary & primary. Food security for vulnerable children, strengthening of existing food gardens at clinics
Life skills for out-of-school youth & HIV/AIDS education and awareness program	ACVV Uniondale	R130,000	03/06 – 11/06	HIV/AIDS awareness & education in 12 schools, primary & high schools including Life skills programmes during weekend camps in the DMA region
Food Security & Life skills program	Zoar Health & Welfare Co-ordinating Forum	R130,000	04/06 – 03/07	Food Security for TB & AIDS patients in conjunction with educational programmes. Life skill programmes for out-of-school youth in Zoar area.
Life skills program & HIV/AIDS education	REACH GEORGE	R130,000	11/05 – 10/06	Life skills programmes during weekend camps for out-of-school youth & learners in the rural communities in the George area. Interactive educational sessions at schools twice a week
HIV/AIDS / TB education & support programmes & food gardens	Oudtshoorn Municipality/ OHANET	R130,000	10/06 – 06/07	Support & educational programmes for HIV/TB patients at the AIDS Centre. Food support through food gardens
HIV/AIDS Education & Awareness in schools & Life skills	Oasis Community Project	R130,000	10/06 – 06/07	Education & Awareness programs in  25 schools in the Kannaland region. Life skills programmes during weekend camps for learners & parents
Food Security & Life skills for out-of-school youth	Vygieshof Care centre	R130,000	09/06 – 06/07	Food Security for vulnerable children and HIV/TB patients. Life skills programmes for out-of-school youth in the Calitzdorp area.
Life skills for school going and out-of-school youth. HIV/AIDS education	TCS Training & Co-ordinating Services	R130,000	09/06 – 06/07	Life skills programmes for school going and out-of-school youth in the BITOW area. HIV/AIDS education reaching all schools in the region
Support & Educational programmes for youth living with HIV/AIDS	MADaboutART	R130,000	11/06 – 06/07	Support Centre for youth infected with HIV/AIDS. Educational programmes through art in the Knysna area. Reaching approximately 300 kids via MAD clubs.
Support &HIV/AIDS Educational & Life skills programmes	MASITANDANE	R130,000	11/06 – 06/07	Support for HIV/AIDS patients and Life skills & Educational programmes for out-of-school youth in the Sedgefield area.
Out-of-school peer educators & life skills program	YFC Knysna	R130,000	11/06 – 06/07	HIV/AIDS Peer Educators & life skills  programmes for out-of-school youth in the Knysna area, reaching 100 youth through the programmes
HIV/AIDS educational & Life skill programmes in primary schools	ClimbX Development Agency	R130,000	10/06 – 06/07	HIV/AIDS educational & life skills programmes in all the rural schools surrounding Knysna/Sedgefield.

           
Next  Role-out programmes :

• Additional Funding of R130,000 for Plettenberg Bay.
• Skills Development Program for Hessequa: R130,000
• Youth Development Programme for Ladysmith: R130,000

National Department of Health

National HIV and AIDS and TB Unit, National Department of Health, Pretoria

Organization	Contact Number
AIDS Helpline	0800012322
Lifeline	0861322322
Stop women abuse helpline	0800150150

 

HIV/AIDS INFORMATION SESSIONS

Statistics show that 5.4 million people out
of 48 million South Africans were HIV Positive in the middle of 2006.

Around half the people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and die from AIDS before they are 35.

01 December 2007 is World Aids Day.
Information Sessions will take place from
19 – 26 November 2007 in support of World Aids Day, as set out in the different regions.

The aim is to create an awareness of HIV/AIDS among the employees and to provide basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS that will enable employees to prevent and manage this disease.

For further information, please contact
Human Resources at 044 – 803 1374
(Alexa Moos)

 

MIV/VIGS INLIGTINGSESSIES

Statistiek toon dat 5.4 miljoen mense vanuit
48 miljoen Suid-Afrikaners MIV positief was in middel 2006.

Omtrent die helfte van die mense neem die MIV virus op voor hul 25 jaar oud word, waar meeste aan VIGS sterf nog voor hul 35 jaar haal.

Wêreld Vigs Dag is 01 Desember 2007 en
Eden DM beywer homself om hierdie dag te ondersteun deur middel van  ‘n bewusmakingsveldtog.

Vanaf 19 – 26 November 2007 sal MIV/VIGS Inligtingsessies plaasvind vir Eden DM personeel. Hierdie sessies sal plaasvind op plekke soos hier uiteengesit.

Die doel van die sessies is om basiese opvoeding aan Eden DM personeel te voorsien. Dit sal elke werknemer bemagting om die siekte te voorkom en te kan hanteer.

Vir verdere navrae, kontak die Menslike Hulpbronne Afdeling by 044 – 803 1374
(Alexa Moos)
 

DATE	DEPARTMENT/SECTION	TIME	PLACE
19 November 2007	ROADS: Uniondale COMMUNITY SERVICES: Workers COMMUNITY SERVICES: DMA, Library  Section	1st Session: 09:00             2nd Session: 12:00	UNIONDALE OFFICES
20 November 2007	ROADS: Oudtshoorn Workshop, Regravel Team   ROADS:   Oudtshoorn East, Concrete Roads Students FINANCE: Stores EMERGENCY: Oudt Centre ROAD: Oudtshoorn West, Herold, Students    COMMUNITY SERVICES: Municipal Health, Calitzdorp Spa, De Hoek, Fire Personnel	1st Session: 07:30   2nd Session      3rd Session:   13:00