Stages of HIV and where to get testing in NYC.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a sexually transmitted disease that has killed nearly 20 million people worldwide to date. Since the introduction of antiretroviral drugs in 1987 and the improvements integrated with the HAART technique in 1996 incidents of HIV/AIDS related deaths have gone down significantly. Countries all over the globe are seeing less infections and longer living among the infected. Yet the continued spread of the virus is still disheartening, especially in wealthier countries and cities like NYC that provide affordable HIV screening for men and women who are at risk. Despite the ample resources available that help protect and regulate their sexual health, Americans continue to spread HIV. According the Center for Disease Control, about 56,000 people in United States were infected in 2006.

While the story of HIV’s origins sits uncomfortably amidst the cultural myths, prejudice and some speculative research that attempt to explain it, there is little debate between STD doctors over how it manifests itself. It begins with viral transmission, and, as it worsens, could end in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Most people acquire the HIV infection through sexual intercourse. Sexually active persons are considered at high risk for transmission if they abstain from using latex condoms, change partners regularly, or have a history of any sexually transmitted diseases. A much smaller percentage of people in recent years have contracted the virus via intravenous drug habits during exchanges of needles with contaminated people. Mothers infected with the virus can also pass on HIV to their infants. Once infected, the virus invades cells within the body and melds with the host’s DNA to multiply and spread through the body. This stage can be marked by high fever and flu systems.

A clinically asymptomatic stage follows typically 6 months after initial infection. Physical examinations show almost no symptoms for HIV during this time, with exception to possible inflamed glands. The lymphoid tissues in the glands filter and confine most of the infection, which lessons the burden on the rest of the body for some time. Studies at STD clinics have shown that patients during this phase have an unusual symmetric balance between HIV replication and HIV destruction, meaning that at this time a person maintains a steady load of the virus.

As the disease worsens the body enters a systematic stage of infection. This occurs for either three reasons:  1. HIV exhausts the lymphoid tissues in the glands, allowing more and more of the virus to escape and populate the body.
2. The HIV undergoes a mutation, becoming stronger and more varied.
3. The body fails to maintain the balance between HIV replication and HIV destruction.
At this stage antiretroviral treatment is administered.

If the retroviral medication succeeds, the body can return to the asymptomatic stage and continue to protect the immune system. However, if it does not work the disease can quickly deteriorate the immune system, making it impossible for the body to fight off common illnesses. Unless the disease slackens, the individual’s immune system will worsen until they are considered to have AIDS.

The sooner one gets the diagnosis for HIV the better chance they have of preventing the formation of AIDS, which has a radically lower mortality rate. This is especially important considering the elongated time one can experience the asymptomatic stage, so it is pivotal that you make an appointment to get HIV Testing NYC at least once a year if you are sexually active. Log onto NYC STD testing to make an appointment at a testing clinic in NYC, or to learn more about what puts you at risk for the disease and what steps you can take to prevent contracting it.

Stop the spread, get tested today.

NYC Ranks Leading Carrier of HIV in the US – New Yorkers: Get Your HIV Test Today

There are more people living with HIV in New York City than in any other state in the country. According to the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene we have nearly triple the amount of infections compared to the U.S. average, with over 107,000 New Yorkers currently living with HIV.

Considering New York’s city high population density, with over 8 million people living in a land area of only 302 square miles, as compared to Los Angeles, that holds only 3.7 million people in a land area almost 500 square miles, NYC cannot help but carry and spread diseases better and faster than anywhere else in the country. And these statistics don’t even include the 40 million tourists that come through NYC every year! Between the years 2007-2010, HIV was the seventh leading cause of death for New Yorkers between the ages of 25-34, the fourth leading cause for ages between 35-44, and the third leading cause of death for people between 45-54.

So it is essential that you get an HIV testing at least once a year, more often if you exhibit high risk behaviors for the infection. The two main routes for transmission are:

1.       Sexual intercourse – This applies to all types of intercourse, including vaginal, anal and oral sex, with those engaging in anal sex being 20 times more susceptible to the HIV virus when compared with vaginal sex.
If abstinence from sex is clearly out of the question, you can greatly reduce your risk of contracting the virus by being in trustworthy, monogamous relationships. If you do change partners often, you should always use a condom during intercourse to lesson exchange of fluids. Remember, you have the right to insist your partner wears protection.    

2.       Intravenous Drug Use – If you do abuse this kind drug activity, you should never share needles with other drug users. Inject yourself only with clean, sterile syringes to avoid transmission of unwanted viruses. Be “safe” with your drug usage. Drugs and alcohol impair your judgment and can lead to unwanted and unprotected sex.

If you practice any of these high risk behaviors you should get tested at the STD center at least once a year, more often if you practice both of these behaviors. You cannot wait for symptoms of HIV to surface before getting tested. The NY Department of Health notes that its current statistics for HIV positive New Yorkers do not include the nearly thousands of people who do not know they have the infection.  This is because it can take up to six weeks for HIV to “activate” in your body, during which time the virus is still able to infect others you sleep with. Even after the virus activates, many people do not suffer symptoms for months, sometimes years. The NY Department of Health states that every year about 1,000 people in New York City do not discover they have HIV until they are already sick with AIDS. At this point, a person’s ability to fight the disease is reduced significantly. The sooner HIV is diagnosed the sooner medications and therapy can be administered to help you live longer.

Visit this STD Clinics located in midtown to get your HIV Testing in NYC if you live in or nearby the city. Always visit a center that specializes in sexually transmitted diseases. Do not risk your health in the hands of inexperienced doctors. You will also feel more comfortable in an environment that works with HIV patients professionally on a daily basis.

Visit this clinic and work with a staff that understands and respects your need to privacy. Log onto STD test in NYC or call 1-212-696-5900 today.

Catch Chlamydia before it spreads – visit a STD Clinic in NYC

Chlamydia is the most common STD in this country. In 2009 the Center for Disease Control received 1,244,180 reports of cases of it from all across the country. Yet the CDC nearly doubles this number in its estimates of yearly cases by considering the amount of people who do not receive treatment for an infection that many people do not know they have. This is due to the fact that Chlamydia can be asymptomatic, meaning that a large portion of people with it do not suffer from any symptoms. This is why, if you are sexually active, you need to visit an STD Clinic at least once a year to get tested for it, and every 6 months if you change partners often. 

Chlamydia trachomatis is a small bacterium that penetrates your cells within six to eight hours after being injected with it, which could happen during annual, oral and vaginal sex. Acting as a parasite, the bacterium replicates itself within the cell into small elementary bodies, which in about 2-3 days overwhelms the cell causing it to burst and release these new bodies. These in turn infect more cells, which replicate and repeat the process. Thus the bacterium grows exponentially in the body, sending a small herd of itself into another body provided a sexual encounter opens its doors for it. 

All of this could be happening in your body without you even knowing it. Tragic for you, it is also terribly embarrassing if you manage to spread it to someone else. You don’t want that text message telling you to gave Chlamydia testing.

But aside from being embarrassing, left untreated chlamydia can have some devastating repercussions on your body, especially for women:

Cervicitis: This infection is the most common manifestation of chlamydia. And worse yet, of the women that get it more than 50 percent of them suffer no symptoms, which is why it is again important that you invest in STD Testing Center often to get checked for this. When there are symptoms, they include vaginal bleeding in between menstrual cycles, vaginal discharge, and sometimes bleeding directly following sex. Cervictis, untreated, can increase your risk of getting cervical cancer.

Urethra Infection: Cervicitis often leads into chlamydia infection of their urethra.  Usual symptoms are similar to a urinary tract infection.

Perihepatitis: This condition, also known as Fitzhugh-Curtis syndrome, causes an inflammation of the liver capsule and surrounding surfaces. 

Pelvic inflammatory disease: Nearly 30 percent of women who do not treat their chlamydia will develop this disease. This infection inflames the female reproductive organs, and can damage the Fallopian tubes that eggs travel through when leaving the ovary to get to the uterus. These damages pathways can lead to infertility, intense pelvis pain, or what is known as an ectopic pregnancy – when the egg cannot travel all the way through the damaged tube and is thus forced to fertilize where it stands, usually somewhere against the walls of the tubes. These types of pregnancies do not normally survive.  

In already pregnant women, contracting chlamydia can cause premature ruptures of the membrane and dangerously lower the birth weight in delivered babies. Offspring can also inherit their mother’s problems, with 20 to 50 percent of newborns developing conjunctivitis when chlamydia is left untreated in the mother.

Remember, nearly 50 percent of women suffer no symptoms after contracting chlamydia. You must get tested at least once a year if you are sexually active and more often if you have multiple partners or have changed partners recently.

If you live near New York, protect yourself by visiting this STD testing in NYC and get tested. Its doctors will take care to ensure your results are 100 percent accurate, and will cure you if you have a positive  Chlamydia testing in NYC. Your privacy is important, and its staff respects yours. Just log onto STDcenterny.com or call 1-212-696-5900 to protect yourself and others from STDs.