What The Fuck *Is* HIV, Exactly?
Even though the virus has a hold on rural America, you might not know what it can do — or how to stop it. Here’s a guide.
By Leigh Cowart
Despite the HIV outbreak burning through Scott County, a small, rural community in southern Indiana, it is not uncommon the residents who come in for testing to know nothing of the virus except its malevolence.
This horrifying reality is — like so many of the factors that precipitated the outbreak — in no way unique to Scott: Public awareness and understanding of HIV is difficult to achieve, especially in areas that lack the resources to keep their citizens safe. The health department in Scott County did not offer any HIV testing services until after the outbreak began; what are the odds they were spending time or precious money on HIV education?
Back in the 1980s, when intravenous drug use came with as much 60 percent chance of HIV in cities like New York, discussions about the virus were much more common, with the media cruising strong off the public interest. But today, thanks in part to the tremendous public health efforts that curbed the spread of the virus, discussion of this broadly preventable and — if left untreated — unconditionally fatal disease is fading from our cultural consciousness like painfully dated slang.
Quite frankly, this is unacceptable.
So, sit your ass down. Class is in session.
How does HIV work?
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) strips your body of its ability to defend itself from even the most petty and ubiquitous infections. Your body is under constant assault and the military-for-hire that is your immune system works around the clock to destroy infectious pathogens and rogue, cancerous fuckweasels. I call them sellswords because your immune cells lack inherent loyalty to their maker: strip your cells of their special “don’t kill me” molecular markers, and the immune system will turn on you faster than the Baltimore Police Department black bag-kidnapped an activist on live television.
However, there’s more than one way for your immune system to kill you. In the case of HIV/AIDS, it’s the lack of one. The systematic destruction of the body’s defense system means that, after a while, even the most innocuous mentions pest of the pathogenic world can become an axe-wielding serial killer sliding into your DMs. Essentially, when the damage to the immune system is significant enough — or a person develops an opportunistic illness resulting from said damagea person crosses over from being HIV positive to having AIDS.
How does HIV spread?
HIV is spread between people via direct contact between the bodily fluids that can carry the virus — blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, vaginal fluids, and breast milk — with damaged tissue or one of the slippery parts of your body, the mucous membranes: mouth, crotch parts, and rectum. It’s a bloodborne disease, so bareback anal and needle sharing are the most notorious routes to infection, but it’s also spread by other forms of sexual contact, as well as from mother-to-fetus. You cannot get it from skin-to-skin contact like hugging and handshakes, unless both parties are mashing their stigmata wounds together or something. You cannot get it from kissing, unless you do something like punch them in the mouth first (see: blood). Saliva does not transmit the virus. Someone pre-chewing your food for your also does not transmit the virus, unless they have bloody gums or weeping mouth sores.
Okay, enough, just tell me what to do, Leigh.
You got it, sugar. HIV is found in blood and sexual fluids, so wear a condom, don’t share needles, and don’t be cavalier with swappin’ bodily fluids. If you must re-use or share needles, please protect yourself by using the CDC’s diluted bleach protocol to clean your gear. And, most importantly: know your status. HIV tests sometimes use venous blood, but they can also be done with finger pricks or a cheek swab. There are kits available over-the-counter for my shy folks, and finding a testing center nearby is as easy as texting your zipcode to KNOWIT (566948) and waiting for the reply.
If you’re reading this in Indiana, know that you can get an HIV test wherever (clinic, doctor’s office, hospital) and the State will pick up the tab. I know, it’s nerve wracking, but being scared of a positive is the worst reason to not get tested: The earlier an HIV infection is diagnosed, the better the prognosis. Catch it in the beginning, and you can enjoy all of the robust benefits that modern HIV treatments have to offer, turning what was once a death sentence into a chronic condition with no significant impact on life expectancy if managed properly.
I hope reading this inspires you to get tested; if you do, please tell me and we can high-five over the internet.
Further Reading:
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV/AIDS information resources
Indiana State Department of Public Health HIV/STD Division
Leigh Cowart is reporting live from Indiana all week. Leave a response to this post below, or use the tag HIVOutbreak on Medium or #HIVoutbreak on Twitter.
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