HIV+AIDS

__ HIV/AIDS __ The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV attacks the immune system, resulting in a chronic, progressive illness and leaving infected people vulnerable to opportunistic infections and cancers.

The complete **Project Overseas guide to presenting a workshop on HIV/AIDS**: In English - In French -

For more information about HIV/AIDS see the following **websites**: Health Canada - [] World Health Organization - [] UN Aids Report on the Global Aids Epidemic 2010 - [] Report on the Global Aids Epidemic 2011 Kaiser Family Foundation - []

For more information about HIV/AIDS see the following **documents**: UN AIDS Report (English) - UN AIDS Report (French) -

For more information about HIV/AIDS see the following **powerpoint presentations**: Lyle (Uganda, 2011) - M. Prevost (Togo 2012) -

__ ZIKA __  From Wold Health Organization (WHO) []
 * Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted by //Aedes// mosquitoes.
 *  As of March 18 WHO reports that sexual transmission of Zika virus has been described in 2 cases, and the presence of the Zika virus in semen in 1 additional case. //Since then it has been reported that a person in Saskatchewan contracted Zika from her partner who had been in the Caribbean.//
 * People with Zika virus disease usually have symptoms that can include mild fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache. These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days.
 * There is no specific treatment or vaccine currently available.
 * The best form of prevention is protection against mosquito bites.
 * The virus is known to circulate in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

**PREGNANT WOMEN AND ZIKA **  From the Centres for Disease Control and Infection (CDC) []

What we know
 * **Pregnant women can be infected with Zika virus. **
 * The primary way that pregnant women get Zika virus is through the bite of an infected mosquito.
 * Zika virus can be spread by a man to his sex partners.
 * **A pregnant woman can pass Zika virus to her fetus. **
 * Zika virus can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus during pregnancy or at delivery.

What we do not know
 * **<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If a pregnant woman is exposed **
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We don’t know how likely she is to get Zika.
 * **<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If a pregnant women is infected **
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We don’t know how the virus will affect her or her pregnancy.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We don’t know how likely it is that Zika will pass to her fetus.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We don’t know if the fetus is infected, if the fetus will develop birth defects.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We don’t know when in pregnancy the infection might cause harm to the fetus.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We don’t know whether her baby will have birth defects.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We don’t know if sexual transmission of Zika virus poses a different risk of birth defects than mosquito-borne transmission

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Zika and microcephaly
<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Since May 2015, Brazil has experienced a significant outbreak of Zika virus. In recent months, Brazilian officials reported an increase in the number of babies born with <span style="color: #075290; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">[|microcephaly] <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">. To learn more, researchers are working to study the link between Zika during pregnancy and microcephaly. Although there is increasing evidence of the link between Zika and microcephaly, we do not know if these babies’ microcephaly is a result of their mother’s Zika virus infection during pregnancy. //<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Other possible causes of microcephaly // <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Microcephaly can happen for many reasons. Some babies have microcephaly because of <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Recent media reports have suggested that a pesticide called pyriproxyfen might be linked with microcephaly. Pyriproxyfen has been approved for the control of disease-carrying mosquitoes by the World Health Organization. Pyriproxyfen is a registered pesticide in Brazil and other countries, it has been used for decades, and it has not been linked with microcephaly. In addition, exposure to pyriproxyfen would not explain recent study results showing the presence of Zika virus in the brains of babies born with microcephaly. **<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">PREVENTION ** <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">From WHO [] <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">From CDC []
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">1. Changes in their genes
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">2. Certain infections during pregnancy
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">3. A woman being close to or touching toxins during pregnancy
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Use insect repellent regularly. Repellents should contain DEET (N, N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide), IR3535 (3-[N-acetyl-N-butyl]-aminopropionic acid ethyl ester) or icaridin (1-piperidinecarboxylic acid, 2-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-methylpropylester);
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wear clothes (preferably light-coloured) that cover as much of the body as possible;
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Use physical barriers such as window screens, closed doors and windows; and if needed, additional personal protection, such as sleeping under mosquito nets during the day.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It is extremely important to empty, clean or cover containers regularly that can store water, such as buckets, drums, pots etc. Other mosquito breeding sites should be cleaned or removed including flower pots, used tyres and roof gutters. Communities must support the efforts of the local government to reduce the density of mosquitoes in their locality.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Stay in places with air conditioning or that use window and door screens to keep mosquitoes outside.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Sleep under a mosquito bed net if you are overseas or outside and are not able to protect yourself from mosquito bites.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents. When used as directed, EPA-registered insect repellents are proven safe and effective, even for pregnant and breast-feeding women.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Always follow the product label instructions.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Reapply insect repellent as directed.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Do not spray repellent on the skin under clothing.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If you are also using sunscreen, apply sunscreen before applying insect repellent.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Treat clothing and gear with permethrin or purchase permethrin-treated items.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Treated clothing remains protective after multiple washings. See product information to learn how long the protection will last.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If treating items yourself, follow the product instructions carefully.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Do NOT use permethrin products directly on skin. They are intended to treat clothing.

__ CHIKUNGUNYA __ <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">From Wold Health Organization (WHO) [] <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Key Facts:
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Joint pain is often debilitating and can vary in duration.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The disease shares some clinical signs with dengue, and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There is no cure for the disease. Treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The proximity of mosquito breeding sites to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The disease occurs in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. In recent decades mosquito vectors of chikungunya have spread to Europe and the Americas. In 2007, disease transmission was reported for the first time in a localized outbreak in north-eastern Italy. Outbreaks have since been recorded in France and Croatia.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Signs and Symptoms:
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Chikungunya is characterized by an abrupt onset of fever frequently accompanied by joint pain. Other common signs and symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. The joint pain is often very debilitating, but usually lasts for a few days or may be prolonged to weeks. Hence the virus can cause acute, subacute or chronic disease.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Most patients recover fully, but in some cases joint pain may persist for several months, or even years. Occasional cases of eye, neurological and heart complications have been reported, as well as gastrointestinal complaints. Serious complications are not common, but in older people, the disease can contribute to the cause of death. Often symptoms in infected individuals are mild and the infection may go unrecognized, or be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue occurs.

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Prevention: See also Zika above <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">From CDC []
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Use air conditioning or window/door screens to keep mosquitoes outside. If you are not able to protect yourself from mosquitoes inside your home or hotel, sleep under a mosquito bed net.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Help reduce the number of mosquitoes outside your home or hotel room by emptying standing water from containers such as flowerpots or buckets.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">When weather permits, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Use insect repellents
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, and oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-menthane-diol provide long-lasting protection.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If you use both sunscreen and insect repellent, apply the sunscreen first and then the repellent.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Do not spray repellent on the skin under your clothing.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Treat clothing with permethrin or purchase permethrin-treated clothing.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Always follow the label instructions when using insect repellent or sunscreen

__ EBOLA __
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Key facts **
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The first EVD outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests, but the most recent outbreak in West Africa has involved major urban as well as rural areas.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilisation.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Early supportive care with rehydration, symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is as yet no licensed treatment proven to neutralise the virus but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development.
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There are currently no licensed Ebola vaccines but 2 potential candidates are undergoing evaluation.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts. Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">People remain infectious as long as their blood contains the virus.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Transmission **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">More surveillance data and research are needed on the risks of sexual transmission, and particularly on the prevalence of viable and transmissible virus in semen over time. In the interim, and based on present evidence, WHO recommends that:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Sexual transmission **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">All Ebola survivors and their sexual partners should receive counselling to ensure safe sexual practices until their semen has twice tested negative. Survivors should be provided with condoms.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Male Ebola survivors should be offered semen testing at 3 months after onset of disease, and then, for those who test positive, every month thereafter until their semen tests negative for virus twice by RT-PCR, with an interval of one week between tests.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Ebola survivors and their sexual partners should either:
 * o <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">abstain from all types of sex, or
 * o <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">observe safe sex through correct and consistent condom use until their semen has twice tested negative.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Having tested negative, survivors can safely resume normal sexual practices without fear of Ebola virus transmission.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Based on further analysis of ongoing research and consideration by the WHO Advisory Group on the Ebola Virus Disease Response, WHO recommends that male survivors of Ebola virus disease practice safe sex and hygiene for 12 months from onset of symptoms or until their semen tests negative twice for Ebola virus.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Until such time as their semen has twice tested negative for Ebola, survivors should practise good hand and personal hygiene by immediately and thoroughly washing with soap and water after any physical contact with semen, including after masturbation. During this period used condoms should be handled safely, and safely disposed of, so as to prevent contact with seminal fluids.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">All survivors, their partners and families should be shown respect, dignity and compassion.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Time since last confirmed case in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone: **