ARV KILLS: NUTRITION BUILDS

This report is at the epicentre of AIDS awareness.

The centre of the HIV attack on the body is the small intestine or gut. The food and water passes through the mouth and down into the stomach and on into the small intestine where nutrients, salts and water are absorbed through the gut wall to pass to the liver by the hepatic portal vein.

Fat passes into the lymph vessels and carried to the heart to enter the large veins called the vena cava. The laying down of fat occurs in the vena cava and heart and can cause heart attacks as arteries of the heart become clogged by build up of blood clots.

Waste food passes down the large intestine and out as faeces. Water is absorbed in both the small and large intestines. If absorption does not take place in the small intestine, nutrients, salts and water pass out as diarrhoea or pek pek wara.

The small intestine is the site of millions of bacteria with the task of breaking down the nutrients before absorption. There are also dangerous bacteria and viruses in the small intestine. There can be cracks in the intestinal wall that allow the bacteria to enter the abdomen and make the person sick.

The small intestine is guarded by millions of CD4 cells. When the HIV virus enters the body the particles are pushed down the abdominal artery to the gut to be engulfed by the CD4 cells. But the HIV destroys the CD4 and reproduces in the CD4 cells.

Over a period of months, the HIV damages the gut wall and prevents nutrients, salts and water from being absorbed. These pass out of the body as diarrhoea which is a symptom of HIV infection.

When the sufferer takes antiretroviral medication, the HIV is destroyed in the blood stream. This stops the attack on the gut wall, giving the gut the opportunity to repair and allow nutrients, salts and water to be absorbed again.

Diarrhoea ceases if there is no continuing infection by bacteria or viruses. The person taking ARV medication must also take antibiotics such as Septrin or Amoxylin.

But the time has come for repair of the gut wall and all other tissues of the body. ARV medication must be accompanied by strong nutrition of vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts and lean meat to build up the nutrients that strengthen the tissues.

The person suffers weight loss during HIV infection as the protein is recycled from the body. Arms and legs become starvation thin as the muscles are stripped of protein. Hair falls out and the finger and toe nails crack.

The HIV is removed from the blood stream by regular ARV medication without default. There will still be a viral load in the blood if the person defaults on taking the ARV medication twice daily as prescribed.

The virus is not removed permanently but will rebound from the hiding places if medication ceases at any future time.