EDmedblog. Health News and Information

People with HIV infection should work as long as they possibly can. Work contributes to people’s sense of self-worth, to their knowledge that they are contributing members of society. HIV infection should not keep people from working unless fatigue or other symptoms make it impossible.
Occasionally employers have used the fact of HIV infection to limit someone’s employment or to change their job assignments. The employee has considerable legal recourse as a result of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which protects every citizen against unfair discrimination based on sex, race, or handicap. Under this law, HIV infection is a handicap, and those who have HIV infection are legally protected. The employer must provide the employee with continued employment in the same job as long as she or he is capable of performing the job.
Maintain Mental Health-HIV infection carries an enormous psychological burden, both because of the nature of the disease and because of society’s reaction to it. It is critically important for a person with HIV infection to deal with the psychological impact of the disease. Mental health may even affect the state of the immune system. Methods of maintaining mental health will differ with different people. Resources available include mental health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers), support groups, and AIDS-advocacy organizations.

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Nutrition is important for virtually all people with HIV infection for two reasons. The first is that weight loss is a common symptom of this infection, and during the later stages, many people lose weight excessively. Paying attention to nutrition early in the course of the infection might delay weight loss. The second reason is that good nutrition seems to help maintain a strong immune system, even apart from HIV infection. It is well established that the immune system functions less well in people who are malnourished, though malnutrition must be severe before immune defects become noticeable.
Malnutrition is more exactly called protein-calorie malnutrition. Calories come from most food, particularly fats. Proteins come from meat, milk products, poultry, eggs, fish, and dried beans and rice. People need diets that are a balance of calories, protein, and the necessary
vitamins. The usual American diet provides an ample supply of vitamins, though some people with HIV infection might wish to take supplemental vitamins. If supplemental vitamins are taken, the usual recommendation is to take no more than the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), the amount recommended by nutrition experts. The RDA is listed on the labels of all supplemental vitamins. In general, excessive doses of vitamins, along with macrobiotic diets and other fad diets, should either be avoided or be undertaken only with the advice of a certified dietitian.
Some people believe that progressive HIV infection is associated with deficiencies in what they call micronutrients—selenium, iron, zinc—and advocate taking supplements to correct the deficiency. The role of these micronutrients, however, has not been established scientifically, especially for the person with HIV infection who feels well.

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