HIV / AIDS
HIV (or Human Immunodeficiency Virus) weakens your immune system, your body’s built-in defence against disease and illness.
Anyone can be infected with HIV. You can have HIV without knowing it. You may not look or feel sick for years, but you can still pass the virus on to other people.
Without HIV treatment, your immune system can become too weak to fight off serious illnesses. HIV can also damage other parts of your body. Eventually, you can become sick with life-threatening infections. This is the most serious stage of HIV infection, called AIDS (or Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome).
There is no vaccine to prevent HIV. There is no cure for HIV… but there is treatment. There is no cure for HIV, but with proper care and treatment, most people with HIV can avoid getting AIDS and can stay healthy for a long time. Anti-HIV drugs have to be taken every day. They cannot get rid of HIV but they can keep it under control.
For more on HIV treatments, please see:
Managing Your Health – an overview of all the main questions about HIV treatment (when to start, what to use and how to make it work) from Managing Your Health, CATIE’s guide for people living with HIV.
CATIE’s Treatment sectionCATIE’s Treatment section for much more information for you to explore.
Government of Canada - HIV and AIDS: Symptoms and Treatment
- LOCAL RESOURCE CONNECTIONS -
CANADIAN AIDS SOCIETY
www.cndaids.ca
Created in 1986, the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) is a national voice for people living with HIV/AIDS and represents our members at the national level.
POSITIVE PATHWAYS
511 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario, N9A 4L2
Phone: 519-973-0222
www.postivepathways.com
Positive Pathways is a registered charity that provides support, education and outreach services for people living with, affected by, or at-risk of HIV/AIDS. Our services span the Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent counties through two offices located in downtown Windsor and downtown Chatham respectively.
HIV CARE PROGRAM (TECUMSEH/BYNG CLINIC)
1275 Walker Road, Windsor, Ontario, N8Y 4X9
Phone: 519-254-6115
www.wrh.on.ca/HIVCareProgram
The services we provide are both comprehensive and confidential. We believe that caring for the whole person is necessary for managing HIV and maintaining a good quality of life. We also believe that such care must be kept confidential. It is essential for you to know that everything you share with us is kept to ourselves. Your medical file is kept at our clinic and no one has access to your information without your written consent. This even includes employees of Windsor Regional Hospital outside of this clinic.
WINDSOR-ESSEX COUNTY HEALTH UNIT (WINDSOR)
1005 Ouellette Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, N9A 4J8
Phone: 519-258-2146 ext. 1200
www.wechu.org
Public health programs keep our community healthy by promoting improved health, preventing disease and injury, controlling threats to human life and function, and facilitating social conditions to ensure equal opportunity in attaining health for all.
WINDSOR-ESSEX COUNTY HEALTH UNIT (LEAMINGTON OFFICE)
33 Princess Street, Leamington, Ontario, N8H 5C5
Phone: 519-258-2146 ext. 1200
www.wechu.org
Public health programs keep our community healthy by promoting improved health, preventing disease and injury, controlling threats to human life and function, and facilitating social conditions to ensure equal opportunity in attaining health for all.