Aids : A Serious Disease

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS weakens the immune system hampering the body’s defense mechanisms. AIDS is known to be a deadly disease, especially if it is not treated in a timely manner. AIDS and HIV is an epidemic that is increasing among the African American population with roots tracing back to Africa, AIDS and HIV needs greater exposure and more awareness within the African American community and in the homosexual community.

Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome, which is popularly known as AIDS is a deadly disease as it attacks and adversely destroys body’s immune system. AIDS is brought about by a virus called Human Immune-Deficiency Virus, better known as HIV. This virus is minute, even invisible to a powerful microscope and can remain in the body for years without showing any visible symptoms. AIDS is the final stage of infection of the virus. It takes a period of about 10 years between being infected with HIV developing AIDS. The first case of AIDS infection in America was detected in 1959. Later, AIDS emerged as a fatal widespread disease in the 1980s in almost all countries in the world. This started with

Throughout the Age of AIDS film many topics that were related to AIDS were brought up that I did not know anything about before. I did not know that there could so many strings attached to a disease and have such an influence in people’s lives whether it was negative or positive.

AIDS or acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a disease where a person regardless of race or gender can get infected and have no chance of survival. AIDS started in the 1980’s to move from human to human. In a event were sex kills this is the one. In 1995, AIDS was the leading cause of death for adults 25 to 44 years old. But in recent years treatments help the survival and prolonged life of many with AIDS yet the disease still resides within them and they are dangerous to the well being of

(Patton 47) AIDs is a very complex retrovirus that replicates in an individual’s DNA. It becomes a part of the genetic code and houses itself in a cell, primarily the T-4 cell. (Patton 47) It is not a living organism like bacteria or a parasite so it is incurable and cannot be treated by using antibiotics like other sexual transmitted infections (STIs) like Syphilis or Gonorrhea. A virus cannot be cured, so doctors treat HIV infected individuals with immune suppression to keep the virus from spreading throughout the body. Drugs created in the 21st century such as Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PReP) protect individuals who practice high-risk behavior or have a dangerously low functioning immune system from getting the virus. Research in the 1980s was very scarce and underfunded for AIDs medicines however.

HIV is a sexually transmitted disease that attacks the body’s immune system by diminishing CD4 cells that help prevent and fight illnesses. HIV is a virus, more specifically a retrovirus that transcribes its RNA into the host cell’s DNA, and is spread by a transfer in bodily fluids namely drug injection and condomless sex. As the disease progresses into acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), the virus continues eliminating CD4 cells until the immune system becomes virtually ineffective [5]. Scientists first identified HIV in 1985 in response to the AIDS crisis plaguing the United States [6]. With no cure yet available, those affected with HIV must rely on antiretroviral drug therapy to decrease their chances of developing AIDS [7].

The disease agent of AIDS is a virus. AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV. Outside the host body, the HIV virus is not even considered to be alive. However, when it’s inside the white blood cell, the virus begins to multiply until the cell bursts and dies. This goes on for years until the immune system of the host is completely destroyed, and the host is extremely susceptible to numerous, sometimes fatal, infections. This immunocompromised state is called AIDS.

Emerging in the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS was an unknown disease that spread rapidly throughout the United States. In the beginning not much information was found due to this being a very new disease with a completely unknown background. As decades passed, research has increased as well as the number of cases of people reporting that they are infected. Being that 1 out of every 4 people are infected with HIV/AIDS, this disease has had such an immense impact socially, domestically, as well as politically. Due to this increase in cases, the United States Congress passed the CARE Act (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act). Named after a young AIDS activist, Ryan White, the CARE Act helps primarily fund health care and support services for

“AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is the most deadly and, apparently, the most recent of all sexually transmitted diseases. As mentioned earlier, it is caused by HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus.” (Little 75) It infects the DNA sequence, and makes white blood cells useless. “There are two serious diseases most often seen in AIDS patients; Kaposi’s Saicoma, and pneumonia.”(Taylor 15)

Description: HIV, also known as human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the immune system allowing the patient's body to not be able to protect itself. “HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells of the immune system. The loss of CD4 cells makes it difficult for the body to fight infections and certain cancers. Without treatment, HIV can gradually destroy the immune system and advance to AIDS” (National Health Institute). The disease was believed to originated in the Congo during the 1900’s, but now is present

AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, has a set of symptoms that has caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV. This type of virus is considered to be when a person’s immune system is too weak to defend advanced HIV infections and how it develops certain symptoms and illnesses that will destroy the immune system. Most of the infections are harmless for healthy people, but the ones that have AIDS can die from the same diseases. “There is no cure for HIV and AIDS yet. However, treatment can control

Although many people see this book as a great modern interpretation of the AIDS evolution, I found it difficult to be fully engaged with the immense amount of scientific information and terms. Despite the fact I do not have a positive opinion of the book, Pepin’s extensive knowledge and research is evident and bolsters his claims and his epidemiology. Pepin beings the book with the origins of AIDS, debunking the popular claims which spread throughout the United States. Secondly, Pepin introduces the way the AIDS epidemic spread and then completely devastated the Central African population. Afterwards, Pepin reveals how AIDS spread, thus contradicting the knowledge the general population of America has known since the 1980’s. After reading all of this, I felt increasingly more annoyed with how the entire AIDS epidemic has been handled. The information on how the spread of AIDS truly occurred is not widely diffused throughout America, so the notion of it being predominantly gay related is still well-known. Jacques Pepin does an astounding job with disclosing the information of the AIDS epidemic, but the information remained difficult to read due to the dry and immense amount of scientific verbiage.

HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. A member of a group of viruses called retroviruses, HIV infects human cells and uses the energy and nutrients provided by those cells to grow and reproduce. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease in which the body's immune system breaks down and is unable to fight off certain infections, known as "opportunistic infections," and other illnesses that take advantage of a weakened immune system. When a person is infected with HIV, the virus enters the body and lives and multiplies primarily in the white blood cells. These are the immune cells that normally protect us from disease.

What is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)? AIDS is the disease that an individual with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) has a chance of getting when their immune system becomes so damaged, opening up the body to many different illnesses. According to medical research not everyone who has HIV will in fact be advance to the final stage of the disease, especially when caught and treated early on. For someone to be diagnosed with AIDS typically they would have contracted an infection or cancer from their immune system being too weak to fight the infection away, and in most cases their CD4 cells (T-cells) count would be under 200, the normal amount being between 500 and 1,600. A lot of people may wonder where did the HIV disease initially come from, and how did it spread? The answer is simply from chimpanzees in Central Africa, their version being called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV). When humans needed to hunt these animals for food as far back as the 1800’s, it is believed that is when they contracted the virus and it transformed into the human version known as HIV, slowly working its way from Africa to the United States in the 1970’s (AIDS.gov, 2015). Once a person contracts HIV it starts to attack the CD4 positive lymphocytes which are part of our immune system that helps to fight off infection. The virus being so strong it has the power to turn healthy cells into unhealthy ones, eventually taking over the body’s defense against illnesses.

Hello, today we are discussing HIV and AIDS. This disease is known as a severe decline in one’s immune system resulting in a decreased ability to resist infection and malignancy. A lot of people ask what the difference between HIV and AIDS is. HIV is the virus that causes the disease AIDS. With this being said, I will now discuss some objectives that that will be covered throughout this lecture that I hope will help guide you as well as help you have a better understanding of the progression of this disease (Welcome to AIDS.gov, 2009).