Human Immunodeficiency Virus : Hiv And Aids

HIV has affected people all across the world. HIV comes with physical and mental symptoms. The body symptoms include skin flaking off, being dry, skin peeling off (Saliba 23) , fingernails falling off (32), and weight loss (14). Mentally it is hard to sleep, people become weak, and are tired all the time (23). People all across the world are infected with this disease, and the problem with this is the fact that most do not even know they have it. The most people who are infected each year are African Americans, gays, or bisexuals. 10,315 African Americans were infected in 2015. The U.S.A. has estimated about 1.1 million are infected with the disease. Equally to about 12,333 deaths happened in 2014 from AIDS related diseases, and 6,721 deaths from AIDS directly. Although there are a large amount of people getting infected, on the other hand eighteen percent of the population with HIV is declining since 2008-2014 (“U.S. Statistics”). In the world about 33.2 million people worldwide have HIV, with 22.5 million people in sub Saharan Africa are living with this condition, one out of nine people who live in South America have HIV or AIDS (Saliba 8).

Many individuals have this malnourished ideal that HIV/AIDS is a disease based on race. “AIDS; which has ravaged minority community in disproportionately large numbers, must be viewed as racial issue, the national commission member on AIDS said yesterday” (Priest). Years ago Yale University law professor Harlon Dalton said this about HIV/AIDS, “We cannot approach the AIDS problem in a color blind fashion” (Priest). With this being said we need to stop pointing fingers at blacks’ for the disproportionate factor of HIV in this country. And also stop pointing fingers at black homosexuals.

HIV is communicable disease that is caused by virus. This particular virus attacks the immune system which means people who suffer from HIV find it more difficult to fight of infection than the average person who does not suffer from HIV. This disease can be transmitted by direct contact, generally it is transferred by sexual contact between partners in fact 95% of those who suffer from HIV are contracted it this way. It can also be contracted by using dirty needles or any other contaminated tool. It can also be contracted by sharing sexual toys. HIV is commonly found in a person’s bodily fluids this means it is spread through, Sperm, vaginal and even anal fluids, breast milk and blood are also common.

​African-Americans are the ethnic group most affected by HIV/AIDS. Ironically african-americans represent 14% of the population of the United States , but represent 44% across the gender line. African-american men represent 70% of HIV infections among the ethnic group, however african-american women are also highly at risk of HIV infection. Indeed they have a rate of infection that is 15 times greater than the rate for caucasion women (HIV among African-Americans, 2012). Most African-american women (85%) are infected with HIV through heterosexual sex, often with partners, who claim to be

As a disease, HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a blood-borne virus that is transmitted from person to person via sexual intercourse, mother to child, or intravenous drug paraphernalia. The virus itself causes, usually over a period of time, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. AIDS actually targets the immune system and causes an immunosuppression which makes people who have the virus more susceptible to cancers and infections. This is the most unique feature of the HIV/AIDS virus and is the most deadly since its implications are destructive if not properly treated (Moore 51). The significance of this disease is one that began in the 1980’s and initially was thought to be a virus only found within homosexual communities and was even originally called Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Virus. However, in 1981, it was found that the virus was spreading beyond the gay community when Blacks accounted for 25% of the HIV/AIDs population and a trend began where Blacks continued to contract HIV significantly more than

Being that Blacks/African AMericans make up only 12 percent of the UNited States population, they account for about 44 percent of new HIV infections annually. It is estimated that at least 280,000 Black/African American men and women have died since the the epidemic began. Another race/ethnic group also disportionately affected by HIV/AIDS are Hispanics/Latinos. They make up about 15 percent of the United States population and account for 21 percent of new annual HIV infections. In total both minority groups makes up about 65 percent of HIV/AIDS cases. The likelihood of an African American or Latino male or female contracting the viruses are twice that of their white counterparts (CDC).

HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is an autoimmune disorder. HIV is commonly spread through the shared use of needles and is

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been a major public health issue in the African-American community of the United States since the 1980s (Shisana et al., 2014). The documentary “ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America” shows the widespread nature of HIV in the black community. According to Renata Simone, producer of the documentary, “African Americans make up about 12 percent of the nation’s population, but account for almost half of all people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.” The documentary features personal stories and interviews with those who are infected with HIV. Simone attributed the spread of HIV/AIDS in the black community to unprotected sexual activity, drugs, tainted blood transfusions, prostitution, and the stigma surrounding the disease.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that alters the immune system, making the population with HIV vulnerable to infections and diseases. HIV can be found in the body fluids of an infected person. The virus is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood and sexual contact. HIV can be transmitted in many ways, such as vaginal, oral sex, anal sex, blood transfusion, and contaminated needles. Patients with HIV cannot clear to virus out of their bodies like most other viruses do. Once a patient is diagnosed with HIV, he will have it for life. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), HIV can stay in the body for a long time and attack ones T-cells or CD4 cells, which are the cells that are needed

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an obligate intracellular parasite found exclusively in humans. It is responsible for weakening the immune system and leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The first case of AIDS was diagnosed in the U.S. in 1981, and in 1984 it was first proven that HIV caused AIDS. There is currently a pandemic of HIV/AIDS, with the highest incidence rate in Sub-Saharan Africa and the lowest rates in Western Europe and North America, due to better healthcare.

African-American males are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS across the United States. According to the CDC (2016), African-Americans accounted for 40% of everyone living with HIV. This community, however, constitutes of 12% of the total population (Siddiqi, Hu, & Hall, 2015). Furthermore, 31% of this community has never been tested for HIV, increasing the likelihood of transmission (Siddiqi, Hu, & Hall, 2015). In 2015, out of 17,670 newly identified cases amongst African-Americans, more than half were men. In recent years, diagnoses of African-American men has continued to increase by nearly 25% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). The age group that is mostly affected by new cases are between 20 to 29 years old (Siddiqi, Hu, & Hall, 2015). Mortality rates are equally as high; 53% of deaths due to HIV are African-Americans (CDC, 2017). In 2012, Florida reported the highest mortality rate of African-Americans with HIV, while Idaho reported none (Siddiqi, Hu, & Hall, 2015). States with the highest rates of mortality include California, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Moreover, death rates are alarmingly high amongst African-American men over the age of 55.

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.

“Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease), and the application of this study to the control of diseases and other health problems (WHO, 2015)”. “Various methods can be used to carry out epidemiological investigations: surveillance and descriptive studies can be used to study distribution; analytical studies are used to study determinants (WHO, 2015)”.This paper discusses about epidemiology of HIV infection, including factors that contribute the development of the disease, epidemiologic triangle, role of community health nurse and the national organization that address the communicable disease.

HIV is a virus that is spread almost all over the world. Although in some places health care isn’t as developed and therefore it spreads more in those regions. Sub-Saharan Africa holds more than 70%, 25 million, of all HIV positive people in the world. Second highest is Eastern Europe together with Central Asia with 1.3 million. It is spread over most of the world, including Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central and South America, North Africa and the Middle East and Western and Central Europe (“The Regional Picture”).

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been a prominent global issue for many years. HIV is similar to other viruses that humans can attain, but instead of your immune system working in your favor to get rid of the virus, the opposite occurs. HIV can remain undetected for a substantial amount of time and as a result, it has the ability to attack important cells in your immune system that help combat infections (What is, 2014). As time goes on, your body loses so many of these cells that nothing is helping your body fight away these infections. Unfortunately this ultimately leads to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if not treated in time. HIV can only spread by coming in contact with body fluids that have already been infected with HIV (Cohen, Pilcher, 2005).