According Canadian public health agency (2010), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that affects the human immune system, leading to a chronic, progressive sickness that leaves people susceptible to opportunistic infections. When the body no longer can fight or resist infections, the condition is at this point referred to as AIDS, which means Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Averagely, it has been found to take more than ten years to develop from initial infection of HIV to AIDS. Though simple in description, HIV and AIDS is a dangerous disease that has by now killed more than 20 million people across the world. Basing on the report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, no cure for AIDS has been established to date, and currently there is no vaccine against HIV and AIDS infection. This paper therefore discusses the biology of HIV and AIDS, Back ground, modes of infection, clinical consequences, current research, preventive and modes of transmission, and diagnostic procedures specifically in N.America.
Background of HIV and AIDS
AIDS was initially reported on 5th June, 1981 in United States when CDC (Center for Disease Control) recorded a collection of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in 5 gay men in Los Angeles. Initially, CDC never had a formal name for the disease, frequently terming it with respect to the diseases that were identified with it, for instance, lymphadenopathy, after which the HIV discoverers named it the virus. They as
The disease AIDS is an acronym for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The first known case of the AIDS virus was found in 1970’s. The AIDS disease was made aware in hospitals among male patients who had same-sex relationships. The two main areas of this disease at that time was in New York and Los Angeles. “In 1982 the AIDS disease was enhancing Kaposi 's sarcoma and Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia” (Scavnicky, 2011). In order for a person to be diagnosed with AIDS is due to having the HIV virus. The first HIV virus was detected around 1950. It was considered to have originated from monkey’s or chimps. It later had been spread to humans. The AIDS name had surfaced after the latter stages of HIV have
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
HIV and AIDS have affected millions of people throughout the world. Since 1981, there have been 25 million deaths due to AIDS involving men, women, and children. Presently there are 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS around the world and two million die each year from AIDS related illnesses. The Center for Disease Control estimates that one-third of the one million Americans living with HIV are not aware that they have it. The earliest known case of HIV was in 1959. It was discovered in a blood sample from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Looking further into the genetics of this blood sample researchers suggested that it had originated from a virus going back to the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. In 1999,
Dan McClain is a sheriff in Scott County Indiana who opposed needle exchange programs until there was a surge in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outbreaks that were directly influenced by the drug Opana. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) linking a HIV outbreak to Opana usage within Scott County in Indiana causes the need for extreme attention to this prescription pill. In March of 2011 Scott County experienced eight new HIV cases, and just two months later that number had increased to 81 new cases, causing a significant concern for Dan McClain. He is sheriff within Scott County and wanted to know how he could quickly intercept the worst HIV outbreak Indiana had ever experienced. The untimely involvement of Opana’s in
A major epidemic across the world is the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Accredited with 10% of the HIV cases annually is injection drug use (AIDS.gov, 2014). A study done in 2010 showed that injection drug use affected nearly 47,500 new HIV infections in the United States. With 625 being males and 38% being female. Breaking it down even further, African Americans made up 50% of the newly affecting using injection drugs, Whites 26%, and Latinos/ Hispanics with 21% (CDC.gov, 2015). Injection drug use can spread the HIV virus by any of the following acts: using blood-contaminated syringes to prepare drugs, reusing water, reusing bottle caps, spoons, or other containers ("cookers") to
During the timeline of aids, studies show that the virus probably transferred to humans in Africa between 1884 and 1924 (Anabel Kanabus, 2009). There were signs of it spreading through Haiti in 1966; estimations of this virus entering the United States are in the 1970. African doctors see a rise in opportunistic infections; this means that it takes advantage of the opportunity offered by a weakened immune system. Western scientists and doctors remain ignorant of the growing epidemic; this is what caused HIV to spread and kill innocent lives. The first case of aids found was through gay men, following by drug users injecting themselves not using a clean sterilized needle. In 1982, aids were reported in several European countries, the name “AIDS” (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), is created. In 1983, AIDS is reported among non-drug using women and children, Experts become more confident that the cause of AIDS is infectious.
Over the last three decades, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease (AIDS) epidemic has been a public health concern in the United States (US) and globally. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], (2015d) estimates that in the US, over 1.2 million people are living with HIV, of which 12.8% are unaware of their diagnosis. Due to exceptional medical advances in treatment and prevention strategies, a healthier quality of life and longevity can now be achieved with persons diagnosed with HIV (Irvine et al., 2014; CDC 2015a; Sayles, Wong, Kinsler, Martins, & Cunningham, 2009). However, despite the advance from a deathly diagnosis to a chronic disease, the continuum of care in treatment is still threatened.
The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which results form an infection called the human immunodeficiency syndrome virus (HIV) is a global epidemic that has taken numerous amounts of lives. There are two forms of HIV that are linked to AIDS, HIV-1 and HIV-2 (Crooks, Baur 460). HIV-1 is a virus that is constantly mutating and it is the first human immunodeficiency virus to be recognized as the leading cause of AIDS world wide, then we have HIV-2, which only occurs in some African countries (Crooks, Baur 460). In the 1980s the number of AIDS cases in the United States grew rapidly each year and eventually began to stabilize.
Currently, 1.2 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, with the number of new HIV diagnoses declining by 19% from 2005 to 2014 (aids.gov). This decrease in diagnoses is due to the new medical advancements and scientific findings, specifically the discovery of nonprogessers, broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), and how these bNAbs can offer a new insight on HIV treatment and prevention.
Since the beginning of time, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been plaguing African American communities at an alarmingly higher rate than any other. The initial stereotype was that only homosexual, Caucasian men had this disease (which also helped contribute to the disease even further because blacks did not think that they had the possibility of contracting HIV). Poverty plays a huge role as well because those are the blacks most affected and since they are financially unable to afford proper, necessary treatment, they fall victim to this disease. Even though they may seem or look fine at one point in time, the virus can clearly take over their body once their CD4 cell count diminishes to less than 200 cells. This weakens the immune system and opportunistic infections now have the chance to invade the body and eventually kill the HIV (now AIDS) infected individual.
Human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is one of the most important health challenges in the world, because it can be preventive. In the United States over 1.2 million people are infected with HIV, and roughly 1 in 5 people are unaware they are infected (CDC, 2014) One of the best and most effective ways to reduce the spread of the virus is by creating HIV awareness, by implementing intervention programs in high risk HIV communities. This paper will provide an overall view of HIV, risk factors/health behaviors and analysis on HIV intervention programs, and the responsibilities of health educators.
Infectious disease has been the kryptonite to mankind. There is a large variety from regular flus to internally damaging diseases, and Ebola and HIV/Aids fall into the categories as one of the tougher diseases. Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the earlier stages of aids, it is a virus that either destroys or impairs the functions of the immune system cells. The last stage of HIV is the Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) which is when the immune system is defenseless to normal infections which now can be deadly. Ebola generally does the same thing as HIV/Aids, it attacks the immune system initially as that is one of their similarities. Ebola and Aids also have very key differences in their similarities such as ways these diseases are spread, Ebola is a direct killer while Aids is an indirect killer, and how early each disease shows symptoms. These diseases can best be controlled through having prevention plans in place when a new viral disease does arise by isolation and ideally to prevent rather than cure. Economic analysis can help make a choice between alternatives but depending on the motives of the decision maker, I feel economic analysis is not the way to go because it does not consider equalising the risks across spreading resources.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV was first clinically observed in the United States in June 1981 in healthy young gay men, originating in Los Angeles, California. On June 5th 1981, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quite quietly, published an article describing five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in gay men in this region with two of the five already dead. This Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report (MMWR) issued by the CDC is the first reporting of the AIDS outbreak that was soon to follow. Once the report was issued, the CDC received 26b reports of similar cases of this pneumonia along with Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS), a rare skin cancer, among the same demographic in New York and California. Because the disease was limited to the gay male population, and little was known about it besides the fact that it targeted the immune system, it was called GRID among the media standing for Gay- Related Immune Deficiency. By years end, 270 cases of severe immune deficiency in gay males were reported with 121 already reported dead. In 1982, the term AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was first used by the CDC along with reporting a case definition to medical professionals and the public.a In the few years to follow, the CDC determined the other routes of HIV infection and transmission following discovery in infants and women and the World Heath Organization (WHO) got involved in the epidemic. By 1985, at least one case of HIV virus had been
On September 24, 1982 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used the term AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) for the first time and the released the definition “a disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated
Introduction - a bit about the history of the discovery of the virus, then how it came to be known as aids, where the virus is thought to come from, include transmission