Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

In the 1920's, HIV crossed from chimps to humans. There is evidence on how, when and where HIV first began to cause illness in humans. HIV is a type of lentivirus, which means it attacks the immune system. In a similar way, the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) attacks the immune systems of monkeys and apes. There is even a theory on hunters, in the Democratic Republic of Congo eating monkey and transfer the virus. These well-known diseases, travel from Africa, Kinshasa to the United States. Started off being called GRID also known as gay-related immune deficiency introduced to united state in 1981. This disease has taken 121 healthy gay man lives in the U.S. since the mid-1970s. Scientists began to notice clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and

HIV occurs in three main stages: acute HIV infection, clinical latency, and AIDS. In the first stage those infected are very contagious, sometimes suffering from flu-like symptoms; however, this often

With such badly compromised immune systems people with AIDS get a growing number of serious sicknesses, they are called opportunistic diseases. With no treatment, the AIDS patients predictably survive about three years. The most usual Symptoms of AIDS are fever, chills, swollen, sweats, lymph glands, weight loss, and weakness. The diagnosis of AIDS is when the CD4 cell counts drops below 200 cells/mm or if they acquire certain opportunistic diseases. Being infected with the HIV can increase the viral load in

Clinical Latency: The disease then moves into a stage called clinical latency. This period is sometimes known as asymptomatic HIV infection or chronic HIV infection. During this phase, HIV reproduces at very low levels, but it is still active.. You may not have symptoms or infections at this stage_._ This period can last up to 8 years or longer. Some people go through this stage faster than others. And spreading of HIV is possible during this phase. In the middle and end of this stage, the viral level begins to rise and your CD4 cell count begins to drop. As this happens, symptoms of the diseases begin to occur as the virus levels increase in your body.

People with AIDS usually survive about three years. Because a person with AIDS has a weak immune system, he or she can get more diseases because their body is not strong enough to fight them off. Some examples are pneumonia, fungal infections, and

Primary HIV infection is the first stage and only lasts for a few weeks. Flu-like illnesses may be present during this stage. The second stage is known as clinically asymptomatic stage and typically lasts for an average of ten years. Although major symptoms might not exist during this stage, the HIV-positive person may experience swollen glands. Symptomatic HIV infection is the third stage. As the immune system continues to fail, symptoms surface and become miniscule at first then later leading to more prevalent symptoms. This third stage is generally caused by illnesses, involving cancers and infections, which the immune system would normally fight off but is not able to because the immune system is too weak. Finally, AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, develops and is the final stage of HIV. A person is diagnosed with AIDS when they show the symptom called an opportunistic infection. This is when infections take advantage of the weakened immune system. HIV leads into life threatening AIDS and causes the infected individual to feel escalating amounts of pain such as neurotic pain, tremendous headaches, gastrointestinal pain, chest pain, and even emotional pain such as depression. This pain can be intense enough to cease the individual from living a productively normal life. HIV and AIDS can strike anyone at any point in their life and should be taken seriously.

HIV is a virus. AIDS is a condition or set of symptoms that can develop in a HIV-positive person after a prolonged period of time. You can have HIV and not have aids, but if you have AIDS then you must also be infected with HIV. Because HIV is a virus, it can be passed from person to person but AIDS cannot. When a person becomes infected with HIV, the virus begins to attack their immune system and render it weak. Over time the immune system can no longer fight off diseases that it once could which can eventually lead to developing AIDS. Symptoms for AIDS can vary from person to person depending on the opportunistic infection in which they have acquired.

During the Clinical Latency Stage, those who are infected are living with the virus. The virus is alive and continues to develop in the body. During this time there is treatment that helps to keep the virus at bay, meaning that it is possible to live with this stage of H.I.V for years. This treatment is referred to as antiretroviral therapy or (ART). Although the person may not notice any symptoms, it is still quite possible for them to transmit the virus to another person. During the final stage, known as the Progression to AIDS, there are many symptoms that tend to be recurring. This stage usually occurs when the person infected does not take therapy. These symptoms range from rapid, unexpected weight loss, swollen lymph nodes that stay swollen longer than the normal time and even nocturnal hyperhidrosis or excessive night sweats. During this stage, sores develop and there may be development of neurological disorders such as loss of memory and even depression. However, it is important to remember that the only way to know for sure if someone is infected with H.I.V is to get tested.

After further research, they found that the chimps ate two smaller species of monkeys that had two different strains of SIV, allowing the virus to transmit into the chimps. Because the smaller monkeys were infected with two different strains of SIV, it was inevitable that the chimps would be infected with both kinds, and in some cases even developed mutated versions of the two combined. When these strains mutated, they became capable to infect humans, and this mutation became known as HIV. Humans in the area that the infected chimps lived in hunted the chimps for food, and so HIV was brought into the human population. In most cases, the infected human’s immune system fought off HIV, but sometimes it stayed and became a parasite in the new host, making this host HIV-1. More than one HIV-1 people exist because more than one person contracted it from the monkeys, and so the strain in each HIV-1 was different. HIV is classified into four substrains; M, N, O, and P. Strain M is the responsible for most AIDS deaths. (Origin story from www.avert.org) Right now, 36.7 million people globally are living with HIV, (www.aids.gov) and 2.1 in 100,000 people will die from AIDS. (www.cdc.gov) In The Hot Zone, the Ebola origins are said to be in either fruit bats or primates at a cave in Africa known as Kitum Cave. In 1976, the poor man, Monet, went into that cave and inevitably contracted it, starting an outbreak to be followed by countless more. However, though it would be easier to just assume that we could follow the trail of that outbreak, that is not the case. That was just the outbreak of one out of 5 Ebola strains known as Ebola Zaire, the most deadly out of the filovirus strains with a 90% fatality rate. (www.who.int) A completely different outbreak began also in 1976 in Sudan when a hospital transmitted the disease from one infected patient to many

It has an incubation period from months to years (1). Symptoms may sometimes be present, such as influenza type illness and rash. An asymptomatic period will then persist. HIV will eventually progress to AIDS (Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome) (8) , and unfortunately there is no vaccine available (1).It is a chronic disease which can be successfully treated, and is no longer the terminal ailment that was once a threat (9).

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency virus. If the virus goes untreated it can lead to AIDS. AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV attacks the body’s immune system such as the T cells. T cells help fight off infection. When it goes untreated, it decreases the number of T cells in a person’s body. This leads to AIDS, which is the last stage of HIV. AIDS occur when the immune system is severely damaged and you become more prone to infections. When the T cell count is lower than 200, then you’ve moved on to this stage. People who have AIDS usually live up to 3 years subsequently.

Acute (Primary) HIV infection. “Acute HIV occurs 1-4 weeks after transmission and is accompanied by a burst of viral replication with a decline in CD4 cell count. Most patients manifest a symptomatic mononucleosis-like syndrome which is often overlooked. Acute HIV infection is confirmed by demonstrating a high HIV RNA with either a negative HIV antibody test or a reactive ELISA with negative or indeterminate Western blot” (Sax, 2013, p.3).

“About one in eight Americans with HIV do not realize they are infected with the virus and those people account for nearly one-third of HIV transmissions in the United States,” according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. Unawareness of HIV infection is creates an issue of when someone becomes diagnosed the higher the chances of a more advanced disease later on. As soon as a person is infected with HIV they are not able to detect the presence of the virus because it is asymptomatic. Acute HIV infection, Clinical Latency and Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are three main stages of HIV. Acute HIV stage is the earliest stage of HIV infection that occurs in the first couple of weeks of contraction. During the Acute HIV stage the body will either respond immediately to the infection with flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue and sore throat or symptoms will not arise and the only way to detect infection is by intravenous testing. Throughout this phase the body is trying to fight the infection but large amounts of the virus is being spread at a rapid pace, which causes this stage to be the most infectious of all three. The second stage of HIV is the clinical latency stage that can be either asymptomatic or chronic with negative symptoms. The symptoms of the clinical latency stage are more enhanced then the acute HIV stage. The most noticeable sign of infection are swollen lymph nodes as well as fatigue, diarrhea,

Two to four weeks after infection a person can experience flu-like symptoms. This is when the virus begins to rapidly replicate, and during this time is when the HIV virus count is highest and the CD4 count drops rapidly. The lower the CD4 count the more susceptible the body is to other infections. Although HIV can be spread during any stage, there is a higher chance of spreading the virus because of the high virus load per cubic millimeter of blood. The second stage is known as clinical latency also known is inactivity, dormancy, asymptomatic HIV, and chronic HIV infection. Amid this aspect of infection the virus is active in the body, but there are low levels in the blood. Contagion is still existent, so precautions are pertinent. Affected humans can reach chronic HIV infection stage rapidly, but can be prolonged for a more than a decade with proper treatment. The final stage of HIV infection is known as AIDS, which means acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, meaning that the CD4 cell count is less than 200 per cubic millimeter of blood. Normal CD4 counts range from 500-1600 per cubic millimeter. During this stage the body can no longer protect itself from antigens. Common infections such as the common cold can ultimately be fatal to the

HIV goes through several different movements before it leads to AIDs. The first step is the serioconversion illness. This symptoms of this illness is very similar to the flu and an affected individual will