The Human Immunodeficiency Virus ( Aids ) Essay

In the 1980s, a mysterious disease began to take the lives of Americans. With the cause unknown, a fear grew among Americans. An unusually high rate of people was becoming sick with strange and rare diseases. When experimental treatments failed to work, people died. This mysterious disease is what we now know as HIV–Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In the past thirty-five years, the HIV has taken many turns in history. Although we do not hear about HIV and AIDS now, it is still a prevalent issue in the United States and in the world.

HIV can end up destroying too many of the cells making the person unable to fight off infection. HIV is most commonly spread through having unprotected sex with someone who has HIV. Sharing needles or syringes with someone who has HIV when injecting heroin is also a way to spread HIV. Certain bodily fluids like blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, and vaginal and rectal fluids transmit HIV.

Most of us know about H.I.V, but not all of us fully understand all of the aspects of this disease. Not only are there physical aspects, but also physiological aspects.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects the cells of the immune system. In particular, HIV attacks and destroys the T helper lymphocytes, or T-cells, which are crucial to the immune system and immune response. (These cells are also called CD4-positive lymphocytes because HIV uses the protein CD4, present on the surface of the cell, to attach itself and pry its way into the cell.) Each day, your body produces millions of CD4+ T-cells to help maintain your immunity and fight off invading viruses and germs. Once HIV is in your body, the virus is able to copy itself over and over, increasing its ability to kill CD4+ T-cells. Soon, infected cells outnumber healthy T-cells.

Did you know that if a straight line of pennies was made down any given road, extending one mile, there would be over a hundred thousand dollars worth of change on the street? Dimes? Well over a million dollars. How about something that hits closer to home, something like lives? In 1996, when the AIDS pandamenic was at its peak, a memorial quilt made of individual panels about six feet by three feet in size was displayed in Washington D.C. Each square of the quilt represented a single victim whose life was claimed by the disease. Though many of the panels give only the victim’s name and birth/death dates, others included more personal items such as a pair of jeans, a teddy bear, or even a poem. Though there

Epidemiologist: This role involves learning about the pattern and incidence of how the disease is transmitted and works to help find community prevention solutions. The portals of entry for HIV: skin via Injection or trauma, mucous membranes of mouth, penis, vagina and rectum during sexual activity, placenta to child during pregnancy. Portals of exit: blood, semen, pre-ejaculate, vaginal secretions and breast milk. Reservoirs: human blood, semen and vaginal secretions. The mode(s) of transmission: unprotected sex exposing mucous membranes to infected fluids, injection using contaminated needle, infusion from contaminated blood transfusion, accidental prick from contaminated needle, having an open wound come into contact with infected blood; virus passing from mother to baby through placenta, to baby through breast milk, or via interaction with vaginal secretions during birth. However HIV cannot be transmitted through saliva, tears or urine (Merck Manual, 2003).

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the human immune system, your body’s means of defense. The virus attacks specific viral defense cells, known as CD4+. As the disease spreads and attacks more CD4+ cells, your body no longer maintains its’ ability to fight of infections and diseases which leads to the death of the host. The final stage of HIV is known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). During this stage of the virus, the host gets infected and sick easily and can no longer fight off infections.

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that mainly attacks the T-Cell which are used in the immune system to fight off infections. HIV left untreated leads to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). When T-Cell accounts are sparse, the body is predisposed to getting infections. (aids.gov) HIV is transmitted parenteral or sexually. (Palmisano, Vella) Around 1 and 4 people living with HIV in the United States are women. In 2014 women made up 19% (8,328) of estimate HIV diagnosis in the United States. (cdc.gov) In the 19% of women infected with HIV, many of whom are mothers, affects the life expectancy of infants during the pregnancy, birth, and gestational period.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are lentiviruses (a subgroup of retroviruses) that infect CD4 cells (commonly known as T-cells), macrophages and dendritic cells. The Virus can be transmitted through the rectum, the vagina, the mouth, and the opening of the penis. Only certain fluids contain the virus. They are blood, semen, pre-seminal fluids, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids and breast milk. The HIV virus infects a T-cell, multiplies and eventually the cell explodes. When that happens on a massive scale, your immunity is compromised. That makes it possible for infections, such as the common cold and pneumonia, to thrive. That is usually in the end stages of the disease.

The HIV virus is carried in blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and mucous membranes. It is generally spread through sexual contact, sharing needles, and can be passed on from mother to child during birth. The virus itself does not survive well outside of the body and therefore casual contact with infected fluids does not pose too much of a concern. HIV does not elicit many symptoms early on, but is much more dangerous later. Some early symptoms are nausea, enlarged lymph nodes, diarrhea, weight loss, joint pain and a few other minor symptoms. However, although early symptoms can be quite minor, the major risk of HIV is the weakened immune system which can lead to serious infections, diseases, and cancers. To diagnose HIV

At the end of 2011, an estimated 1.2 million people aged 13 and older were living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United States, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that approximately 50,000 people are newly infected with HIV each year (CDC, 2013). Fortunately, after more than 30 years of research on HIV, much progress has been made in fighting this disease. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) transformed what was once a death sentence into a manageable disease for individuals with drug-susceptible viral strains, who have access to antiretroviral drugs, and are compliant with their prescribed therapy. ART not only prolongs life, but also dramatically reduces the rate of HIV transmission (Deeks et al., 2012). Unfortunately, substantial challenges exist to maintain access to and funding for lifelong ART (Dolin et al., 2009; HRSA, 2012; Lewin, 2013), standard therapies do not fully restore health or a normal immune system in HIV-infected individuals, and patients still experience comorbidities, such as increased cardiovascular diseases, bone disorders, and cognitive impairment (Deeks et al., 2012; Hsue et al., 2012; Phillips et al., 2008). It is possible that these HIV-associated complications are due to the toxic effects of treatment or the consequences of persistent inflammation and immune dysfunction (Katlama et al., 2013). Therefore, the International AIDS Society (IAS) convened a team of more than 40 scientists

Diseases and their correlating outbreaks has been a factor of humankind since our debut on the world stage millions of years ago. When you look in depth at the death rates several common factors appear: wars, genocide, famines, weather and epidemics. While countless cultures and their people have continued to evolve over the century’s human nature and the epidemics stay the same and has even gotten much worse. Looking in depth you can find many great epidemics that have dominated over the years and taken out many people ranging from the black plague to Tuberculosis to the latest disease Ebola . However while Ebola gets all the notoriety and publicity there are several other epidemics are still around having a much more prolonged impact. One of these has been around for decades and at one point in time causes as much fear and panic as Ebola does now: the HIV/AIDS virus.

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

Since the beginning of the epidemic, AIDS has killed more than 30 million people worldwide, including more than 500,000 Americans. AIDS has replaced malaria and tuberculosis as the world's deadliest infectious disease among adults and is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Over 13 million children have been orphaned by the epidemic. A person who is HIV-infected carries the virus in certain body fluids, including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. The virus can be transmitted only if such HIV-infected fluids enter the bloodstream of another person. This kind of direct entry can occur (1) through the linings of the vagina, rectum, mouth, and the opening at the tip of the penis; (2) through intravenous injection with a syringe; or (3) through a break in the skin, such as a cut or sore. Usually, HIV is transmitted through:

HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus which damages and kills cells of the immune system. It attacks the T-cells, key cells of the immune system, and uses them to make copies of itself. After being infected with the virus it progressively interferes and eventually destroys the immune system's ability to fight the anti-genes. HIV may develop into the syndrome AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV is an STD - a sexually transmitted disease - and therefore most commonly it is spread through sexual contact, and the virus mainly enters the body through the penis, mouth, lining of the vagina or vulva during sexual activity. HIV can also be spread through sharing syringes or needles with someone who is infected with the