The Human Immunodeficiency Virus : Biology, Epidemiology, And Pathogenesis

Molecular epidemiologic data suggest that HIV type 1 (HIV-1), the most common subtype of HIV that infects humans, has been derived from the simian immunodeficiency virus, called SIVcpz, of the Pan troglodytes troglodytes subspecies of chimpanzee. The lentivirus strain SIVcpz is highly homologous with HIV-1, and another form of simian immunodeficiency virus found in sooty mangabeys (SIVsm) has similarities as

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,

“Everyday the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to kill three times as many people than died during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001” (Elbe 2006, p.119). The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) weakens the immune system by destroying the cells that fight disease and infection. In the final stages of the HIV infection, it can lead to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Not all people who are diagnosed with HIV progress to acquiring AIDS, although once you have been diagnosed with the HIV infection, you have it for life. HIV/AIDS have claimed the lives of more than 39 million people globally since the discovery (World Health Organisation 2014) with a majority of these cases being in sub-Saharan Africa.

AIDS (Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is disease caused HIV (human immunodeficiency viruses). This research paper describes the evolution and origination of HIV and AIDS. There are two types of HIVs. These are called HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIVs result multiple cross species transmission from SIV (simian immunodeficiency viruses) that is viruses that infects primates. HIV-1 comes from SIV from chimpanzees whereas HIV-2 comes from sooty mangabeys. HIV-1 has four sub groups these includes M, N, O, and P. Each of groups has resulted from independent cross-species transmission event. Group M is the most virulent, and it is the first to be discovered. HIV-2 has groups that ranges from A to H. SIV are infecting West Africa primates. This fact is based on the first pandemic HIV-1 has emerged in colonial West African, and most researchers have sampled primates from this region only. Newly emerged SIVs are resulted from multiple cross species transmission and recombination. The cross species transmission occurs from non-humans to humans through eating bushmeat. The cross transmission influenced by host restriction factors, but HIVs were able to pass this barriers. Most SIV are non-pathogenic to the host; however, there is some evidence that some are pathogenic to their host. The age of the virus determined by using molecular clock method. Other studies have estimated the evolutionary timescale with same age as

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, also known as HIV, was discovered by Dr. Robert Gallo and Dr. Luc Montagnier. HIV had its first known case in a human in the year 1959. Though, its first known case in the United States was in 1981 when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, known as the CDC, reported five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California with Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia, a rare form of pneumonia. These findings were published in CDC 'S Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, or MMWR, which is read by physicians around the world. Soon after, The New York Times reported that 41 homosexual men had been diagnosed with a rare cancer called Kaposi 's Sarcoma. Since this disease was only spreading amongst gay men at the time,

HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) is a lentivirus that results in AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). HIV attacks and destroys CD4 helper lymphocyte cells - a specific type of immune system cell. As a result, the body has a harder time fighting off other infections, making minor illnesses more severe. The virus will go further to use those CD4 cells to create more of the virus. Once so many CD4 cells have been destroyed, HIV will become AIDS.

The HIV Pandemic: The ongoing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pandemic has and continues to devastate many individuals across the globe, leaving children orphaned, families fractured, and local economies disrupted. The first known and confirmed case of HIV infection dates back to 1959 [1], however AIDS-related pathologies were not recognized as interrelated outcomes from the same disease until 1981 when clusters of young, homosexual men in New York City and Los Angeles began presenting with Pneumocystis pneumonia and Kaposi’s sarcoma [2,3], illnesses most often associated with compromised immunity. The causative agent of this immunodeficiency, initially known as Human T-Lymphotropic Virus, type III, now known as HIV, was first discovered in 1983 by French and American scientists [4,5]. Since this discovery, an estimated 39 million people have died from HIV/AIDS, and over 35 million people are living with HIV today with an estimated 2.1 million new infections believed to occur each year based on the most recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO) [6]. Sub-Saharan Africa represents the most heavily burdened region with women disproportionately affected; accounting for 58% of HIV infected individuals. Furthermore, young women, aged 15-24 from this area represented 60% of all newly infected individuals in 2013 [7]. Young women therefore represent a unique group at high risk for acquiring HIV, and reasons for this increased susceptibility require further

The epidemic of Human Immunodeficiency Virus began in the early 1980’s and was thought to be a homosexual related disease, as only homosexuals where reported as having the virus during the early stages of discovering HIV/AIDS. It’s believed that a virus similar to HIV first occurred in some populations of chimpanzees in Africa, the virus crossed species by exposure of body fluids mixing, during butchering or cooking of the animals(2). Today over 78 million people are reported to have been infected with HIV, in 2012, AIDS-related illnesses were the 6th leading cause of death globally (3).

The human immunodeficiency virus, known more commonly as HIV or by the syndrome it ultimately leads to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDs, is caused by a RNA retrovirus.1 Morphologically, the virus appears spherical in shape and is enveloped made from two layers – both being primarily built using lipids taken from host cell membranes.2 Specifically, human cell membranes are taken up by the virus as it buds from the host cell2 after the host cell approaches death from the inability to meet its own physiological needs. Likewise, because the hosts’ membrane coats or more accurately ‘envelopes’ the virus, the hosts’ proteins are embedded within the membrane and on the membrane’s surface as well.2 However, the last essential

The HIV and AIDS disease is a major worldwide ongoing health epidemic. Which affects millions of people of all ages each year. HIV or the Human Immunodifency Virus has been speculated to have come from chimpanzees due to the similarities of the SIV virus found in the animal. SIV or the Simian Immunodeficiency virus is a virus that attacks the immune system of monkeys and apes. While HIV attacks the immune system of humans. The region of origin of the virus is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is where chimpanzees were being hunted and eaten by the people living in the area (HIV…). After thorough research of the connection between SIV and HIV, it has been confirmed that a strain of the SIV in a chimpanzee is almost identical to

With the prevalence and spread of communicable diseases on the rise, epidemiologists are working very diligently to find the agent, host, environment, and how it is spread with every new discovery. According to MedicinePlus (2016), “infectious diseases kill more people worldwide than any other single cause”. The human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HIV has been one of the largest epidemics in history. “HIV continues to be a major global health issue, having claimed more than 34 million lives so far. In 2014, 1.2 [980,000-1.6 million] million people died from HIV-related causes globally” (World Health Organization, 2015, n.p.). Having a good understanding of HIV

Curbing the spread of HIV has been a major goal since its emergence of the disease in 1981 in the sub Saharan Africa (http://www.unaids.org) . There are two viral strains that cause Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans, human immunodeficiency viruses types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2). They have both resulted from the multiple cross species transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus that infects primates

Because HIV is a virus, there is less known about the general taxonomic classification of it, and as a result, classification of HIV is a different than other organisms. 2 The Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the causative agent of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). There are two phylogenetically distinct types of HIV referred to as HIV-1 and HIV-2. 3 The Human immunodeficiency virus itself belongs to the group of retroviruses known as lentiviruses. Human immunodeficiency virus HIV has been discovered that as well as it affects humans, Human immunodeficiency virus can also infect mammals, such as monkeys and a number of different animal species.4

Almost 36.9 million people are currently living with HIV infection and almost 10 million people being died from the infection or as a result related causes or opportunistic infections. At present people acquired the infection reported from all regions in the world. The majority of old and new cases are reported from sub-Saharan Africa which accounts for almost 70%. Most of the HIV infection affects people at their predictive life, and around 40% of the infection occurs in young youth at age less than 25 ys. (Global Health policy, 2014).

According to the World Health Organization, 70 million people have been infected with the incurable HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Since the epidemic began in the early 1980’s, 35 million people have died and according to 2016 statistics, 36.7 million people are still living with the HIV/AIDS virus. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control estimates 1.1 million people are living with HIV/AIDS with an astonishing with 1 in 7 people unaware they currently have the virus in their system, and a few finding out the disease has progressed to AIDS (“HIV/AIDS”).