The Invisible Cure By Helen Epstein Essay

In South Africa, AIDS is one of the top causes of death. South Africa has the biggest AIDS/HIV epidemic in the world because of violence against women, poverty, and lack of education. Given this, “Africans account for nearly 70% of those who live with HIV and are dying of AIDS” (Morgenstern, Dr. Michael).

HIV/AIDS has been responsible for one of the worst epidemics in history. In her book “The Invisible Cure” Helen Epstein details why Africa in particular was so devastated by the disease, which countries failed and which succeeded in the struggle to contain the virus, and why this happened. Epstein highlights a particular phenomenon, that first took place in Uganda, but which can be translated to many countries and situations, and which she calls “the invisible cure.”

A chimp nearly a million years ago was hunting and ate a Red-Capped Mangabey and a Spot-Nosed Geunon and was then exposed to their versions of the HIV virus. Somehow there becomes a single cell in the chimp infected with both viruses and an enzyme slips while copying one virus and finishes the copy with the other virus. This new infected cell thrives and this chimp becomes patient zero. Then, a hunter in the southeast of the Congo gets infected by the blood of said chimp when he kills/butchers it. When he travels to a nearby village to sell this meat he could then infect a woman who could have relations with a fisherman and infect him. Then, he goes down the main river and to an even bigger town with prostitutes and such and infect more people

This book is a very interesting and detailed analysis of the AIDS epidemic. It is very fact heavy, yet it still manages to entertain the reader and capture his or her attention. This riveting narrative describes pretty much everything you need to know about HIV and AIDS. The ideas behind this compelling work were collectively put together and written by an award-winning AIDS researcher named Daniel Halperin and his coauthor, a Johannesburg Washington Post reporter, Craig Timberg. This exciting story tells you about how Western colonial powers first sparked the flame that would later come to be known as the AIDS crisis. They unfortunately helped to rapidly ignite and spread HIV and AIDS across the world. Tinderbox uses examples from

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV is a virus spread through body fluids that affect specific cells of the immune system, called CD4 cells, or T cells (CDC, 2014). These CD4 or T cells serve as a defense mechanism, which fight off infections and diseases. Once this occurs, HIV leads to AIDS. Scientist identified a type of Chimpanzee in West Africa as the source of HIV infection in humans, it is believed to be called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) (CDC, 2014). The virus was most likely transmitted to humans and mutated into HIV when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat and came into contact with their infected blood (CDC, 2014). Studies show that HIV may have jumped from apes to humans as far back as the

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

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

Scientist believe that HIV came from a chimpanzee in Central Africa HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. The chimpanzee transmitted their version of HIV, called simian deficiency virus (SIV), when humans would hunt and eat the meat of the chimpanzee or come in contact with its blood. Over time the virus slowly spread across Africa and other parts of the world. HIV has existed in the United States since at least mid 1970’s. To contract HIV it will usually come from contact of any bodily fluid or the engagement of sexual intercourse. HIV destroys the body by attacking the body's

The fact that certain viruses can pass between species has been known for a long time. The process of a viral transmission between animals and species is known as zoonosis. People soon began to create theories on how AIDS was developed and spread ; the "hunter" theory, also called the natural transfer theory, was one of them. This theory is the most simple and reasonable explanation of the AIDS cross-species transmission. In this theory, the virus was transmitted into humans from chimpanzees when a hunter would kill and eat them or the blood of the chimpanzee getting into cuts, wounds or bites of the hunter. This exposure to the blood or fluids

The evolution of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was originated from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a pandemic disease in which creates unembellished harm of body cellular immunity and promotes decrease resistance to infection. This disease was formally predictable in patients of the United States in 1981 and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in 1988 that “five to ten million people worldwide are infected with AIDS” (Hunt 1989 p. 353-373). However the main catalyst of HIV was derived from the original host of an infectious chimpanzee in West Africa referred to as simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) (Sharp & Hahn 2010). The recent article ‘The Evolution of HIV-1 and the Origin of AIDS’ illustrated by Sharp and Hahn (2010) proposes that there is a likelihood of transportation of the disease between chimpanzee to human beings through “exposure to infected blood and body fluids during the butchery of bush meat”. It was put forward, that after years of observation, it was established that women who were diagnosed SIV-positive had a fertility reduction in regards to the

The scientists then did numerous experiments in the laboratory to figure out that a retrovirus, HIV, was the cause of AIDS. They then inoculated different species, including rabbits and chimpanzees, to see what would be the outcome. “Of the nonhuman primates only chimpanzees and gibbon apes could be infected with HIV in such a way that the virus could reisolated from the inoculated animals and that antibodies were produced against HIV proteins” (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 153). The chimps were then observed for 4-6 years and nothing seemed to be wrong therefore “it seemed warranted to state that chimpanzees are relatively resistant to the pathogenic action of HIV” (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 154). “Although animal experiments have not contributed to the discovery of HIV nor to the solution of the AIDS problem, there is a great need for animal models for some burning questions in AIDS research” (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 154). Some of these questions being “What is the cause of the T helper cell depletion in AIDS patients? What is the cause of presenile dementia in HIV-infected individuals? Do microbial factors have an influence on the development of AIDS?” (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 154-5).

There are indications that the HIV virus may have caused infection that was transmitted from apes to humans as far back as the late nineteenth century. This chimpanzee virus has been labeled simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV. The science points to the meat of these animals as a possible source of the virus. Humans killed them for sustenance and between eating the meat and exposure to the infectious blood the virus advanced to the population. Slowly, it spread across Africa and the world and finally to the United States in the late 1970 's.

What is HIV? HIV is a fatal disease which stands for “Human Immunodeficiency Virus” it is a failure to the immune system to protect the body from any infections. This virus causes a condition called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. When HIV is left untreated it leads to another disease called “AIDS”. It can occur in any age, race, sex or sexual orientation. The highest risk of contracting HIV is having unprotected sex and sharing needles with others. Another factor are people that have STI’s and men that are uncircumcised have a greater chance of obtaining the disease. “It is believed that the Chimpanzee version of Human Immunodeficiency virus most likely was transmitted to humans and mutated into HIV. When humans hunted these Chimpanzees for meat and came into contact with their infected blood.” [Make sure you cite the person here]

Sub-Saharan Africa has been singled out as having the most serious HIV epidemic in the world. There is need to curb the spread of HIV in the continent by leveraging the knowledge and skills necessary to understand the factors responsible for the spread of the disease. This paper attempts to investigate the risk factors involved in the spread of HIV and how to reduce HIV prevalence regardless of these risks factors. The paper then goes a step further and explains how HIV might may- and might may not - be contained. The paper concludes by proposing measures to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is the virus that leads to AIDS if left untreated. There is no cure for HIV, but treatment for management is available. Scientists believe that HIV came in contact with humans as early as the late 1800s by chimpanzees located in Central Africa. The chimpanzee version of the immunodeficiency virus is known as the simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, which likely mutated to HIV during times that humans of the region hunted chimpanzees for meat. By the end of 2015, there was an estimated 36.7 million people internationally (including children) infected with HIV or AIDS. There are several causes for infection of HIV that include contact with blood (usually by needle pokes or sharing), vaginal fluid, semen, and even breast milk. People with high risk behaviors like drug use or anal sexual activity are at a greater danger of getting infected by HIV.