The 's Perspective On Hiv Essay

HIV or the Human Deficiency virus is like other viruses including the flu, but the one thing that makes this virus so different than any other is that the body is unable to clear this one out completely. Once someone is infected, there is no cure. Over time, HIV can also hide or mask itself in the body's cells. The cells within a person's body that fight off infection are called CD4 cells or T cells. HIV attacks these cells and copies or replicates itself inside these cells, then destroys them. HIV over time will destroy so many of these cells that the body is unable to fight off infection anymore. When this starts happening, AIDS or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome happens which is the final stage

The term Human Immunodeficiency Virus is commonly known as (HIV), which is a virus that attacks the immune system of humans by destroying the amount of CD4 cells in their bodies. Without CD4 the human body is unable to fight against diseases, which can lead to Acquired Immune deficiency syndrome known as AIDS for short. The first case of the HIV/AIDS virus in the U.S. occurred in the early 1980’s. The first spark of the virus was found in San Francisco with couple of homosexual Caucasian American males. Today African Americans account for the largest proportion of HIV and AIDS in this country, represent approximately 13% of the U.S. population, but accounted for an estimated 44% of new HIV infections in 2010(the last year a study was

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is HIV that develops into AIDS, which is Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This virus starts to break down white blood cells, as a result the immune system starts to deteriorate and our greatest shield cannot fight any longer (Mayo Clinic, 2016). The CDC (2015) states, that over 1.2 million people live with HIV in the United States and most who are infected are oblivious of their disease. Healthy people 2020 has declared HIV a public health crisis in the United States, and continues to sweep the nation with more than 500,000 new cases each year (HealthyPeople2020,2016).

There are many health problems that we face globally and each of them are important for us to be aware of and to take precautions and measures to prevent and treat such diseases that affect our global population. HIV/AIDS is a disease that is spread through direct contact with body fluids from a person who is infected with the virus, these fluids include blood, semen, rectal fluid, vaginal fluids and breast milk. There are an approximate 35 million people living with the disease globally as of 2015 and about 1 million of those people are children under the age of 15 (Aids.gov, 2016). There are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. living with the disease and of those individuals many became infected with HIV by needle or syringe sharing,

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.2 million individuals in the United States have HIV (about 14 percent of which are unaware of their infection and another 1.1 million have progressed to AIDS. Over the past decade, the number of HIV cases in the US has increased, however, the annual number of cases remains stable at about 50, 000 new cases per year. Within these estimates, certain groups tend to carry the burden of these disease, particularly the gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM) and among race/ethnic groups, Blacks/African American males remain disproportionately affected. (CDC)

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.

Transmission of the HIV virus, as well as any other types of STDs, is a subject that needs to be discussed seriously and cautiously. There are many ways that one can acquire HIV/AIDS and it is very beneficial that every person is aware of the certain procedures to follow in order to avoid such an afflicting harm. The most common transmission of HIV is through sexual intercourse, where bodily fluids such as semen, vaginal secretions, or even blood are transferred from an HIV positive person to a non-infected person. AIDS is the deadliest sexually transmitted disease reaping about 13,700 deaths per year(Web, HIV in the US). There are approximately 36.9 million people living with the HIV virus, which is why more prevention techniques should be utilized across the globe.

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,

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

Several years ago, we became aware of HIV/AIDS. This disease is caused by a viral infection which interferes with the human immune system (“HIV/AIDS Basics” 1). There are several modes of transmission with this disease. Included are: unprotected sexual intercourse (including anal and oral sex), contaminated blood transfusions, hypodermic needles, and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. (“HIV/AIDS Basics” 4).

Without treatment, about 50 per cent of all people living with HIV will develop AIDS within 10 years after infection. Special risk groups were identified by the CDC and include it: users of injecting drug users and their sexual partners, people with a large number of sexual partners, men who have sex with men and their female partners, persons who exchange sex for money or drugs. The highest growth rates occur among injecting drug users, women and infants born to women in high-risk groups. Sex between men may have a transmission speed of up to one in ten, Depending on sexual practices. The rates of transmission among intravenous drug users are high because a contaminated needle can enter directly the HIV in the bloodstream. Sex workers also have a high risk of contracting and transmitting HIV. HIV / AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is often set in high risk groups before moving on to the population in general. As the transmission mode changes of sex between men and the sharing of needles by intravenous drug users, the rate of HIV among women increases often dramatically, which leads to a greater number of children born with HIV or orphaned by AIDS. It is more likely that it is a widespread epidemic in poor countries, which may lack the infrastructure, money, and large-scale effective political stability for the treatment and prevention of HIV. "It is estimated that 20 to 35 percent of the newborns of infected mothers develop infection by HIV." About 60 percent of AIDS patients are white, 25 percent are black, and 15 percent are Hispanic. "The development of a safe and effective vaccine against HIV is a high priority for the next decade. Other prevention and strategies are crucial to stop the spread of infection by HIV. The majority of people infected with HIV in the United States are not aware that they even have the virus. The efforts of public education about the risks and the precautionary

the primary route of transmission of the virus is intravenous drug use, in opposite to the developing countries the main routes are unclean medical procedures and unsafe blood transfusions (Maheshwari et al., 2010). In 20% of cases the route of transmission is unknown may be by intravenous drug abuse.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world that is most affected by HIV/AIDS. The United Nations reports that an estimated 25.4 million people are living with HIV and that approximately 3.1 million new infections occurred in 2004. To put these figures in context, more than 60 percent of the people living with the infection reside in Africa. Even these staggering figures do not quite capture the true extent and impact that this disease causes on the continent. In 1998, about 200,000 Africans died as a result of various wars taking place on the continent. In that same year, more than 2 million succumbed to HIV/AIDS (Botchwey, 2000).

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 is a virus that is spread almost all over the world. Although in some places health care isn’t as developed and therefore it spreads more in those regions. Sub-Saharan Africa holds more than 70%, 25 million, of all HIV positive people in the world. Second highest is Eastern Europe together with Central Asia with 1.3 million. It is spread over most of the world, including Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central and South America, North Africa and the Middle East and Western and Central Europe (“The Regional Picture”).