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Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Essay

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“Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a blood-borne virus typically transmitted via sexual intercourse, shared intravenous drug paraphernalia, and mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), which can occur during the birth processor during breastfeeding.” There is no cure for HIV or AIDS but over time different types of medications have been developed that slows down the advancement of the disease. AIDS is a lethal disease that is caused by HIV. HIV destroys the immune system and causes the body to not be able to fight off any diseases.
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 …show more content…

TB is caused by a bacterial infection known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. If a patient is sick with TB is considered a disease. The infection is prevalent in the HIV population because approximately 13 million Americans are effected by the TB bacteria. It typically involves the lungs but can also affect the brain and other organ systems. The TB germ is airborne and can live in the air for several hours. Once an affected person coughs or sneezes another person breathes in the germ and becomes infected. A patient with TB and HIV/AIDS will have to take an antibiotics long term to battle the infection. They will have to go through two phases of medication. The initial phase consists of utilizing drugs such as isoniazid, pyrazinamide, rifamycin, and ethambutol for the first couple of months. Then the patient will enter into the continuation phase, during this phase the patient will take the isoniazid and rifamycin for approximately four months. HIV patient’s that are taking antiretroviral for the HIV will have to take the antibiotics longer. A person taking treatment for TB has to be careful because the antibiotic can cause liver damage. According to the CDC, roughly 6% of all TB cases are from patients with HIV or AIDS. In 1992 the United States had a dramatic increase in TB cases but has decreased ever since. Recently a group of researchers at John Hopkins

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