Understanding Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type I

For visual purposes, I have included graphs to show the correlation between the prevalence of HIV based off income and U.S. impoverished areas. As the picture has depicted, those who are in a higher income bracket are at a substantial advantage. Those who are impoverished have the highest prevalence of HIV in their communities.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) is the causative agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is characterized by a severely compromised immune system and the occurrence of life-threatening opportunistic infections. The first cases of AIDS were documented in 1981 and the isolation of HIV from a patient was described two years later.1,2 Since then, HIV/AIDS has evolved into a global pandemic. According to a report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS published in 2016, over 36.7 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide and 1.1 million HIV/AIDS-related deaths as well as 2.1 million new infections occur annually.3 Due to major efforts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and prevent new infections, the annual number of new infections is slowly decreasing in many regions of the world, including Western and Southern Africa.3 However, infection rates have remained relatively constant in North America in recent years and have increased by over 50% in other regions, such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia.3 Despite major advances in biomedical research, a vaccine or a cure remains elusive.

MSM still accounts for 53-59% of the HIV cases in the US and drug use attributes to 9% of HIV cases (Crooks, Baur 462). Contrary to past beliefs heterosexual contact has been the primary form of HIV transmission worldwide and accounts for about a third of HIV cases. In the past couple years the number of females infected with HIV has steadily been rising. It is stated that adolescent women are highly vulnerable to this disease due to their immature reproductive tracts. To this date a vast majority of AIDS deaths has occurred in Africa, primarily in the sub Saharan nations, which is home to 70% of all people who are living with HIV/AIDS (Crooks, Baur 463). Notably this disease has surely become a very vagarious pandemic of this time.

Human immunodeficiency virus is most commonly known as HIV.18 It debilitates a person’s immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. It can spread through certain body fluids that assault the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 cells often called T cells.1 These essential cells help the immune system fight off infections.1 Untreated, HIV reduces the number of CD4 cells in the body.1 The damage brought on by HIV to the immune system makes it extremely difficult for the body to fight off infections and diseases. Eager infections or cancers take advantage of a very weak immune system and signal that the person has AIDS. No effective cure exists for HIV. Scientists identified a type of chimpanzee in

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS (auto immunodeficiency syndrome – the final stage of HIV) can be classified as one of the most devastating epidemics in United States history (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). Although still an alarming concern in public health, due to prevention strategies and medical advances, the disease is less fatal and is treated as a chronic disease (instead of a death sentence, as in the past). There are currently 1.2 million people living in the US with HIV (CDC, 2015). The highest rates transmitted through sexual intercourse or injection drug use through the exchange of bodily fluids (CDC, 2015). It is estimated that 25% of those living with HIV are women, and only

Furthermore, HIV infection in women of reproductive age has an enormous impact on the pediatric group because of perinatal transmission being the main mode of transmission of HIV in 90% of cases reported in children worldwide. Currently, the use of antiretroviral in the perinatal period and performance of elective caesarean section had reduced to less than 1% the likelihood of a child being born infected. Another consideration relates to the fact that although the preventive therapy has achieved to minimize the likelihood of HIV infection in newborns, these children would continue to be exposed to maternal illness and other social implications, which are positively correlated to cognitive development (Dobrova-Krol, et al).

It is estimated that 34 million people are currently diagnosed with HIV (Bakhshaee, Sarvghad,, Khazaeni, Movahed, & Hoseinpour, 2014, para. 1). HIV consists of two strains, HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is more commonly seen world wide and can progress rapidly (Darby, 2015, 861). The slower progression is the HIV-2, most commonly seen in West Africa and is related to the sooty mangabey monkey (Darby, 2015, 861). HIV is a virus that prevents the body’s normal host response from activating to fight off illnesses that the body could normally fight off if the body was not compromised. Once the body experiences immunosuppression, the likelihood of death due to the disease is at a higher chance. HIV is called a

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

We applied massively parallel sequencing to HIV-1 provirus populations in cells from blood and lymph nodes collected at three separate times (day 0, and after 3 months and 6 months of treatment) and virus particles in the blood (day 0) from three study subjects studied previously (Fig. 1; 12). Two subjects (1727 and 1679) were well-suppressed patients; and the third subject (1774) continued to have measureable amounts of viral RNA in plasma after 3 months, but not 6 months of treatment. Subjects 1727 and 1679 were each infected with HIV-1 for approximately 3 to 4 months and were antiretroviral drug naïve. Subject 1774 was infected with HIV-1 for approximately 17 years and was antiretroviral drug

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) came about after an epidemic of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) surfaced in the 1980’s affecting the lives of gay men. It was first said to be gay related immune deficiency (GRID) (Baeten, 2012) and was sexually transmitted. This deadly disease has caused millions of deaths, but during its thirty plus years of existence; many breakthroughs have come about to make this a treatable disease. A few years later, cases of females being infected surfaced and it was believed that this disease was transmitted from heterosexual intercourse (Coates, 2014). Then there were cases of young children developing AIDS which was believed to be transmitted from an infected mother while carrying

“The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, most commonly known as HIV, is a lentivirus that spreads through bodily fluids and targets specific in cells of the immune system” (CDC). Over time, HIV deteriorates these cells, and consequently leaves the body unable to fight off infections and disease. When this occurs, the HIV infection transgresses into Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, also known as AIDS. AIDS continues to obliterate the immune system and leaves its victims more susceptible to opportunistic illnesses which utilize the body’s weakened state and cause more devastating illnesses. “According to the World Health Organization, HIV/AIDS are ranked as the 6th leading causes of death with a staggering 1.5 million deaths since 2012” (WHO). With this issue becoming an international crisis affecting millions, advocacy about HIV and safe sex has drastically increased around the globe due to humanitarian organizations, and increased awareness about the disease.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) affects the human wellbeing by attacking the body’s immune system which is the natural defense system in the human body to resist infections. When the immune system is compromised, the body becomes less capable of fighting diseases, allowing the body to become more susceptible to infections. Different from other viruses that the body can get rid of, HIV will remain in the body for life (Wright and Carnes, 2016). HIV works by attacking the CD4 cells, which assist the immune system to resist infections. If not treated the virus decreases the number of T-cells in the body, thus making the person’s immune system highly prone to infections or infection-related cancers (Wright and Carnes, 2016). After the body’s immunity is depleted, therefore allowing opportunistic infections increase in the body, reaching the final HIV stage known as the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is rapidly approaching (Wright and Carnes, 2016).

According Canadian public health agency (2010), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that affects the human immune system, leading to a chronic, progressive sickness that leaves people susceptible to opportunistic infections. When the body no longer can fight or resist infections, the condition is at this point referred to as AIDS, which means Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Averagely, it has been found to take more than ten years to develop from initial infection of HIV to AIDS. Though simple in description, HIV and AIDS is a dangerous disease that has by now killed more than 20 million people across the world. Basing on the report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, no cure for AIDS has been established to date, and currently there is no vaccine against HIV and AIDS infection. This paper therefore discusses the biology of HIV and AIDS, Back ground, modes of infection, clinical consequences, current research, preventive and modes of transmission, and diagnostic procedures specifically in N.America.

In pregnant females, transmission of HIV from mother to placenta and through breastfeeding is quite common. Also, in the advanced stages of an epidemic, the new infections affected unproportionable to the lower income group, unskilled workers, and illiterates. Childhood illness and maternal morbidity and mortality are the most vulnerable groups deprived and despair in this vicious cycle.

Early epidemiological studies in the 1980’s aimed to identify the mode of transmission of HIV (De Cock et al., 2012). Findings from these studies have described the spread of HIV/AIDS to mainly occur through sexual transmission, mother-to-child transmission, and parenteral (blood-borne) transmission and these findings have driven subsequent research and prevention efforts in order to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS (De Cock et al., 2012) (Handsfield, 2011). HIV/AIDS is a great cost to nations both directly and indirectly,