HIV and AIDSLynette SaragosaAxia College of University of PhoenixHCA/ 240- Health & Diseases: Understanding Pathos of Pathology (Axia)Instructor: Samantha BlakeyJuly 18, 2010In the United States today, there are approximately one million people that are living with the HIV infection. This disease is the most deadly disease that has hit the world. There is a percentage of that number who is unaware that they have the infectious disease. This paper will be detailing the causes and effects, the different ways a person can acquire this infection, and the treatments of the HIV disease. The HIV/ AIDS infection has been an epidemic everywhere in the United States and including other countries.
But during the 1990??™s there has been a rise of the epidemic in thailand, and there are many cases that go unaccounted for in Africa. This chart shows how the rates increased during those years.UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheets, 2004 editionHIV and AIDS in Thailand, 1984-2000Differences between HIV and AIDS:The difference of HIV and AIDS is that HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. HIV stands for H-Human; which means that this disease can only infect human beings, I- Immunodeficiency; affects the immune system by destroying important cell that fights disease and infections, V- Virus; which is a virus that only reproduces itself. HIV is a virus that can stay in the human body for a long time without a person knowing, and attacks a key part of your immune system. AIDS is the final stage of the HIV infection.
In this last stage of the HIV infection; a person??™s immune system is badly damaged from this infection. AIDS stand for A- Acquired; aids are acquired not inherited, I-Immuno; is the body??™s??™ immune system which includes all the cell and organs that fights off infections and diseases, D- Deficiency; is that you get AIDS when the immune system is deficient or doesn??™t work properly, S- Syndrome; AIDS is a syndrome, and not a single disease, but is a complex illness. Ways HIV can be transmitted:When the HIV virus hit the United States many people assumed that the virus only came from gay men or women. In recent studies there have been various ways a person can transmit this virus.
Here is some of the ways that I have learned that HIV can be transmitted.The HIV infection can be transmitted from one infected person to the next. Blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk are different ways of the transmission. Blood has the highest amount of the virus, even the menstrual blood, then comes the semen, which then comes the vaginal fluids and then the breast milk these are in order from the worst to the least in concentration of the virus. In our everyday life there are activities that we come across that may allow the HIV transmission; sexual contact without a condom, the direct use of injection drug needles, blood transfusions, accidents within health facilities, and during pregnancy from mother to baby.
During sexual intercourse whether it is vaginal or anal, HIV may infect the membranes directly through small cut or abrasions that are unnoticeable. Oral sex any form from man to woman, woman to man, man to man , and even woman to woman, can lead to the transmission of the HIV virus through semen, vaginal fluids, or the blood. With the injection drug needles, transmission can be direct straight through the bloodstream.
There are bodily fluids that are not infectious; saliva, sweat, tears, feces, and the urine.Changes from HIV to the AIDS virus:The things that change in the immune system when HIV turns to AIDS, is that it destroys the individuals immune system making the person susceptible to infection, as stated in week 2 ch. 2 pp 20. The HIV virus affects the main primary helper T4 lymphocytes. The HIV virus is making copies of itself within the T4??™s destroying them.
Because the T4??™s activates the B-cell lymphocytes but because they are infected the immune system of the body is paralyzed making the body susceptible to infections that our body usually could control. Treatment for HIV/ AIDS:After all these years, a cure for AIDS has not been successful. The AIDS virus has a genetic makeup that varies from strain to strain that makes the HIV to grow quickly which complicates the making of a vaccine for the disease.
There are different types of treatments that are available to help keep the virus from attacking. Anti- HIV medicines are available that controls the virus from multiplying and could slow the progression stages of the HIV- related virus. If the medication is administered early, there would be a greater chance that the immune system would not be messed up from the HIV virus. HAART is a highly active antiretroviral therapy. This treatment can combine around four or more of the anti- HIV medicines that fall into four classes, nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or nucleoside analog.
HAART is used to minimize the amount of virus in the blood. Some other treatments are the use of the anti-retroviral drugs. These drugs are used to stop the growth and the replication of the virus. These drugs come in several different forms; nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, fusion inhibitors, integrase inhibitors, chemokine, and co-receptor inhibitors. There have been new treatments for the AIDS related infections that are in trials. Precautions to prevent the spread of HIV:To save the rest of the population from being a part of the HIV epidemic, there are some basic precautions that we must take. Here are a few precautions that I will discuss, avoiding mouth to mouth kissing; because getting just a little amount of blood from an open wound in the mouth can transmit the virus, using condoms; no un-protected sex- penetration without a condom can transmit the virus because the virus can be transmitted through the semen, careful blood transfusions will also prevent the spread; by properly checking the blood thoroughly for the HIV/AIDS virus because when the blood is not checked properly during transfusions people will contract the virus, and using sterilized medical instruments in the medical field and in the tattoo shops will also prevent the spread of AIDS.
Awareness campaigns:The William J. Clinton foundation helps to strengthen multi-cultural health systems to access the necessary help and treatment for HIV and AIDS. The Clinton Health Access Initiative or CHAI improves the markets dynamics for medicines and testing??™s, lowering prices for treatments, and to help build high quality care and treatment centers for the people that are diagnosed with the HIV and AIDS virus. In conclusion, the HIV and AIDS virus is a very serious disease that has killed a lot of the human population. With the proper precautions and help from everyone we can help society save itself. With all of the organizations that are out there, everyone should know that AIDS kills and once you get it there is no turning back.References:Aids.
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