AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is defined by the Mayo Clinic as "A chronic, potentially life-threatening condition which is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV damages the immune system, and interferes with the ability the body has to fight the disease causing organism" (Mayo Clinic, 2014). HIV is an infection transmitted sexually. Another mode of transmission for HIV is by exposure to infected blood, or it could also be transmitted from the mother to the unborn child during the course of pregnancy, at childbirth or through breastfeeding. It may take several years for the HIV virus to weaken the immune system enough that the patient will develop AIDS (Mayo Clinic, 2014).…
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the body by weakening the immune system. Once people get infected by the virus it remains in the body for life; some of the symptoms that can be expected are diarrhea, fever, headache, mouth soar, night sweat, and swollen lymph nodes, followed more serious illness with progression of the virus. However, many people reported having no symptoms and don’t even know they have the virus until they are diagnosed. After the patient is diagnose the patient can lived for a number of years before experiencing severe health issues, during this period the person with the disease could transfer the virus from one person to another. The virus is transfer from one…
AIDS - acquired immunodeficiency syndrome - was first reported in the United States in 1981 and has since become a major worldwide epidemic. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People diagnosed with AIDS may get life-threatening diseases called opportunistic infections, which are caused by microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make healthy people sick. More than 790,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States since 1981, and as many as 900,000 Americans may be infected with HIV. This epidemic is growing more rapidly among minority populations and…
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). HIV is transmitted usually through unprotected sex with someone who is already infected, but it can also be transmitted through infected blood. The immune system is greatly affected by the disease. Once it enters the body, the virus recognizes a protein on helper T-cells, called CD4 (Cluster of Differentiation Antigen No. 4), and it attaches onto that receptor to take over the CD4 cell. The result is a virus that looks and acts as a CD4 T-cell. In the first stage of HIV, the virus infects and kills a number of T-cells. B-cells then form antibodies, and the spread of infection stabilizes, and the symptoms disappear for a few months to several years. Your immune system uses B-cells, T-cells, and Macrophages to fight off pathogens and remember viruses for a stronger and quicker defense next time the virus enters the body, but during this time of stability, the immune system is less able to fight off other viruses. If a virus enters the body, the T-cells sent to fight the other virus may be already infected with HIV, meaning that the cells either die, or divide to make more cells, which will also be infected with the HIV virus. The virus slowly attacks the person immune system, making it unable to defend itself from viruses. A person can die from something as harmless as a cold, because as all the T-cells gradually die, the body can 't recognize foreign substances entering the body. The uninformed host with no symptoms spreads the virus to other uneducated people, uneducated in the sense that they don 't know that the person has the virus, nor do they know how to protect themselves from the virus. Our program will educate all of these people, it will show them that all of them are at risk to it, and a person may have it and not even know it. If we can teach this to them at a young age, they will know how to protect themselves and to stay away from the virus. With this program,…
Human immunodeficiency Virus also known as HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. It attacks your body's immune system. The virus destroys CD4 cells, which help your body fight diseases. HIV damages your immune system and it leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome also known as AIDS. AIDS is the final stage in HIV, and it’s a disease where severe loss of the body's cellular immunity occurs. The disease lowers the resistance to infection and malignancy. Anyone can get HIV/AIDS. Men, women, and children, of all different races and descents can get infected with the virus. People who are gay or straight can also be infected with HIV/AIDS. There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS. HIV treatments may reduce the amount of HIV in your blood. Treatments may also help to increase the number of CD4 cells in your blood which help fight off other infections. Patients who go through treatments for the virus must stay on continuous HIV therapy to control infection and decrease HIV related illnesses. Many studies and researchers are looking for cures.…
HIV is a disease that has affected millions of people worldwide. From the wealthy to the poor, this virus has had devastating effects on the lives of families and individuals. According to the AIDS Institute, HIV was first discovered in a patient from West Africa. It is believed that chimpanzees carried the “simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)” which transferred to humans when they came into contact with the infected animals’ blood after the animal had been caught while hunting. SIV then developed into HIV once in the human blood stream. HIV “has existed in the United States since at least the mid- to late 1970s.” (AI, n.d.) There is no cure for the virus.…
The human immunodeficiency virus known as HIV is a communicable disease that damages the individual’s body by damaging certain blood cells, named CD4+ T cells, known as cluster of differentiation 4, and helper T cells; cells vital to assisting the body battle diseases. Two forms of HIV include HIV-1 and HIV-2. People infected with HIV can experience symptoms similar to the flu, which may last up to 14 days, whereas others may experience no symptoms of any kind. Individuals can live healthy without any symptoms for many years; however, the human immunodeficiency virus is still damaging his or her body. All individuals with this communicable disease must be seen on a consistent basis by a health care worker, trained in treating this disease.…
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 of HIV.…
HIV illness signifies a continuum of infection that starts with a concise severe retroviral disease that normally changes to a long-lasting and pathologically dormant infection. If treatment is not provided right away this disease in the end develops to immunodeficiency disease identified as AIDS. If left untreated the period connecting the HIV Illness and the progression of AIDS fluctuates, alternating from a couple months to several years with a projected average period of roughly 11 years (CDC, 2011). Research displays that the viruses are taking an increasing toll on girls and women in the United States. The statistics showed women with AIDS rise 8% to 27% from 1985 to 2005 and these figures are even larger worldwide…
HIV-AIDS has infected over thirty million people in the world. Over 95% of all AIDS cases in the world are in Africa and in some of those countries over 40% of the people are infected (Frederickson and Kanabus HIV and AIDS in Africa 1). AIDS does not solely affect homosexuals, or any certain ethnicity of people, either; HIV-AIDS can affect any type of ethnicity including African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, Indians, and Hispanic people. AIDS cannot be reversed or cured, but with proper treatment this deadly virus can be controlled and people can live a nearly normal life. In Africa, though, proper treatment is not nearly as available as it is in some other countries. Approximately 2.3 million people died in 2003 in Sub-Saharan Africa alone and that is only the beginning (Frederickson and Kanabus HIV 1). Because of AIDS and its devastating effects and increasing infection rates in Africa, organizations and governments are increasing their efforts to stop this disease. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on AIDS efforts, but still the disease continues to spread and take thousands of people 's lives each year.…
-HIV positive is a fragile virus transmitted only through contact with body fluids. HIV attacks CD4 cells and macrophages. CD4 cell = T helper cell attacks this. It is the bridge for the target of the antigen and killing it. HIV gets in the helper cell and sends out more viruses to kill more CD4 cells. HIV slowly debilitates body immune systems, both T cell and B cell immunity. There is a latent period where the virus particles increase in blood and the CD4 level decreases in blood which increases the vulnerability to opportunistic infections. AIDS Diagnosis(acquired immune deficiency syndrome) occurs when there are 200 CD4 cells, HIV antibody, and presence of opportunistic infection. When…
It’s common knowledge all over the world that HIV infection is the leading cause of death. “Human immunodeficiency virus HIV and AIDS remain the leading causes of illness and death in the United States. As of December 2004, an estimated 944,306 persons had received a diagnosis of AIDS, and of these 529,113 (56%) had died” (Center for Disease Control, 2010). “Approximately 40,000 new cases of HIV infection occur each year and 40 million people worldwide are now living with HIV” (Falvo, 2010, pg. 318). Everyone knows, or should be aware that there’s no way to restore their damaged immune system, and no cure for HIV, nor for AIDS. Advances in medical systems today have shown improved life expectancy.…
There is a common misconception between HIV and AIDS. Because the two diseases are usually grouped together when discussed, many believe that they are one and the same. However, the most significant difference between the two is that HIV attacks and lowers the immune defense of the organs while AIDS attacks the immune system’s cells. In addition, HIV usually gives way to AIDS. However, there are many HIV carriers who can go their whole lives without developing AIDS by undergoing intense and continuous treatment. In order to be diagnosed with AIDS, one has to meet a certain criteria. According to the Mayo Clinic, patients who contract HIV first have flu like symptoms. Following the flu symptoms, it typically takes about 10 years to develop into AIDS. When AIDS first develops, a person becomes susceptible to what is known as opportunistic infections. Opportunistic infections are infections that would not normally bother a person with a healthy immune system. Symptoms that follow are, “soaking night sweats, shaking chills or fever over 100 F (38 C) for several weeks, cough and shortness of breath, chronic diarrhea, persistent white spots or unusual lesions on your tongue or in your mouth, headaches, persistent, unexplained fatigue, blurred and distorted vision, weight loss, skin rashes or bumps,” (Mayo Clinic).…
References: 1) Conner, Ross F., & Fan, Hung Y., & Vilarreal, Luis P. Aids, Science and Society, Sixth Edition, 2011, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC…
One of the matters of concern in modern society is the increase in AIDS. According to statistics, there are millions of people die annually because of infecting with this disease. It is clear that AIDS is a disease which threat to the human.. However, many people do not realize serious of this disease, and therefore, the number of HIV cases is increasing every year.…