Human Immunodeficiency Virus : Hiv Essay

“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.

The history of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in the United States starts in 1981, the year it became recognized by country as an official new strange disease. By 1982 it was recognized as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It started in San Francisco, with five young homosexual men, they were presented with Pneumonia (PCP). As the year went on there were more reports of homosexual men presenting PCP and some of them were diagnosed with PCP and Kaposi´s Sarcoma (KS). Others reports from drug injection users follow the same syndromes. All of these individuals shared a profound immunodeficiency, the hallmark of which was a depletion of CD4-positive, or T-helper, lymphocytes (Osmond, 2003). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the human immune system, your body’s means of defense. The virus attacks specific viral defense cells, known as CD4+. As the disease spreads and attacks more CD4+ cells, your body no longer maintains its’ ability to fight of infections and diseases which leads to the death of the host. The final stage of HIV is known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). During this stage of the virus, the host gets infected and sick easily and can no longer fight off infections.

AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome surfaced in late 1970, as doctors across the United States reported cases of an unusual disease among healthy homosexual men. In 1983 research in laboratories in the

In 1981, the first cases in the United States of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) developed in Los Angeles and New York (Fraser, Burd, Liebson, Lipschik, & Peterson, 2008). The illness presented itself among several homosexual males who developed rare opportunistic infections such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi’s sarcoma (Sharp & Hahn, 2011). At the time, medical professionals deemed the infections to be “gay-related infectious diseases” (Pence, 2008). However, three months after this diagnosis, medical professionals revealed the presence of the same infection among newborns whose mothers used intravenous drugs (Pence, 2008). In 1984, scientist

In June of 1981 these early reports were published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, this report referred the five cases to homosexual men which began the inference to HIV being a gay- related immune deficiency syndrome termed “GRID” (Fee & Perry, 2008) later know as Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

In 1981, mysterious cases of opportunistic infections began appearing in clusters (“Timeline”). An opportunistic infection is an unusual infection that appears in people with a weakened immune system (Ojikutu). One disease, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, surfaced in five gay men living in Los Angeles. Another disease, a rare cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma appeared in patients in both New York and Los Angeles. When doctors at the time realized this, they noticed obvious similarities. The patients were separated geographically, they were only located in two cities. They were also all gay men, that were previously healthy (Ojikutu). Doctors were also finding that whatever they’re patients had was highly fatal. This mysterious disease was first called GRID, Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. Symptoms began lethargy, diarrhea, weight loss, sweats, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. Initial stages resembled the common flu

HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. A member of a group of viruses called retroviruses, HIV infects human cells and uses the energy and nutrients provided by those cells to grow and reproduce. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease in which the body's immune system breaks down and is unable to fight off certain infections, known as "opportunistic infections," and other illnesses that take advantage of a weakened immune system. When a person is infected with HIV, the virus enters the body and lives and multiplies primarily in the white blood cells. These are the immune cells that normally protect us from disease.

HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus which damages and kills cells of the immune system. It attacks the T-cells, key cells of the immune system, and uses them to make copies of itself. After being infected with the virus it progressively interferes and eventually destroys the immune system's ability to fight the anti-genes. HIV may develop into the syndrome AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV is an STD - a sexually transmitted disease - and therefore most commonly it is spread through sexual contact, and the virus mainly enters the body through the penis, mouth, lining of the vagina or vulva during sexual activity. HIV can also be spread through sharing syringes or needles with someone who is infected with the

An Analysis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Introduction In 1983, scientists led by Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur institute in France, first discovered the virus that causes AIDS. They called it lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). A year later, Robert Gallo and Marvin Reitz of the United States, confirmed the discovery of the virus and they named it human T lymphotrphic virus type III (HTL V-III).

On September 24, 1982 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used the term AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) for the first time and the released the definition “a disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated

In 1981, the first cases of severe immune system deterioration were recognized developed unusual infections. The new disease was later named "AIDS". At that time, no one knew what was causing the disease. Since then, science has shown that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the cause of AIDS. More than 33.4 million people worldwide are infected with the HIV virus today.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a range of conditions caused by the infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It is believed to have originated in Africa in the early to mid-twentieth century, mutated from related viruses in chimpanzees and the sooty mangabey monkey. In 1981 AIDS was first clinically detected in people who had used intravenous drugs and homosexual men. They exhibited symptoms of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), an unusual infection that was seen in people with extremely compromised immune systems. Not long after many of the homosexual men infected started to develop a rare skin cancer called Kaposi’ sarcoma (KS), which presents cutaneous lesions. Due to the increasing amount of PCP and KS cases that surfaced, the United States Center of Disease (CDC) established a task force in order to monitor the outbreaks. The disease went through many names, often being referred to as a disease that it was associated with. The general press used the term GIRD, which stood for gay –related immune deficiency. However, after realizing that the disease was not isolated just to the gay community and the name GIRD was misleading. The term AIDS was introduced in July of 1982 and by September of that same year the CDC was referring to the disease as AIDS.

In most cases, when the issue of a disease comes up, most people are worried about; the severity of the disease, how it can be managed in conjunction with how it can be transmitted, so basically if it is highly contagious and most importantly, if any cure has been established for it. Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(HIV/AIDS) is one of the most difficult epidemics to control. This is because, the HIV virus attacks the very cells designed to control and as such, can avoid exposure to treatments which is the major reason why a cure for it hasn’t been found. Owing to the lack of their knowledge of the severity of the virus, a shadow of illiteracy is cast on them because they have no access to the knowledge on how to protect themselves from the virus, let alone, prevent the spread of it. This virus is detrimental not only when a person is infected but also, when a people aren’t properly educated about the severity, prevention and steps to take after one has been diagnosed, so as to make efforts to increase the quality of life for both themselves and the people around them.

Africa is mostly affect by malaria however, other countries in South America and South Asia are also affected by malaria too. The people who are most affected by malaria are people who have no immunity to fight of the disease including pregnant women, young children and travelers/tourists who visit infected areas (CDC, 2015). According to the World Health Organization, pregnant women who are infected by malaria has a high risk of having stillbirth babies or premature babies with low birth weight. Babies who are born in malaria infected areas are at risk for catching the disease three month after birth because it is around that time that they start to developed their own immunity and it is not yet strong to fight off the disease. In general, children under five who live in infected areas are at risk for contracting the disease. They report that, 69% of malaria death occur in children worldwide. Another group of people who are at risk for malaria are HIV/AIDS patients because two diseases cannot exist in one host without one worsening the condition of the other. Migrants are also at risk because they do not have immunity to malaria and sometimes do not have access to preventative measure (WHO Fact Sheet, 2015)