What is AIDS ?

HIV/AIDS is perhaps this centuries most destructive, chronic, and debilitating disease. Although the human species has faced and defeated countless disease nemesii throughout history, HIV possesses a distinctly problematic variable. Despite the improvement of treatment in leaps and bounds over the course of the last decade and a half, 16,000 people will be infected worldwide with HIV today, tomorrow, and the next day. That is approximately fifty-five people in the time it takes to read this.

The problematic variable is that HIV is one hundred percent preventable, but requires diligent education, communication, and awareness. This education, communication, and awareness however crosses a great human tabu, that of human sexuality.

AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, was recognized as an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) beginning in the year 1981. AIDS currently ranks as the third leading cause of death worldwide.

People infected with HIV do not die from the virus; rather it is the opportunistic infections that is the real killer. HIV attacks the immune system, suppresses its normal functioning, and allows harmless agents that the body is normally in contact with (i.e. bacteria, fungus, protozoa, or viruses) to become harmful. Because the individual's immune system has been compromised, the multiplication of the disease-causing microorganism or virus cannot be stopped and it invades the host's cells and tissues, resulting in opportunistic infections (OI's). Some common OI's suffered by AIDS patients include Kaposi's sarcoma, pneumonia, Herpes simplex, lymphomas, and meningitis.

An individual infected with HIV is diagnosed with AIDS when they are either diagnosed with an opportunistic infection or their T4 lymphocyte count is less than 200 lymphocytes per microliter of blood.

Transmission of HIV

HIV infection occurs when infected fluids from an HIV person are transmitted to an uninfected person. HIV is transmitted via three methods of fluid exchange which include birth, blood, and sex.

 HIV may be transmitted from mother to inutero fetus (vertical transmission) through the placenta, through the blood and vaginal fluid at birth, and through breastfeeding the infant after birth.
 HIV may be transmitted from individual to individual via blood transfusion from an HIV infected person, blood contamination from an HIV infected person, and from the sharing of intravenous needles with an HIV infected person or injecting oneself with an HIV-infected syringe.
HIV may be transmitted via unprotected sexual contact with an HIV infected person by the exchange of infected semen, blood, or vaginal fluids.

The Virology of HIV
For a virus to infect an individual, the virus must come into contact with a living host cell that will nourish and incubate the virus. After an uninfected individual becomes infected with HIV, the virus infects a certain type of white blood cell called a T4 cell. T4 cells are responsible for directing the body's immune system response against infection. Once in the body, HIV attacks the T4 cells, destroys their growth and reproduction, and ultimately deplenishes the body's source of T4 cells. In healthy individuals, their T4 cellular levels are high, but in HIV infected individuals this number is low causing a deterioration and loss of function of the immune system. At this point, the individual becomes an easy target for opportunistic infections because their T4 cell level is so low and their immune system is compromised. Once T4 cell levels drop below 200 cells per microliter of blood the patient is diagnosed with full blown AIDS.

The human body produces antibodies that function to recognize the body's own cells and materials as opposed to potentially harmful invaders. Antibodies work by binding to foreign protein particles, attacking the foreign material, and destroying it usually via engulfing the harmful material. Research has shown that the human body does produce antibodies to the HIV virus, but throughout the course of the disease, the ratio of new HIV virus production in the body significantly outweighs the production of HIV antibody production; meaning the the body has more virus than antibody when the T4 cell levels are dropping. The major problem with the HIV antibodies is that they are incapable of entering cells and only attack HIV in the plasma, which is only the fluid portion of the blood excluding the blood cells. So, once the HIV has entered the host cell, the HIV virus is protected from the antibody. Once the virus has entered a cell like the T4 cell, it typically remains there for the rest of the cell's life.

 

People Affected by AIDS

Worldwide, it is estimated that 33.4 million people are living with AIDS (by the end of the year 1998)

Of the 33.4 million, approximately 32.2 million are adults and 1.2 million are children

During the year1998, an estimated 5.8 million new cases of HIV infection were reported which would equate to 16,000 new cases each day.

By the year 2000, the WHO (World Health Organization) predicts that between 5 to 10 million children will be infected with HIV

By the end of the year 1997, an estimated 270,841 people in the United States were living with AIDS which was a 12 percent increase from 1996.

In the year 1998, the United States reported the new AIDS cases per 100,000 people were; 66.4 among blacks, 28.1 among Hispanics,8.2 among whites, 7.4 among American Indians, and 3.1 among Asians.

It has been recently estimated that anywhere from 650,000 to 900,000 U.S. residents are currently living with HIV.

AIDS currently ranks as the seventh leading cause of death among 1 - 4 year olds, sixth among 15 - 24 year olds, and second among 25 - 44 year olds.

  What Can We Do To Prevent AIDS?

Prevention

To date, their is no known cure for HIV and every isolated case of HIV will ultimately end in death. For now, the only way to stop HIV from killing is to prevent its transmission.
 The only vaccine against this virus is education.
People must be educated on how to adjust and accommodate their behaviors to reduce their risk of exposure to the virus.

HIV/AIDS is not specific to one gender, ethnicity, or age group. It knows no boundaries. Today, HIV/AIDS is especially concerning because it is affecting our children, something that is 100 % preventable and unnecessary. Unlike adults, most children do not become infected with HIV because of ignorance, lack of responsibility, or as a consequence of their own behavior. Most children become infected with HIV in two ways: from an infected mother or from a blood transfusion. Therefore, our society must turn its attention towards education, prevention, and protection of its most innocent members: children.

 

 
 Children

 

 Resources
 

 References