In 1981, The CDC had made a report of cases pertaining to young gay men and a rare lung infection, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. By June 5, 1981, two out of the five men infected by the disease had died. This is the first the AIDS epidemic is released. (Multiple) At this time, aids was a new disease, there is nothing new about a novel epidemic, which can actually decimate a population. By the time the report was released, within days doctors from all around the world reported similar cases. Shortly after, the CDC receives reports of cases of a rare form of cancer , Kaposi’s Sarcoma, among a group of gay men in New York and California. By July 3, the Kaposi’s Sarcoma affected 41 gay men. Within the year, there was a total of 270 reported cases, and 121 of them had died. (Multiple) By January 1982, they had opened their first aids clinic. In the treatment of all illness, it is necessary to understand the emotional, economic, psychological and sometimes even political impact that is caused by the disease. This is true with a disease that is as devastating as AIDS. AIDS is not the end of the world, but is simply the largest challenge the medical community has seen. There are new things to invent, cures for many diseaeses, including an immunization and cure for aids. The result of this disease is the destruction of the patient's immune system. Since the infected person has no ability to fight off any infection because the virus is destroying the cells that normally fight infection, the person then becomes susceptible to all other diseases.
I understand first hand what one goes through while fighting this disease. My Uncle Dale, passed at the age of thirty-eight. He was the youngest and my mom was the oldest, so to see him go befor...
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..., while we know with the availability of antiretrovirals, people can lead healthy lives even when they are HIV positive. No illness has been treated with the same hysteria as HIV and this is because of its associated stigmatization and promiscuity.
CONCLUSIONS
In 1985 AIDS was viewed as an immediate death sentence, and a horrific one at that, to the infected person. There was apocalyptic terror that this epidemic could wipe out mankind. Now, although there is still no cure for AIDS, education and other aggressive actions are stemming the spread of the disease. On an individual basis, the length and quality of life of people living with the AIDS virus is dramatically increasing. Medicine will ultimately conquer AIDS and with the confidence of having done so, medical practitioners will be better prepared and equipped to meet the next plague when and if it comes.
In the early 1980’s, reports were appearing in California and New York of a small number of men who appeared to have rare forms of cancer and pneumonia (Blumberg). The men were young and in very good health (Blumberg). These men were alike because they were homosexual (Blumberg). They had a disease known as AIDS, which is caused by HIV (Blumberg). The virus slowly attacks the immune system which makes the human body more prone to infections (Blumberg). They did not know what the disease was for a while (Blumberg). It was believed to be “gay-related” because homosexuals were many of the first reported cases (Blumberg). That belief was abolished when scientist found out that heterosexuals could be infected too (Blumberg).
AIDS/HIV was first recognized as a new disease in the US when clinicians in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco began to see young, homosexual men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and Kaposi 's sarcoma (KS), unusual diseases for young adults which were not known to be immunosuppressed. These discoveries led to increased fear throughout the US since many people didn’t know what caused AIDS, how it could be contracted, or even what to call it.
It is truly remarkable how Randy Pausch and Morrie Schwartz stories are so similar but yet so different. They both seem to have an outlook on life in a positive way, not sad or demeaning. The only crippling difference is the fact that Morrie was at the age that wasn’t abnormal to be sick and Randy was just dealt the cards for a short life. One of Professor Randy Pausch’s many quotes during The Last Lecture makes a similar point between his experience and Morrie’s when he says, “…it’s hard to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer – people who get it don’t live long enough.” ALS is such a rehabilitating disease that scientist have issues pinpointing the causes to even get close to a cure, which didn’t hinder either of their strive to keep going as far as they could.
Carl Zimmer the guest speaker of this broadcast states that in 1981 doctors described for the first time a new disease, a new syndrome which affected mostly homosexual men. The young men in Los Angeles were dying and the number of cases was growing faster and faster. The number of deaths was increasing from eighty to six hundred and twenty five in just the first few months. After the first few cases in LA, AIDS was declared to be one of the deadliest pandemics the world had ever seen after the plague in the Middle Ages.
HIV is a serious issue that is commonly pushed off and considered an irrelevant topic. In “AIDS, Inc.” by Helen Epstein, the topics of lifestyle brands and government funded organizations were discussed, and provided readers with an understanding of the depths of the disease. The excerpt discusses programs (i.e. loveLife) that had the potential and opportunity to save and inform many lives, but failed to do so, which continues to be a problem today. Our government is capable of helping and educating those who are infected, and anyone who could become infected. Instead of acting like having the disease is something to be ashamed of, governments should fund clinics that provide free HIV testing and free protection to all genders, create a structured
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
The spread of aids threatens our population daily. Lives lost to it number over 12 million, including 2 mil...
Infection with HIV does not necessarily mean that a person has AIDS, although people who are HIV-positive are often mistakenly said to have AIDS. In fact, a person can remain HIV-positive for more than ten years without developing any of the clinical illnesses that define and constitute a diagnosis of AIDS. In 1997 an estimated 30.6 million people worldwide were living with HIV or AIDS—29.5 million adults and 1.1 million children. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 1981, when the first AIDS cases were reported, and the end of 1997...
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized as a new disease in 1981 when increasing numbers of young homosexual men succumbed to unusual opportunistic infections and rare malignancies (Gallant49).During this time, many people were contacting this disease because it was not discovered yet and people did not have knowledge about it.Scientists believe HIV came from a particular kind of chimpanzee in Western Africa. Humans contracted this disease when they hunted and ate infected animals. A first clue came in 1986 when a morphologically similar but antigenically distinct virus was found to cause AIDS in patients in western Africa (Goosby24). During this time, scientists had more evidence to support their claim about this disease. Once discovered this disease was identified as a cause of what has since become one of the most devastating infectious diseases to have emerged in recent history (Goosby101). This disease was deadly because it was similar to the Black Death, it was killing majority of the population. Since its first identification almost three decades ago, the pandemic form of HIV-1 has infected at least 60 million people and caused more than 25 million deaths ...
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was once considered a taboo disease that made its appearance in the United States around the late 1970s. Little was known about the virus and it was originally thought to just be found in the gay male community. As more and more research has been done people now understand the virus and realize that it affects men and women as well as all races, ages, and sexual orientation. It is believed that HIV is a mutated form of the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) that is found in chimpanzees. It most likely moved to the human population from people hunting monkeys, coming in contact with their blood, and eating their meat (The Origin of HIV/AIDS, 2014).
HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic that threatens lives all over the world. It is important to understand exactly what this disease is and how it affects societies globally. Although HIV, in severe cases, leads to AIDS, there is a distinct difference when defining both terms.
...trive to live normal lives. Scientists also struggle to create a vaccine to get rid of HIV permanently. It is an important live saving decision to practice safe sex or abstinence and also to avoid the using needles to inject drugs.
The AIDS virus is the most common disease, and with no cure, an infected person will die. It is estimated that 90 to 95 percent of AIDS infections occur in developing countries where the world’s worst living conditions exist.
There are many inequities in this global world; should there be such gross inequities in the health of people around the world? We hear words like health gap, health care inequality and sustainability. What can be done to eliminate the health gap, health care inequities and maintain sustainability? The World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations, private and public are working towards eliminating these disparities. Healthy People 2020 are one such goal that has achieved considerable progress in attaining sustainability in the pursuit of global health goals (Gostin et al., 2013). The health gap can be minimized through health strategies. Among them are essentials for all in this global world; clean air, water, healthy food and adequate housing with hygienic living conditions. Primary, secondary, tertiary prevention and care services should be available to all who seek health care services.
When HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) was first discovered as a disease in 1980, the affected individuals were stigmatized to the extreme. HIV/AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was first reported with homosexuals and IV drug users, which led the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to label the disease as Gay-related Immune Deficiency, as “gay” individuals were synonymous “drug users” due to their similar activities in the 1980’s (Stine 22). However, it soon became clear that female population were just as susceptible to contracting HIV as males.