AIDS (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease progressive of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). AIDS and HIV are a very dangerous disease that ignore an individual’s race, gender, economic class or age group and can affect anyone at any time if they put themselves in a situation where they could be at risk. The virus compromises the body's immune system, causing it to break down and become less effective when combating illnesses and bacteria. Even a common cold could prove fatal to a person infected with AIDS or HIV.
The disease alters the immune system, causing exposure to infections and illness far more dangerous for those positively infected. HIV is found in the body fluids of an infected person such as semen, breast milk, vaginal fluids and blood. Contaminated or “used” hypodermic needles are a common source of infection. The virus is passed from one person to the next by blood-to-blood or unprotected sexual contact. Additionally, a pregnant women who is infected can pass HIV to her babies during pregnancy, delivery, even breast feeding. According to research, the origins of HIV date back to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century in west-central Africa in the early 1980s where AIDS and HIV were first recognized in humans. There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS; however, several treatments are available that can slow the course of the disease. Some infected people may live a long and relatively healthy life if they take care of themselves and take special precautions when going about their daily lives.
HIV/AIDS attacks the body by three disease processes: immunodeficiency, autoimmunity, and nervous system dysfunction; destroying specific white blood cells called ...
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Common ailments for those infected HIV/AIDS are (among others): tuberculosis, cytomegalovirus, cryptococcosis, and candidiasis. Neurological complications and kidney disease can weaken your immune system as well. The World Health Organization announced that there are more than 30 million people living with HIV and AIDS, a majority of them living in Africa, and one tenth children under the age of 15 with thousands more becoming infected every day. Half, without treatment, will die before their second birthday.
In the war against HIV/ AIDS, promiscuity and drug use are among the most common sources of infection and education our greatest ally. Although medicine is vastly improving the lives of those infected, the disease is persistent and incurable. Prevention may prove to be the most effective method in subduing this disease for some time to come.
Human immunodeficiency virus infection / acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system transmitted between people by the mixing of bodily fluids. It is an extremely deadly disease that has killed over thirty-six mi...
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS is cause by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) of genus lentivirus which is one part of the retroviridae family. There are two types of HIV which had been identified, HIV-1 and HIV-2. Shape and structure of HIV is roughly spherical with diameter of 1/100000 of a millimeter. HIV had a viral envelope which coats the external surface of the virus.
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus which is a virus that attacks the human immune system. Once the body is unable to continue fighting the infection, the disease is more severe and known as AIDS. It usually takes more than 10 years to progress from the HIV virus to AIDS which is a deadly disease that has killed over than 25 million people around the world. HIV can be transmitted between people many different ways. Any kind of unprotected sexual intercourse is a very common way for HIV to be passed on. As well sharing needles, unsterilized tools for tattoos or piercings and exposure in health care settings. HIV can even be passed on to an infant during birth by their infected mother.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a syndrome caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, characterized by a depressed immune system and the presence of one or more opportunistic diseases. AIDS is the final stage of HIV. You cannot be born with AIDS; AIDS is a disease that must be gained. When HIV is turned into AIDS, the immune system has been increasingly damaged by the virus which puts the immune system at risk for opportunistic infections. When you have AIDS, you are still HIV positive. So if one was to engage in coitus with a person with AIDS, the HIV infection can still be transmitted (Greenberg, Bruess, and Conklin, 2011). “On average, the survival time for African-Americans with AIDS is lower than for other racial or ethnic groups.” (Johnson, K. MD, 2012)
IMMUNE DEFICIENCY? Catching the AIDS virus can be lethal because it affects the immune system, which is the system in the body that fights against diseases. A person with the AIDS virus has lower levels of CD4+ cells. These cells, commonly called "T-helper" cells are an essential part of the immune system. Normal people usually have between 500 to 1,500 CD4+ cells in a milliliter of blood.
“In 1980, a life-threatening human immune dysfunction of unknown origins was noticed in Central Africa, Europe, and the United States” (Poindexter, 2007, p. 6). In 1981, in the United States, the disease was first reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It is the virus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Unlike numerous other viruses, the human body cannot rid itself of HIV. That means that once you have HIV, you have it for life (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Currently, no cure exists for HIV. Thankfully, with giant leaps in today’s medical and technological advancements in pharmaceutical research this disease is now considered to be a chronic condition. Today, with proper medical management and compliance the infected p...
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is responsible for 1.6 million deaths annually according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a retrovirus, which infects the body's T-lymphocytes and destroy it, thus rendering the body susceptible to numerous diseases, especially viral diseases. Due to the fact that the body's immune system is compromised, opportunistic diseases begin to occur. In today's society, many persons engage in sexual intercourse with multiple partners and without condoms, therefore placing themselves at increases risk of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV. Most individuals who are infected with HIV, develop AIDS at some point in time.
According to the World Health Organization, HIV/AIDS is the leading infectious killer in the world with the death toll estimated around 36 million people (WHO, 2014). HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV is very different from other communicable disease because the virus takes over cells in the body and weakens the immune system. It does that by destroying healthy, important cells that fight off disease and infection. The reason your immune system cannot fight this virus is still a question many scientists are seeking to answer, (AIDS, 2014). Scientists know that HIV is capable of being undetected in the cells of our bodies for long periods of time. The HIV virus invades our T cells, which are in charge of cellular immunity, and is able to duplicate itself in these cells and then destroy them. When too many T cells become destroyed the body is unable to fight off this virus, which leads to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS, (AIDS, 2014).
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an enveloped retrovirus. It affects the immune system and the body loses its ability to fight diseases. It is mainly transferred by sexual contact. However, it can also be transmitted by contact with body fluid like blood, breast milk and so on (CDC, 2016). A patient is said to have AIDS when he/her suffer from many opportunistic infections (CDC, 2016).
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada HIV – the Human Immunodeficiency Virus - is a virus that attacks the immune system, resulting in a chronic, progressive illness that leaves people vulnerable to opportunistic infections and cancers. (Canada 2008) Essentially over time, when your body can no longer battle the virus it progresses into a disease know as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. The transmition of HIV occurs when a person’s contaminated body fluids enter another individual. Unprotected sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal or oral), sharing needles, using unsterilized equipment for body modification, mother to infant transmition, as well as occupational exposure in health care are all ways HIV can be spread. HIV/AIDS as an illness is relatively new. The first reported case of AIDS in the world was in 1981, and a year later in Canada. Scientists all around the world are busy searching for a cure or vaccine to treat the millions of people internationally dying of HIV/AIDS.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), specific group of diseases or conditions that result from suppression of the immune system, related to infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A person infected with HIV gradually loses immune function along with certain immune cells called CD4 T-lymphocytes or CD4 T-cells, causing the infected person to become vulnerable to pneumonia, fungus infections, and other common ailments. With the loss of immune function, a clinical syndrome (a group of various illnesses that together characterize a disease) develops over time and eventually results in death due to opportunistic infections (infections by organisms that do not normally cause disease except in people whose immune systems have been greatly weakened) or cancers.
HIV, also known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. If left untreated, HIV reduces the number of CD4 cells in the body, which makes a person more likely to get infections or infection-related cancers. HIV can also lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), if it is not being treated (aids.gov). There is no effective cure for HIV, however with proper treatment and medical care, HIV can be controlled. In
According to Mayo clinic, AIDS is a life threatening disease. It comes about as result of the Human immunodeficiency Virus and gives rise to this disease (AIDS) in which has no known cure yet. By hindering and plaguing the Human Immune system, the HIV virus disrupts the immune system and severely reduces the body’s ability to ward off other diseases and infections, which in turn lead to the body being infected easier and easier contraction of diseases in the environment. HIV virus is contracted mainly through sexual intercourse, that is, by means of Vaginal/Anal intercourse as well, but not commonly, through oral sex. HIV can also be contracted and spread through pregnancy. While delivering the child, the mother exposes the offspring to the infection and, through that means, causes the child to be infected with the virus. A child can also contract the virus via being breastfed by the infected mother. The HIV virus can lay dormant and, in some cases, take years before it affects the Human Immune system significantly enough for an individual to get AIDS. HIV/AIDS has a negative impact in a variety of ways. According to Danziger, the areas of impact include: economic and demographic; labor productivity; agricultural production and development; pressures on the health sector; the role of families and households; children; women; discrimination on the basis of an individual having HIV/AIDS; and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the individual.
In 1981, a new fatal, infectious disease was diagnosed--AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome). It began in major cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco. People, mostly homosexual men and intravenous drug users, were dying from very rare lung infections or from a cancer known as Kaposi’s sarcoma. They have not seen people getting these diseases in numerous years. Soon, it also affected hemophiliacs, blood recipients, prostitutes and their customers, and babies born from AIDS-infected women. AIDS was soon recognized as a worldwide health emergency, and as a fatal disease with no known cure, that quickly became an epidemic. When high-profile victims began to contract the virus, such as basketball star Magic Johnson, the feeling spread quickly that anyone, not just particular groups of people, could be at risk. AIDS impairs the human body’s immune system and leaves the victim susceptible to various infections. With new research, scientists think that the disease was first contracted through a certain type of green monkey in Africa, then somehow mutated into a virus that a human could get. AIDS is a complicated illness that may involve several phases. It is caused by a virus that can be passed from person to person. This virus is called HIV, or Human Immuno-deficiency Virus. In order for HIV to become full-blown AIDS, your T-cell count (number of a special type of white-blood cells that fight off diseases) has to drop below 200, or you have to get one of the symptoms of an AIDS-induced infection.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal physical condition that is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus damages the human body’s immune system, so that the body cannot protect itself from bacteria, viruses, and prions that cause diseases. With severely lowered defenses, AIDS patients die from common illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, cold, and tuberculosis. The HIV virus does not directly attack its victim; the disease that patients suffer from after receiving the virus is what hurts and kills them.