All over the world, innocent children are dying from Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Although it is most commonly known as a sexually transmitted disease, HIV can be transmitted from mother to child as well. HIV is a virus which attacks the T cells or CD4 cells, which are white blood cells required by the body to fight infections and diseases (Piot and Quinn). HIV uses these cells to make copies of itself and then destroys them. Over time, HIV attacks so many T cells that the body does not have the ability to fight infections and diseases.
Although the history of AIDS is filled with illness, pain, loss, and death, it is also filled with caring, determination, and hard work. Many dedicated health researchers have spent decades working to understand the cause of AIDS, develop treatments for its victims, and find ways to prevent and cure the disease. Though AID... ... middle of paper ... ...s around the globe continue to search for a cure for AIDS, others are making startling discoveries about its origin. Since it was first recognized in 1981, AIDS has killed millions of people. “It is the worst and deadliest disease that humankind has ever experienced,” according to Mark Stirling, UNAIDS director of East and Southern Africa.
The most common disposal method of medical needles at the time was through the use of red, plastic bags marked ‘Infectious.’ As the epidemic grew, lab technicians treating infected individuals realized these bags were not useful in the prevention of the disease because the needle could break through the plastic causing contamination. During this time period, medical waste was treated as common garbage exposing the everyday worker to the infection. Due to the carelessness of hospital personnel improperly disposing of medical waste in the 1980s, the spread of HIV/AIDS occurred, forcing tighter restrictions on medical waste disposal to be enacted by the federal government. The AIDS scare began in 1981 when the Centers for Disease Control released a document describing a rare lung infection in a group of men in San Francisco, California. The death toll by the end of the year had increased to 121 men.
(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.
As a result of the discovery of AIDS, the gay community suffered greatly at the hands of social alienation. “AIDS” was not called “AIDS” until the CDC changed the different name that singled out the gay community as the only ones that could acquire the disease. After some major controversy the gay bathhouses were closed down, because it was believed that the AIDS virus was spreading greatly in these places. The gay community also suffered major emotional trauma as very little was known of the disease and little could be done about it. ___ The medical community had much trouble in the progress of researching the disease.
The discovery of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS, was made soon after. By the end of 1982 it was notable that a wide group of people would be affected because the high number of deaths from an unknown virus (Avert, 2002). HIV became the leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25 and 44 and HIV is beginning to rise in American Indian and Alaska Native communit... ... middle of paper ... ... HIV symptoms 8 References Avert. (2002, Jan). History of AIDS.
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. AIDS is a disease that is transmitted easily through unprotected sexual intercourse, sharing of needles, blood transfusion, and childbirth.
Henry B. Mr. Arnold Global Studies April 30, 2014 The Response to HIV/AIDS AIDS, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, has had a substantial impact on the health of many nations. Since the first AIDS cases were reported in 1981, 75 million people have contracted HIV and 36 million have died of AIDS-related causes (Global AIDS Overview).The human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes AIDS, a condition in humans in which the immune system fails allowing life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers. In the 1980s and early 1990s, AIDS was a virtual death sentence, and people were terrified of contracting it. Without a known cause or treatments, the number of cases and deaths among persons with HIV/AIDS increased rapidly. HIV/AIDS mainly infected gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with other men, with only six countries not reporting a prevalence of HIV/AIDS in MSM (Beyrer, Chris, MD MPH).
Also you get terrible flu to the point of death. Many don't understand why HIV cause Aids but i'm sure they will find the answer. HIV lives and reproduces in blood and other body fluids. Aids is a worldwide disease, infact its the worlds’ leading infectious killer. 33.4 million people are currently suffering from Ai... ... middle of paper ... ...mptoms.
This law allows patients who have been given six months or less to live that wish to hasten their deaths to obtain lethal doses of medication prescribed by two doctors. Between 1998 and 2000, ninety-six lethal prescriptions were written, and seventy patients took the fatal doses. Physician-assisted suicide is only legal in the states of Washington and Oregon, meaning in the rest of the country, the practice remains illegal. Many patients are unable to get the help necessary to end their lives and must involuntarily endure unbearable pain. Some terminally ill patients have to experience an intolerably poor quality of life and would prefer to end their life rather than continue until their body finally gives up.