HIV/AIDS History The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets the immune system and weakens people 's defense systems against infections and some types of cancer. As the virus destroys and impairs the function of immune cells, infected individuals gradually become immunodeficient. Immune function is typically measured by CD4 cell count. Immunodeficiency results in increased susceptibility to a wide range of infections and diseases that people with healthy immune systems can fight off. The most advanced stage of HIV infection is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which can take from 2 to 15 years to develop depending on the individual. AIDS is defined by the development of certain cancers, infections, or other severe clinical manifestations. Transmission of Disease HIV can be transmitted via the exchange of a variety of body fluids from infected individuals, such as blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal secretions. Individuals cannot become infected through ordinary day-to-day contact such as kissing, hugging, shaking hands, or sharing personal objects, food or water. The spread of HIV from person to person is called HIV transmission. HIV transmission is possible at any stage of HIV infection, even if an HIV-infected person has no symptoms of HIV. The spread of HIV from an HIV-infected woman to her child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding is called mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In the United States, HIV is spread mainly by having sex with or sharing drug injection equipment with someone who is infected with HIV. To reduce your risk of HIV infection, use condoms correctly and consistently during sex, limit your number of sexual partners, and never share drug injection equipment. Mother-to-child tra... ... middle of paper ... ...iving with HIV, just as it is by the general population. Only a mental health provider can accurately diagnose and treat depression. Peter Vanable, a professor and chair of psychology at Syracuse University, conducted extensive research on the behavioral aspects of HIV and coping. He analyzed, for example, how HIV stigma affects mental health and medication adherence. “A significant subset of men and women who are HIV positive experience social rejection from family, from loved-ones [and] from partners, and those experiences of discrimination and rejection can really play out in difficult ways,” Vanable says. The way people react to news of an HIV diagnosis, he continues, can shape a patient 's long-term psychological response. “People 's experiences with social rejection and people’s internalized feelings of self-rejection tend to go hand-in-hand,” Vanable says.
It is crucial to understand that, unlike most transmissible diseases, AIDS/HIV is not transmitted through sneezing, coughing, eating or drinking from common utensils, or even being around an infected person. Casual contact with AIDS/HIV infected persons does not place others at risk. HIV/AIDS can be passed through unprotected sex with an infected person, sharing contaminated needles, from infected mother to baby during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding, and through direct exposure to infected blood or blood
“Clinically, the HIV infected adolescents present as physically stunted individuals, with delayed puberty and adrenarche. Mental illness and substance abuse are important co-morbidities” (Naswa, 2010). Naswa, 2010 also reports that adolescences with HIV have a higher susceptibility rate to contract STD’s that the average individual due to the thinner lining of mucus in the ovaries at this stage of their development. The stigma of living with HIV is also a factor for her psychosocial development. The fact that she contracted this disease from her father further contributes to emotional trauma.
The Modified Labelling Theory, created by Link et al., (1989) hypothesized that individuals who were labeled as mentally ill, would manage the stigma they faced through three coping mechanisms; education, withdrawal and secrecy (as cited in Ray & Brooks Dollar, 2014). The Modified Labelling Theory is a credible theory that has been used to approach not only the repercussions of stigma in mental illness, but also to explain behaviours of those who smoke, live with HIV/AIDS, or have a child with a disability (Ray & Brooks Dollar,
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.
“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.
HIV, like many other STD's is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse. However, it can also be transmitted by infected "blood transfusions", an infected mother to fetus, and sharing infected needles as well as breast milk (2009, NIAID). The reason it is really unlikely that a person should contract this virus by skin contact, is because the way HIV invades a person's system (2009, NIAID). The virus itself has special markers on its plasma membrane called "CD Markers" that locate specific cells within a person's body that target specific cells such as helper-T Cells and Microphages (2012, Phelan). The HIV virus cannot invade cells that it cannot latch on to, so a handshake with a person who has HIV will not transfer the disease because skin cells do not have the appropriate receptors that the virus can attack. When the HIV cells find the specific cell it targets, they attach themselves to its surface and then releases its DNA proteins into the cell. The virus's DNA then take over the host cell's DNA and commands it to create copies of the HIV virus. The cell produces viral RNA which creates viral proteins that migrate to the cell edge and form an undeveloped HIV virus which then is expelled from the cell and matures into a new copy of the HIV virus.
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.
Understanding HIV and how it can be transmitted is crucial when deciding if it is safe to adopt these children. The common ways for HIV to be transmitted is through sexual contact, pregnancy, injection drug use, occupational exposure and blood transfusion (U.S. Department of Health). HIV lives in blood and other body fluids such as semen, breast milk and vaginal fluids. Though unlikely, if vomit or nasal fluid had enough blood in it, it could infect a person if it came in direct contact with them (U.S. Department of Health). When ...
Human Immunodeficiency Virus, also known as HIV, is a virus that attacks the immune system. It invades our T cells and then makes more copies of itself. It then destroys them and our immune system can no longer fight of other infections or diseases, which can lead to AIDS. There are three major routes it is transferred by. The first route is sexual intercourse through the vaginal, rectal, or penile tissues. The second route is a direct injection with HIV-contaminated drugs, needles, syringes, blood or blood products. The third major route HIV can be transmitted is from an HIV-infected mother to the fetus in the uterus or even through breast-feeding. Once the virus is transmitted to someone else, it attaches immune system cell called a dendritic cell. These cells are located by the mouth, vagina, rectum, and penis. The cells then transport the virus from the where the infection is to the lymph nodes where it also infects other immune system cells. Once inside the cell, the virus turns RNA into DNA, and then makes its way to the cells nucleus. The HIV weakens the immune system. The infected HIV cells convert into the messenger RNA then it is transferred outside the nucleus and is used to make more HIV infected cells.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are generally transmitted through sexual contact, during unprotected sexual intercourse, some are also transmitted from mother to child during antenatal, intranatal and postnatal period and through unsafe blood, blood products, donated organs or tissues and contaminated needles, their consequences are more devastating and prevalent among women than men.1
Melchert, T., & Patterson, M. (1999). Duty to warn and interventions with HIV-positive clients. Professional Psychology Research and Practice, 30 (2), 180-186.
...s been made evident that disclosure can cause loss of employment, the breakdown of relationships and families as well as rejection from sexual partners. Consequently, those who suffer from the issues that come with disclosure also suffer from poor mental health and low self-esteem. Additionally, the article also states that, “leading a double life is psychologically disturbing” positing the unseemly notion that experiencing discrimination due to HIV status is not harmful to an individual’s mental health, despite copious evidence that it has an extremely detrimental affect on mental health, and in some cases, physical health.
As stated before, HIV-1 and HIV-2 is a virus that destroys one’s immune system. HIV (a Lentivirus transmitted by a single strand RNA) like other viruses enter the cells in the body and through a series of complicated metabolic processes, the virus becomes incorporated into cells DNA via reverse transcriptase (2 p177). Once the cell begins to divide, the DNA becomes part of the CD4+ T cells (lymphocyte) (2 p.367). As an end result, there is an idiopathic decline of CD4+ T cells values (3). CD4+ T cells play a crucial role in the immune system by producing antibodies and controlling the activity of CD8+ T cells (suppressor/killer) (4). The CD4+ T cells also play a role in secretion of interleukins or cytokines, which are responsible for the activation of the natural killer cells and macrophages (4). As the HIV progresses, the CD4+ T cell levels become lower leaving the body unable to fight infections, virus, or bacteria. “CD28
HIV positive women were first reported in the late 1980s. AIDS is the final stage of HIV where the immune system is compromised. The virus causes severe damage to the immune system that even the simplest yeast infection can be deadly because the body will not have a functional immune system. HIV positive women who are still healthy and did not progress into AIDS, could have a normal pregnancy. However, HIV positive mothers could transmit the virus to their unborn child during pregnancy, this is known as mother to child transmission (MTC). Stoto states that in the United States, over 6,000 HIV infected women give birth every year and about one-third is estimated to give birth to HIV positive babies (Stoto1). HIV positive born children without any medication will not live up to an adolescent age and up to 50% can die within their first year. Stine points out without medication, “HIV-infected children lived to an average age of 9” (Stine 347). This became a serious concern in the scientific community due to the risks involved for the children.
From the moment scientists identified HIV and AIDS, social responses of fear, denial, stigma and discrimination have accompanied the epidemic. Discrimination has spread rapidly, fuelling anxiety and prejudice against the groups most affected, as well as those living with HIV or AIDS. It goes without saying that HIV and AIDS are as much about social phenomena as they are about biological and medical concerns. Across the world the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS has shown itself capable of triggering responses of compassion, solidarity and support, bringing out the best in people, their families and communities. But the disease is also associated with stigma, repression and discrimination, as individuals affected (or believed to be affected) by HIV have been rejected by their families, their loved ones and their communities. This rejection holds as true in the rich countries of the north as it does in the poorer countries of the south.