History and Introduction:
There are different myths and views in relation to the origin of HIV. Some researchers believe that HIV-1 and HIV-2 have originated in non-human primates, particularly from chimpanzee and monkeys, in West-central Africa and were transferred to humans in the early 20th century. (UNAIDS, 2007)
Another school-of-thought says that people who went for hunting acquired SIV. After, several individual to individual transmissions of SIV, its mutant form, HIV appeared. Some genetic studies of the virus suggest that the most recent common ancestor of the HIV-1 M group dates back to 1910, linking HIV epidemic to the increasing population of colonial African cities at that time. The spread of prostitution and unsafe sex also made their contribution. Another alternative view sheds the light on, the unsafe medical practices in Africa after World War II, unsterile reuse of single use syringes during mass vaccination, being the major vector of virus. (Sharp, 2001; Kalish, 2005)
In 1981 in the USA, first time AIDS was observed in the clinic. Initially, homosexuals and injecting drug users were reported to have compromised immune system with symptoms of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). (Gottlieb, 2006)
Earlier the CDC did not had any specific name for the disease and they would refer to it by the diseases and symptoms associated with it, such as, lymphoadenopathy and opportunistic infections. It was also named “the 4H disease”, in accordance with the type of people (Haitians, homosexuals, hemophiliacs and heroin users) it prevailed in. Finally, in 1982 the CDC started referring to the disease as AIDS. (CDC, 1982; Kher, 1982)
In 1983, research groups led by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier independently declared tha...
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...ochondrial DNA: evidence supporting the DNA pol gamma hypothesis. AIDS 20: 675-684, 2006
12. Moyle, G. 2000. Clinical manifestations and management of antiretroviral nucleoside analogue related mitochondrial toxicity. Clinical Therapeutics 22: 911 – 36, 2000
13. Sharp, P. M., Bailes, E., Chaudhuri, R. R., Rodenburg, C. M., Santiago, M. O., Hahn, B. H. (2001). "The origins of acquired immune deficiency syndrome viruses: where and when?". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 356 (1410): 867–76. doi:10.1098/rstb.2001.0863. PMC 1088480. PMID 11405934.
14. Treatment of HIV. 2014. Retrieved from http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/just-diagnosed-with-hiv-aids/treatment-options/overview-of-hiv-treatments/. May 5, 2014.
15. UNAIDS, WHO (December 2007). "2007 AIDS epidemic update". Retrieved 2008-03-1
16. UNAIDS.org. (2013). Fact Sheet. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
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.
...cused of being patient zero and the one who purposely and knowingly infected as many as 250 men a year on both sides of the Atlantic was nothing but one of the many wrong hypotheses made in this process of finding the origin of the HIV/AIDS virus. The fact that he had single handedly started the epidemic, today is largely discredited by most scientists. With time computer models estimated that the first human infection occurred around 1930, give or take 20 years. The earliest known infection of an identified human dates back to 1959 which was found in a plasma sample taken from an adult male living in the Belgian Congo. Many assumptions and hypotheses were made and a human eating a chimp seems to be the likeliest form the infection occurred.
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
2) Moore, J. (2004). The puzzling origins of AIDS: Although no one explanation has been universally accepted, four rival theories provide some important lesson. American Scientist, 92(6), 540-547. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/stable/27858482
that transmitted the HIV virus to humans through bites (Forsyth). As people migrated it reached Haiti and then spread to America (Clark p. 65).
Unknown, Discover Staff. 1996. "The origin of Syphilis." Discover. October. Vol. 17, n10, pg23 (3)
The CDC published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on June 5, 1981 describing cases of a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), accompanied by other unusual infections, in five young, previously healthy, gay men in Los Angeles. By the time the report was published, two of the men had died. This marked the first official reporting of what is now known as the AIDS epidemic. It wasn’t until September 24, 1982, however, when the CDC used the term AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) for the first time. The San Francisco Chronicle covered the story the very next day; just days later, Doctors around the nation swarmed the CDC with reports of similar cases. It wasn’t until November of 1985, after the epidemic had claimed
3. Prospects for Antisense Nucleic Acid Therapy of Cancer and AIDS. Eric Wickstrom, Ed. Wiley-Liss, Inc., NY, 1991. pp 25-33, 35-51, 125-141.
The medical community had much trouble in the progress of researching the disease. In the beginning and for a period of time, the disease had no name. This was partly because no one really wanted to announce that a new disease had been discovered. After being dubbed “GRID”, an acronym singling out gays, it was changed when it was finally discovered that AIDS could be transmitted though blood transfusions and IV drug use. There was also an amazing display of medical misconduct as the head of one laboratory in the US engaged in a competition-like struggle with a lab in Paris in the research of the disease. When he finally agreed to collaborate with the French, he announced discoveries ahead of time and took all the credit for himself. This led to a long legal action that delayed much of the research of AIDS and caused many people to “die of red tape.”
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 ...
The first discovery was made in 1952, in the developing field of virology. Virology is the study of viruses and how they behave. To develop the vaccines for the viruses, researchers infected the HeLa cells with many types of infections, such as measles, mumps, and the infamous poliomyelitis virus, also known as Polio. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose mission is to save lives and protect people’s health security, Polio is a "crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis" (Freeman). Jonas Salk, who was a virologist at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), used inactivated viruses (virus particles grown in culture and then killed by a form of heat) to create a polio vaccine. Salk drew blood from about two million children, which the NFIP checked for immunization.Through the collection of many HeLa cells and trial and error, the polio vaccine wa...
...blood and increase the absorption and concentration of digoxin in the blood. This may reduce the effectiveness of ketoconazole or increase digoxin toxicity. Through unknown mechanisms, omeprazole may increase blood levels of saquinavir and reduce blood levels of nelfinavir and atazanavir, drugs that are used for treating patients with infection caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Omeprazole can be contraindicated in patient with hepatic impairment thus doctors are advised not to prescribe more than 20mg daily of omeprazole for such patients. [1] [3] [4]
Even though AIDS is heavily researched, its origin still remains a partial mystery. It is know that HIV is a zoonosis, a human disease acquired from animals. The virus evolved from a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV): a type of slow virus found naturally in monkeys and apes which, while not harming the host, produces diseases in other primates (Caldwell 97).
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.
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.