Aids Essay, Research Paper
Aids by sean ross
How is HIV Diagnosed?
You can get tested for HIV in a number of locations — including public clinics, AIDS organizations, physicians’ offices, and hospitals. Many locations give the test for free. You can choose between anonymous tests, in which you do not give your name to the HealthCare provider, or confidential tests, in which you do give your name. Test sites should provide trained counselors who can offer you support and guidance, no matter what the test result.(Balch-97)
An HIV test looks for the antibodies your immune system creates in response to the virus. These antibodies may not appear in your blood until three to six months after HIV infection. Therefore, a negative test for HIV does not necessarily mean you aren’t infected. That’s why if you are at risk for HIV infection you should get tested periodically in addition to practicing safer sex at all times.
T-cell counts
If you test HIV-positive, you should have frequent blood tests to determine the levels of healthy T cells. These cell counts help indicate how quickly the infection is progressing and which course of treatment is best. Normal T-cell count is 800 to 1,300 cells per cubic millimeter of blood. In the first
few months after HIV infection, T-cells may decrease to 400 to 650. As infection progresses, T cells drop to a second level of 200 to 499. At this stage you can expect to have late symptoms, although this too is variable. The most life-threatening AIDS illnesses happen when T-cell levels fall below 200.(Berkow-97)
Early Symptoms
Once HIV enters your body — through semen, vaginal secretions, blood, or human breast milk — it generally takes a month or two before creating symptoms, if any (not everyone has symptoms at this stage). These initial symptoms are similar to the flu and can last three to 14 days:
-Fever
-Chills
-Night sweats
-Skin rashes
-Headache
-Malaise
-Swollen lymph nodes (immune system organs
easily felt in the neck and groin)
-General discomfort(Hurst-96)
Within the several months following HIV infection, you may have repeated episodes of these flu-like symptoms. After that, an average period of five to seven years will pass without another sign of HIV infection — though that delay can range from a few months to more than 10 years. However, even when you don’t have symptoms, the virus is still multiplying in your body, and you can spread it to other people.(Tierny-98)
Later symptoms (months to years before onset of AIDS)
Symptoms may include:
-Fatigue
-Mild weight loss
-Frequent fevers and sweats
-Swollen lymph glands
-Persistent yeast infections
-Persistent skin rashes
-Pelvic inflammatory disease that does not
-respond to treatment
-Short term memory loss
-Frequent and severe herpes infections
causing mouth, genital or anal sores
-Painful nerve disease (shingles)
At this stage, you may have other disorders resulting from HIV infection: severe dermatitis, personality changes, intellectual impairment, peripheral neuritis (inflammation of one or more peripheral nerves), pneumonia, myocarditis (inflammation of the middle muscular layer of the heart wall), nephritis (kidney inflammation), and arthritis. (Taylor-98)
AIDS
As chronic HIV progresses, the immune system grows weaker and weaker until it can no longer prevent diseases and/or “opportunistic” infections those that would not usually happen in a person with a normal immune system). These include: Pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis carinii HIV infection of the brain (encephalitis with dementia) Toxoplasmosis of the brain (a protozoan infection) Cryptococcosis infection (a fungal infection) HIV wasting syndrome (chronically active HIV infection) Candida (yeast infections of the vagina, mouth, esophagus, trachea, bronchial tubes, or lungs) Kaposi’s sarcoma (a form of skin cancer) Tuberculosis and related infections Cryptosporidiosis infection of the intestine (a protozoan infection) Herpes simplex virus infections of mouth, esophagus, and lungs Lymphoma (a cancer of the immune system) Cytomegalovirus infections of the retina and other organs(HIV positive.com)
Conditions That May Be Mistaken for HIV and AIDS
HIV and AIDS may involve virtually every organ in the body. Therefore, many conditions can be mistaken for HIV/AIDS, including: Cancer, especially lymphoma (causing malnutrition or weight loss) Senile dementia Gastrointestinal infection (especially parasitic) Colitis Inflammatory bowel disease Depression.
Causes
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes AIDS. HIV not only attacks and destroys the white blood cells that are key to fighting infection (T4 or helper T cells), it actually uses the T cell’s genetic material to multiply itself. Eventually, HIV cripples the immune system, making the infected person vulnerable to multiple infections, diseases, and nervous system problems. One of the reasons AIDS is such a fatal disease is that HIV is an extremely resistant virus, mutating constantly to survive the immune system’s attacks.(San Fransisco Aids found.)
Theoretical Causes
There are very rare cases of transmission among family members living together with no identifiable source of transmission. No one knows the cause of transmission in these few rare cases.(Gay mens health crisis center)
How is HIV Transmitted?
Unprotected sex,Sharing of hypodermic needles for injection,drug use
From an HIV-infected mother to her baby,especially as the baby passes through the birth canal (the baby has a 25-30% chance of being HIV positive if not treated duringpregnancy),Human breast milk
Accidental needle sticks, which are a risk among HealthCare workers (about a one in 300 chance),Blood transfusion and coagulation products (although this is very rare, with the modern blood-screening systems in use since 1985)(Bennet-96)
Treatment
No one knows how to cure HIV or AIDS. However, there are many therapies, both conventional and alternative, that effectively prolong and enhance the quality of the lives of people with HIV and AIDS. The goals of treatment are to: Slow the replication rate of HIV Prevent and treat opportunistic infections Relieve symptoms and generally improve quality of life.(Noble-96)
Treatment overview
If you have HIV/AIDS, the standard of care in the United States is to provide you conventional drug therapies, especially if your T-cell count has fallen below 500. You will take most HIV/AIDS drugs in combination, to most effectively reduce viral blood levels, increase helper T-cell counts, and decrease the AIDS death rate. Because combinations of HIV/AIDS drugs are as important as the individual drugs themselves, it is extremely important that you stick to your medication regimen:
Take drugs at exactly the prescribed times of day
Never skip doses
Never skip drugs
For surveillance and routine management, you won’t need to stay in the hospital. Some more severe complications will require a hospital stay.
Drug Therapy
Anti-HIV drug therapy attacks HIV at various stages of its life cycle. Although the drugs have improved the side effects, including nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea and abnormal body fat redistribution.(Hardman-96)
Bibliography
American Foundation for AIDS Research
120 Wall Street, Thirteenth Floor
New York, NY 10005
Phone: 212-806-1600
Fax: 212-806-1601
The Body — An AIDS and HIV Information Resource
Centers for Disease Control
National Prevention Information Network
P.O. Box 6003
Rockville, MD 20849
Phone: 800-458-5231
International: 301-562-1098
TTY: 800-243-7012
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
2950 31st Street, Suite 125
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Phone: 310-314-1459
Fax: 31-314-1469
Email: info@pediaids.org
Gay Men’s Health Crisis
119 West 24th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212-807-6655
TTY: 212-645-7470
Fax: 212-337-3656
HIV Anonymous Testing & Counseling
Howard Brown Health Center
4025 N. Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60613
Phone: 773-388-1600
HIV Insite — Gateway to AIDS Knowledge
University of California, San Francisco
HIV Positive.com
Centers for Disease Control National HIV/AIDS
Hotline
800-342-AIDS (2437)
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
P.O. Box 426182
San Francisco, CA 94142-6182
AIDS Hotline: 800-367-AIDS (2437) (toll-free in Calif.)
Phone: (415) 487-3000
Email: feedback@sfaf.org
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