{"id":4317,"date":"2019-04-24T04:16:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T04:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/?p=4317"},"modified":"2024-04-04T06:59:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T06:59:00","slug":"hiv-aids-awareness-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/hiv-aids-awareness-day\/","title":{"rendered":"HIV\/AIDS Awareness Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n

Table of Contents<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

1. Introduction<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2022 Brief history of HIV infection
\n2. Understanding HIV<\/strong><\/a>
\n3. Fighting HIV\/AIDS<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2022 Importance of stopping HIV replication in T-cells
\n\u2022 Current treatments for HIV\/AIDS
\n4. Living with HIV\/AIDS<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2022 Symptoms of HIV infection
\n\u2022 Importance of treatment
\n\u2022 Undetectable viral load
\n5. Conclusion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which destroys the body’s immune system, resulting in AIDS. HIV<\/span> lives in blood or white blood cells. HIV<\/span> infection began in the 1970s but scientists were unaware of its existence and today more than 35 million people across the globe live with HIV<\/span>\/AIDS. In today\u2019s era, the medical community, politicians and support organizations have made incredible progress in the fight against a heavily stigmatized virus. The annual awareness day is set aside to promote HIV<\/span> education and testing in Native communities. March 20 is National Native HIV<\/span>\/AIDS Awareness Day, a day to consider the impact of HIV<\/span>\/AIDS on Native Americans. By the end of 1981, scientists had diagnosed the first case of HIV\u2019s full-blown disease state, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome<\/span> (AIDS), was documented. Way back there was no direct line connecting these early infectious diseases to AIDS and it took researchers several years to fully establish the connection. In the earlier years, HIV<\/span> was only understood to be viral, deadly, and highly contagious via unknown means. Drug users and homosexuals bore the brunt of the discrimination. During that time HIV<\/span> and AIDS had been noted in sexually active heterosexual groups in central African countries. With this line of thinking global leaders made historic if not overdue efforts to stop its spread in developing nations. The WHO released its comprehensive report examining HIV<\/span> and AIDS in all of its 25-year history in 2010. In 2011, AIDS claimed 1.7 million lives, down from the mortality peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from the 1.8 million deaths recorded in 2010<\/em>. In most of the countries HIV<\/span>\/AIDS population does not have access to antiretroviral treatments so in order to control the mortality rate public awareness campaigns about safe sex and safer drug use plays an important role.<\/p>\n

HIV stands for H \u2013 Human: This particular form of the virus infects only humans; I \u2013 Immunodeficiency: HIV<\/span> weakens the immune system by attacking its most important cells; V \u2013 Virus: Like a virus, HIV<\/span> reproduces by taking over a healthy host cell and destroys enough of the host cells and the immune system can no longer fight off basic infections and illnesses. If HIV<\/span>-positive patient begins to suffer from opportunistic infections<\/span> and diseases, like chronic dysentery, osteoporosis<\/span> or skin infections, that patient is considered to have AIDS, which stands for –<\/p>\n

    \n
  • A \u2013 Acquired: While one can born with HIV<\/span>, cannot born with AIDS as it is acquired after birth.<\/li>\n
  • I \u2013 Immuno: AIDS targets the immune system.<\/li>\n
  • D \u2013 Deficiency: AIDS is characterized by deficient immune responses.<\/li>\n
  • S \u2013 Syndrome: AIDS is not a singular disease, it is called a syndrome because it comes with a whole host of complications and symptoms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The main key to fight with AIDS is stopping the rapid replication of the HIV<\/span> virus within a patient\u2019s T-cells. In turn, allowing an infected host to maintain a functioning immune system. There is a combination of three very powerful drugs, taken exactly as prescribed every day, effectively stops HIV<\/span> from infecting new cells. Though there is no cure for the disease HIV<\/span>-positive individuals can live a long and healthy life by adhering to the treatment regimen as missing even a handful of doses can allow HIV<\/span> to begin replicating. In 2009, the global health community celebrated when an HIV<\/span> patient named Timothy Brown was reportedly cured of HIV<\/span> after receiving a bone marrow transplant from a donor whose cells possessed a mutation for HIV<\/span> resistance.<\/p>\n

    HIV<\/span> spreads due to several factors – Sharing drug injection equipment or being accidentally stuck by needles or sharp objects contaminated with infected blood, Infected blood used in transfusions, Pregnancy, childbirth, and\/or breastfeeding, where the virus is passed from mother to child, Transplanted organs from infected donors, unprotected sexual intercourse with an HIV<\/span>-infected person. HIV<\/span> and AIDS do not get transmitted through casual contact. To be specific people become infected with HIV<\/span> they don’t catch AIDS. Many HIV<\/span>-positive people do not have symptoms of HIV<\/span> infection but they go through periods of being sick and then feel fine. Some people experience a flu-like illness, develop a rash, or get swollen glands for a brief period soon after HIV<\/span> infection. The end result of HIV<\/span> infection is body no longer remains able to fight off other opportunistic infections<\/span>.<\/p>\n

    Currently, there is no cure for AIDS. However, many treatments allow HIV<\/span>-positive patients to live long and healthy lives. Antiretroviral therapy<\/span> (ART<\/span>) is recommended for HIV<\/span> positive people. It can\u2019t cure HIV<\/span>, but helps them to live longer, healthier lives and also reduces the risk of HIV<\/span> transmission. HIV<\/span> attacks and destroys the infection-fighting immune cells<\/span> especially CD4<\/span> cells. The Loss of CD4<\/span> cells weakens the body\u2019s defense system and makes it hard for the body to fight off infections and certain HIV<\/span>-related cancers. HIV<\/span> medicines prevent HIV<\/span> from multiplying (making copies of itself), which reduces the amount of HIV<\/span> in the body (also called the viral load). ART<\/span> reduces a person\u2019s viral load to an undetectable level and an undetectable viral load indicates very low virus count to be detected by a viral load test. HIV<\/span> positive patients maintaining an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV<\/span> to their HIV<\/span>-negative partner through sex.<\/p>\n

    If HIV<\/span> patients have access to the treatment AIDS is not the death sentence as it was thought to be in the early years. In most developed countries, treatment is accessible at a reasonable cost and to date, over 20 of the most powerful combination therapies have been approved by the FDA<\/span>.<\/p>\n

    The first step to remove the social stigma attached to AIDS is towards an open dialogue, which is ideally followed by an influx of treatment options for marginalized peoples. The root cause of AIDS explosion is lack of education and poverty and are the main obstacles to overcome in order to end the crisis. HIV<\/span> infection rates have stabilized in many countries across the world by spreading awareness about precautions and treatment, but we have a long way to go.<\/p>\n

    References<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Emerman M, Malim MH. HIV-1 regulatory\/accessory genes: keys to unraveling viral and host cell biology. Science. 1998 Jun 19; 280(5371):1880-4.<\/li>\n
    2. Mohri H, Perelson AS, Tung K, Ribeiro RM, Ramratnam B, Markowitz M, Kost R, Hurley A, Weinberger L, Cesar D, Hellerstein MK, Ho DD. Increased turnover of T lymphocytes in HIV-1 infection and its reduction by antiretroviral therapy. J Exp Med. 2001 Nov 5; 194(9):1277-87.<\/li>\n
    3. Douek DC, Picker LJ, Koup RA. T cell dynamics in HIV-1 infection. Annu Rev Immunol. 2003; 21:265-304.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Table of Contents 1. Introduction \u2022 Brief history of HIV infection 2. Understanding HIV 3. Fighting HIV\/AIDS \u2022 Importance of stopping HIV replication in T-cells \u2022 Current treatments for HIV\/AIDS 4. Living with HIV\/AIDS \u2022 Symptoms of HIV infection \u2022 Importance of treatment \u2022 Undetectable viral load 5. Conclusion     HIV stands for Human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9292,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317\/revisions\/9292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}