...“The Quest for an AIDS Vaccine” Sha’Quita Septs August 25, 2012 “Abstract” Over the past two decades doctors and research scientists have been trying to find a cure for the incurable virus of AIDS. Millions of people worldwide including infants have contracted this disease from birth. AIDS was first identified in the early 1980’s in America and most of its victims were drug users and gay African American men. Over sixteen thousand African American men and women have been diagnosed with AIDS which is over 50% of the world of the African American population. By 1990, over 30 million people were diagnosed with this disease. The need for an AIDS vaccine is very imperative because the death toll for people with AIDS is drastically increasing every year at a towering rate. Ever since AIDS was discovered, there have been several attempts to find a cure for this disease. Unfortunately, after twenty years of research; doctors and scientists are still no closer to finding a cure than when AIDS was first identified. “The Quest for an AIDS Vaccine” Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a medical condition that one must have tested positive on a HIV test and have another disease that is known as an "AIDS defining disease." These diseases include: yeast infections (candida), cervical cancer, Kaposis Sarcoma, tuberculosis, cytomegalovirus, and pneumonia. AIDS was first identified in the United States during the early 1980’s. In 1981, the first cases of AIDS were detected...
Words: 1388 - Pages: 6
...“ Although there is medication to hold Aids in remission, millions around the world are not able to access the drug and, consequently, thousands continue to die from the disease.” What is AIDS? AIDS is a spectrum condition caused by an infection. Acquired immune deficiency is the last stage of human immunodeficiency virus, Which is transmitted through bodily fluids. Better known as AIDS/ HIV disease “Although there is medications to hold AIDS into remission, millions around the world are not able to access the drug and, consequently thousands continue to die from this deadly disease. AIDS is a deadly disease. AIDS breaks down your immune system due to not being treated for the disease. During this system break down the virus fights your body. Cell to cell transmission is a thousand times more efficient. Most patients who die from Aids succumb to one or more opportunistic infections. AIDS weaken your immune system due to not being treated for this disease. Your body loses the ability to fight many infections. This is why aids is a deadly disease. AIDS doesn't yet have a cure (Liz Szabo, 2012). There are no procedures or medications that have been proven scientifically to reliably eliminates the virus from a person’s body or reverse the damage that it has done to the immune system. At the first stage which is HIV if medicated you could continue to be in submission. There were many different studies to try to find a cure, but they haven't...
Words: 771 - Pages: 4
...Aids a Communicable Disease Aids a Communicable Disease Communicable disease is an illness due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products that arises through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person, animal or inanimate reservoir to a susceptible host; either directly or indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal host, vector or the inanimate environment (UCLA, 2011). Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a communicable disease that has become a global epidemic. This paper will give the reader a description of the disease, demographic of interest, describe the determinants of health, the epidemiologic triangle as it relates to AIDS. This paper will also discuss the role of community health nurse and organizations that have made an impact on AIDS education and research. The first report of AIDS in medical literature was in 1981 at this time AIDS was known as a disease associated with being gay, this quickly changed when further research revealed a transfusion recipient had been diagnosed as well as an infant in 1982 (UCSF, 2003). The cause of AIDS comes from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which destroys CD4 cells this weakens the bodies immune system, a patient could have HIV for many years before it progresses to AIDS. A person is considered to be infected with AIDS when their CD4 count falls below 200 or they show any of the following symptoms: * Tuberculosis * Cryptosporidiosis * Pneumocystis pneumonia ...
Words: 1487 - Pages: 6
...Hall HIV AIDS in Southeastern U.S United States Statistics show that the AIDS epidemic began in 1981. Since then 1.7 million Americans have been infected with HIV. A number of 583,298 U.S. citizens have died due to AIDS-related causes. 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV and don’t even know it. An estimated 21% of people living with HIV are undiagnosed. AIDS spread so fast that every 9.5 minutes; someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV. The leading cause of the spreading disease is said to be gay and bisexual men. Gay and bisexual men continue to spread the HIV infection. They are accounted for an estimated 53% of new HIV infections. Also, African-Americans and Latinos are affected by HIV and AIDS as well. However, Blacks are accounted for 45% of new HIV infections in 2006. There is 47% of Black living with the disease and they make up only 12% of the U.S. population. Latinos account for 17% of new infections. They comprise 15% of the U.S. population. Whites represent 35% of new infections and account for 66% of the total population (HIV/AIDS Facts). The AIDS case rate for African Americans is more than 9 times that of whites. Also the HIV rate is 7 times greater among blacks than whites. Survival after an AIDS diagnosis is lower for blacks than any other racial/ethnic group. The largest share of any age group is young adults and teens between 13 and 29 that represent 34% of new HIV infections. Black teens that become affected represent 68% of reported AIDS cases among...
Words: 1090 - Pages: 5
...[pic] HIV/AIDS INFECTION: A THREATHENING VIRAL DISEASE By Raymond G. Cervantes John Rey Hesita March, 2010 Mr. Armando Torrente Professor OUTLINE I. Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 A. Background of the Research-------------------------------------------------------------------------1 B. Statement of the Problem------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------3 C. Importance of the Paper------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 D. Definition of Terms ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 II. Body----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 A.Modes of Transmission of HIV/Aids (Direct Factors) ----------------------------------------5 1.Sexual Transmission-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 2,Mother to Child Transmission------------------------------------------------------------------------5 3.Transmission via Fomites-----------------------------------------------------------------------------5 4. Needles--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 5. Blood Traces--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6 6. Routine Medical...
Words: 3827 - Pages: 16
...HIV/AIDS PATHOPHYSIOLOGY By: Tina Green HIV/AIDS Hook & Thesis statement What is AIDS? I. How is it contracted? A. Where did AIDS come from B. Who is at risk of infection? II. Transfer of the virus A. Is anyone safe from the virus? B. Is there a cure? III. Statistics A. How many people living with HIV? B. How many people living with AIDS? IV. Conclusion A. Medication B. Prevention What exactly is HIV? HIV is an abbreviation for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus can lead to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). According to Aids.gov, more than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, and almost 1 in 6 (15.8%) an unaware of their infection. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is an infectious virus that destroys the Immune system and makes it harder to fight off infections. Where did HIV come from? The aidsinstitute.org states, “Scientists identified a chimpanzee in West Africa as the source of HIV infection in humans. The chimpanzee version of the immunodeficiency virus (called simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV) was most likely transmitted to humans and mutated into HIV when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat and came into contact with their infected blood. Over decades, the virus slowly spread across Africa and later into other parts...
Words: 1122 - Pages: 5
...Aids Shatara Jackson HCS/245 January 23, 2014 Carla Sassano Aids The first cases of what would later become known as AIDS were reported in the United States in June of 1981.1 Since then, more than 1.8 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have been infected with HIV, including over 650,000 who have already died; today, more than 1.1 million people are living with HIV. (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2013)When I read that statement my heart sank to know that there were so many people living with HIV. When you hear about it, it makes you stop and think about every decision that you have ever made in your sex life. In my paper I want to discuss what the article was about and the disease in a whole what it is and what treatment options are out there for people living with HIV/AIDS. This is the medical definition of AIDS is a disease in which there is a severe loss of the body's cellular immunity, greatly lowering the resistance to infection and malignancy. The definition of HIV is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the immune system. Your immune system protects you from germs that cause infections and make you sick. If HIV is in your system, over time, it lowers the number of healthy immune cells (CD4 cells) that you have to fight infections. (Aids.gov, 2013) Once you get one of these they are a life time disease because there are no cures out at this time for HIV/AIDS. But there are treatment options to help make things comfortable...
Words: 921 - Pages: 4
...In Africa there is a large portion of the population that is greatly affected by acquired immune deficiency syndrome also known as AIDS. This is the final stage of HIV which causes severe damage to the immune system. People who have AIDS are more likely to get infections and tumors that wouldn’t affect people with working immune systems. The spreading of the disease is hard to control because anyone who comes in contact with any bodily fluid of an infected person will most likely end up getting it as well. “About 22.5 million people in Africa have been infected by AIDS as of 2007”. The adult rate of infection worldwide is 1% while in Africa it is about 6.1%. The severity of the epidemic is largely caused by the “poverty, lack of female empowerment, and high rates of male worker migration”. One of the worst parts about the AIDS epidemic in africa is that the national health systems are ill equipped for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, which means that in all honesty the people are basically hopeless. Anything that they can do medically costs way more than the normal African has. In Europe from 1348 to 1350 there was an outbreak of the Yersinia pestis bacterium. This disease was also known as the black plague. It caused the deaths of 30 to 60 percent of europes population. More than 350 million people died from this epidemic. The European population took 150 years to recover from the high amount of death. The original carriers of the plague were the rats that were...
Words: 936 - Pages: 4
...HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a particular virus that can only infect humans. HIV weakens your immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. A deficient immune system does not have the ability to protect you without medication. The virus can only reproduce itself by taking over a cell in the body of its host. HIV is similar to other virus like the common cold or the flu; the big difference is that your body cannot rid the HIV virus like the flu. Once you have HIV, you have it for life. The virus invades yours cells, replicates itself and destroys the cell. Once you cells are destroyed it longer has the ability to defend itself. AIDS is the syndrome after you immune system has become deficient or basically stopped working. AIDS is a collection of symptoms and signs, rather than a single disease, because it is a complex illness with a wide range of complications and symptoms. Before addressing the virus, AIDS it is important to understand that HIV is the first stage of the disease and then as the disease becomes worse, it progresses into AIDS. HIV is not an airborne virus or a bacteria that can be transmitted in the water instead it is passed from person to person through bodily fluids. These bodily fluids can be anything from blood to vaginal secretions and there is currently not a vaccine to protect the public so being informed is key to protecting oneself from the virus. The most common...
Words: 1173 - Pages: 5
...1. Problem Statement of the Case The case is about to design an effective national AIDS awareness campaign for the people of Mexico which will create social awareness regarding AIDS prevention and treatment and also make social norms that will induce them to adopt AIDS preventive measures(Objective) so that they can save from Aids (Success Measures) even that they are infecting by Aids on a regular basis (Constraints). 2. Central Issue of the Case: The central issues of the case are given in the following matrix: Importance High Low Urgency High • Identify the potential target audience. • Determine the appropriate communication program which will break the barriers to HIV/ AIDS social marketing in Mexico and will create awareness to them irrespective of their sex, literacy, and geographic location. • Design an effective AIDS awareness message which is simple, believable, appealing and forceful to the target adults and will instigate public dialogue • Determine whether to use only advertising tool or integrated marketing communications tools to reach most adults. • Establish social norms through the AIDS awareness program so that adults do not view AIDS as stigma, feel free to have open sex-discussion and get encouraged to become aware of AIDS and preventive measures as a part of their lives Low • Identify the possible barriers in properly getting the message to the right people. • Create awareness regarding intravenous drug users. 3. Case Problems • Language...
Words: 1546 - Pages: 7
...Aids is becoming a worldwide epidemic. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus causes the body’s immune system to be weak and useless in fighting even the smallest illnesses. Aids became prevalent in the USA in early 1980’s when the center for disease control recognized a rare virus among five healthy gay men. “This marked the first official reports of what became known as the AIDS epidemic.” ( http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/aids-timeline/) AIDS/HIV is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The rapid spread of this virus is largely due to unprotected sex, blood transfusions, IV drug use, and mother to child. A lack of education, social economics, and access to health care are among the major factors that play a large role in this Global epidemic. Underdeveloped countries such as South Africa, Brazil, and Kenya are among some of the largest prevalence. The United States is not excluded from the list of countries facing this wide spread disease. This disease has no boundaries and affects every country. The lack of education in the subject of how the virus spreads as well as the lack of literacy in a nation is an important factor in the spread of the HIV virus. Due to the high stigmatization of people living with HIV and the world wide misunderstanding of the disease causes many people and governments to just ignore this disease. Fear of the unknown adds to the fuel and causes...
Words: 1126 - Pages: 5
...Running Head: AIDS AIDS Michael W. McAlister Baker College Center for Graduate Studies Table of Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 History 6 Origin 9 The Hunter Theory 9 The Ingestion Theory 9 Polio Vaccination Theory 10 The Conspiracy Theory 10 Spread 11 Research 12 Infection 13 Prevention 13 Cure 14 Conclusion 15 References 16 Abstract This library research paper will provide the reader with a history of AIDS, where and how it originated as well as the public’s common belief of how AIDS was transmitted to humans, subsequently creating an unstoppable pandemic. This article provides scientific substantiation on the spread infection and prevention of the disease as it known today. Introduction A pandemic is an epidemic of an infectious disease that spreads through human populations across a large regions such as a continent or spreads worldwide (Pandemic, 2010). Since the eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds, the United States has battled many pandemics and outbreaks of various diseases that have had devastating effects on the public health during the periods they existed by causing thousands of deaths. Pandemics such as the polio pandemic which broke out in 1916 was responsible for killing 6,000 people, the great influenza of 1918 also known as the Spanish Flu was responsible for killing 50 to 100 million people in just six months (The Worst Outbreaks of Disease, n.d.). The number of people killed by this...
Words: 3230 - Pages: 13
...OBJECTIVE STATEMENT This PSA has been made with the objective of raising awareness to treat people having AIDS equally and respectfully. We live in a society that values openness and acceptance of difference, yet many people with HIV face unfair stigma and discrimination. No group experiences it more that those who live with HIV, and it is especially evident in the health care setting. We get nervous. We avoid the subject. We look away. We don't want to know. We may not like to admit this to ourselves, but we don't really like to talk about AIDS, and worse still, we don't know how to act around people with AIDS. We'd rather avoid them.One of the most important changes we should make is to stop using the term victim to refer to people who are living with AIDS. By calling someone an AIDS victim we are saying that he or she is powerless in the face of this disease and should have no hope. | Each day there are more and more people with HIV/AIDS who are refused love, understanding, generosity and thoughtfulness by other people in society. What have they done wrong? Nothing! They have done nothing wrong except that they have the HIV virus in their bodies. They have a disease, that all. Is it fair that society should reject them? Every human being must pass through birth, old age, sickness and death. HIV/AIDS is simply one kind of disease. People who have HIV or who are sick with AIDS are simply people with a disease or who are ill, that's all. They are not different from other people...
Words: 540 - Pages: 3
...“1992 Republican National Convention Address: A Whisper of AIDS” by May Fisher (1992) at the American Rhetoric website I read the Mary Fisher story. There are plenty of bias and fallacies examples Mary speaks of in this article. Mostly talking about how people are prejudiced and judgmental against people with the HIV virus. How people show no compassion and are so very cruel to the AIDS victims. Mary talks about how her family has shown affection to her through this difficult time but there are many other AIDS victims out there that do not have that. What they get are people being mean and treating them as outcasts. Some examples of rhetorical devices in this article could be where Mary talks about the black infant struggling with tubes in the hospital or the lonely gay man whose family has rejected him. The speaker addresses arguments and counterarguments by talking about how AIDS is not a political creature. She talks about how fast the AIDS virus is spreading and how dangerous it is. The statement that you cry and grieve alone and do not tell anyone that someone was HIV positive and that we should be able to reach out for compassion is very true. The speaker argues that people with the AIDS virus tolerate ignorance from the people who do not have AIDS. In my opinion I would not be cruel to someone who has the AIDS virus. They are still human just as I am. I would only take precautions to ensure my own safety but would not treat them as though they are a monster. ...
Words: 389 - Pages: 2
...Aids Currently, there are an estimated 42 million people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. AIDS stands for: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome and is a currently recognized disease. AIDS is transmitted through blood, sexual intercourse, blood transfusions, needle drug users, and from mothers to babies during birth. The disease is brought about by the HIV-1 virus. HIV-1 stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and can remain dormant for years after which it will begin to attack the bodys T-cells and white cells which helps fight off the infection. The disease attacks selected cells in the immune system and causes them to function defectively. These deficiencies may not be apparent for years. They lead to the suppression of the immune system's ability to combat harmful organisms. This leaves the body open to invasion by various infections, which are called opportunistic diseases, and to the development of unusual cancers. The virus also affects certain brain cells. As HIV terrorizes the immune system, the person looses more and more t cells until they reach a point where they have below 200 t cells per cubic millimeter of blood. This means that the immune system is so devastated that it will now be susceptible to infections and viruses that the body cannot fight off. Thus, people do not die from AIDS itself, but rather from an illness or infection that takes opportunity of the weakened immune system, leaving the body with no defense. People are not aware of all the risks and...
Words: 1302 - Pages: 6
