Benchmark Assignment: HIV Epidemiology Paper
Dawn Hickey-Johnson
Grand Canyon University

Benchmark Assignment: HIV Epidemiology Paper

“The global trends and adverse health impact of HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and TB remain among the major and urgent public health challenges of our time. These conditions account for substantial morbidity and mortality, with devastating fiscal and emotional costs to individuals, families, and societies. Despite decades of investment and support, the U.S. still experiences a disproportionate burden of these conditions compared with other Western industrialized nations, with substantial health disparities being observed across population subgroups and geographic regions.” (Hazel D. Dean, ScD, MPH Kevin A. Fenton, MD, PhD, 2010) This paper will focus specifically on HIV/AIDS. “ Genetic research indicates that HIV originated in west-central Africa during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
· AIDS was first recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1981 and its cause, HIV, identified in the early 1980s. ("STOP AIDS," 2009) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS) is a disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). HIV attacks the human immune system, and progressively reduces its effectiveness, leaving the host susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors. Due to the extended incubation period, the time between being infected with the virus and the manifestation of symptoms, an infected individual can transmit these the virus to other hosts unknowingly. The period between infection and the appearance of AIDS can take from 7 to 12 years, resulting in AIDS having reached pandemic proportions. The first cases were reported in 1981 and in 2007 it was estimated that more than 33 million people worldwide suffered from the disease and over 2 million