What is HIV/AIDS?
What are the symptoms?
Where did it come from?
What treatments are there and what is the outlook for future treatments?
How should an AIDS or HIV patient be treated? The other person that posted on here is correct it does take a lot to answer this but I will try to at least give you the basics.
1. What are the symptoms? There are no specific symptoms for HIV. In some people there will be persistent flu-like symptoms about 2 weeks after coming in contact with the disease. In addition to the flu-like symptoms there will possibly be a rash on the infected person鈥檚 torso. That is it until the infected person鈥檚 immune system gets so compromised that they develop AIDS. Symptoms for that is an opportunistic infection, purple lesions (Kaposi Sarcoma), Pneumocystis Pneumonia, or about 100 others. By the time a person develops AIDS their immune system is pretty beat up and they could get sick with cat flu or dies from a small infect in a paper cut.
2. Where did it come from? Well that is not easy to answer because it depends on the textbook you read or the website you go to. I agree with the scientists that state that it came from monkeys/chimpanzees. They were being hunted for their meat and their parts. The cuts and scratches that the hunters got from fighting the monkeys are one suggestion another is the consumption of the raw meat. But there are theories that are as broad as an alien invasion to government conspiracy against homosexuals and poor people.
3. What treatments are there and what is the outlook for future treatments? Well, first there is not cure for HIV/AIDS. No, Magic Johnson did not get some miracle cure. He still has HIV and will until there is a cure or he dies. There is treatment for People living with HIV/AIDS. There are 5 types of drugs: Nucleoside/Nucleotide Analogue Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTI), Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTI), Protease Inhibitors (PI), Fixed Dose Combinations, and Fusion Inhibitors. Within each there are between 1 and 10 different types of drugs and each of those have different dosages. Also there are trials going on for a vaccine but there is years from actually happening.
4. How should an AIDS/HIV patient be treated? Well, basically like you would treat any other friend or relative. You can only get HIV through blood to blood contact, unprotected sex (vaginal fluid and semen), and mother to child (breast milk). As long as you avoid coming in contact with those body fluids you are not going to be at risk to get infected with the virus. If you do come in contact with an infected person鈥檚 bodily fluid, get tested. It takes the average person 3-6 months to develop HIV antibodies in there body that are detected by most tests. There are places all over the country that test for free. I have the website address in the 'know your sources' section. Well I know that is a lot to take in but I hope that it gave you at least a little that you can use. The answers to these questions would take an entire medical textbook, and any textbook on this subject would be obsolete in six months. Aids is Acquired Immuno Defiency Sydrome AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is almost always caused by aquiring HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which spreads in the transmission of certain fluids, generally blood, semen and vaginal fluid. HIV attacks a type of white blood cell called T cells, which help the body fight disease. Therefore, the most obvious symptom of HIV infection is a lowered T-cell count.
According to the Centers for Disease Control ( http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml... ), HIV/AIDS was discovered in 1981 in Los Angeles. It is believed to have originated in non-human primates such as chimpanzees, and perhaps spead to humans via a chimp bite. It is now most commonly spread by unprotected sex, although misuse of needles (in drug use, transfusion, or tatoo application) can be responsible as well -- if a needle is re-used for any reason, the virus can be passively carried from one user to another. It's also possible for a child to be born with HIV if the mother has it -- the odds are roughly 25%.
While there is no cure for AIDS, the current most common treatment is called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This regimen can be very complicated, involving a variety of drugs, and side effects include diarrhea, malaise, nausea and fatigue. However, it may extend the patient's life by several years.
An additional approach is to try vaccination against the sort of opportunistic infections that can become much mroe severe for an AIDS sufferer than someone with a healthy immune system.
Current research is focused on simplifying these techniques and reducing their side effects, as well as looking for a vaccine for AIDS itself -- none so far has been found. Organizations seeking a cure or treatment are listed at this URL: http://www.thebody.com/hotlines/internat... |
