Rate of HIV in the World
Introduction
The rate of HIV has increased greatly in most countries. Most of the developing countries and developed countries have recorded high incidences of HIV. Though the countries have established measures to curb the spread of HIV, the disease has spread a lot. This is according to World health organization. Since HIV was discovered more than 20 million people have died of HIV in the world. In 2009 1.7 million people died of Aids .In 2004, the number of people who died of Aid were estimated to be 2.1 million. A total of 260,000 children in the world died of aids in 2009.
Most of the Aid deaths occur in Sub Sahara Africa and this affects countries located in sub Sahara negatively. For instance, Aid has led to slow economic growth in sub Saharan countries. This is because the countries have to spend the resources available in fighting AIDs. In addition, the increase in deaths resulting from HIV in sub-Saharan countries has resulted to high poverty levels. Since 2009, the disease has claimed many people in the world. Patients use antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV. The drugs are used to reduce the number of deaths caused by the disease and also reduce the morbidity of HIV. This paper analyzes HIV. It analyzes its history, symptoms, treatment and transmission of the disease.
Discussion I
1.A History
(HIV is a kind of lentivirus that results to AIDs. AIDs affect the immune system allowing opportunistic infections and other diseases to affect the health of the person infected. People have different views about the origin of HIV. For example, scientists differ on the origin of HIV. Some scientist’s argue that HIV is similar to SIV virus. SIV virus is found in monkeys and apes. The scientist argues that the SIV virus might have entered the body of human beings and hence resulted to HIV. Most people during the olden days eat apes and monkeys and also captured animals to sell in the zoo and shops (Poindexter 2011).The HIV virus resulted from the slaughtering of apes that were infected with SIV virus. Blood from the apes entered the body through the cuts and sires on the hand.
After entering the body, the SIV viruses mutated and hence became HIV. The HIV virus was discovered in 1986 in Africa. The number of people having HIV has increased greatly since 1986.For example; the number of people living with HIV in developing nations has increased due to lack of proper care and poverty. The deaths linked with the infection have also increased as people are not able to access drugs. The death rates and infections have reduced in countries where people get drugs.For example, developed countries recorded low rates of HIV infections in 2009 as stated below (Poindexter 2011).
II
2. A Symptoms
People having HIV show different symptoms. First, people having HIV have low level of CD4+ T cell. The ‘CD4+ T cell’ count is always low. In addition, people having HIV have high viral load. There are various phases of infection. That is acute infection, latency and AIDs. The first stage is acute infection. The acute infection stage can last for several weeks. During this time the patient shows different symptoms and signs. Most of the patients have fever during acute infection phase. In addition, the patients have swollen lymph nodes. Also, the patients have sore throat and rash. Also, patients might experience muscle pains. Apart from showing the signs listed above, patients show other signs during the acute stage. For example, the patients have mouth sores and esophageal sores (Lashley &Durham 2009).
The second stage is the latency stage. In the latency stage patients can show some symptoms or no symptoms at all. The latency stage can last from two weeks to almost 20 years. In other cases the latency stage can take more than 20 years. People who are infected with HIV are not aware that they have the HIV virus. This is because they do not show any symptoms. Most people having HIV virus can infect their partners because they do not they have it. The virus is active in the body during the latency stage and it damages the immune system. Diagnosing the infection during this time is hard and doctors have to carry out a positive HIV antibody test so as to indentify the infection. People who are infected with HIV can remain healthy for long and fail to show any symptoms. Some patients having HIV remain positive for several years before getting other infections. Other people get Aids and die within early. The common symptom during the latency stage is swollen glands (Lashley &Durham 2009).
The third stage of HIV infection is minor symptomatic stage. Most of the patients begin to show minor symptoms of HIV infections and also early signs. The third stage starts when the HIV antibodies in the body start to show the following symptoms.HIV patients show a wide range of symptoms during the third stage. First, the patients have swollen lymph nodes. The lymph nodes in different parts of the body like neck, groin are always swollen. Also, the patients have regular fever and herpes zoster. During this stage, patients begin to have skin rashes and infections on their nails. The third stage of HIV infection has been associated with regular sores. Patients infected with HIV always have regular sores. The sores come and go. For instance, the patients can have sores in the mouth. Further, the patients have respiratory infections. The patient can get respiratory diseases regularly. Lastly, the patients tend to loose 10% of their body weight and always feel tired and sick (Lashley &Durham 2009).
Another stage is the major symptomatic stage. This stage is characterized by occurrence of opportunistic infections. Most of the patients having HIV get opportunistic infections. This is because the immune system is not able to function as expected because of the HIV infection. The CD4 cell count in the body also becomes low and the viral loads increase. Patients show different signs during this stage. First, patients have regular oral thrush inflectional and vaginal thrush infections. The thrush infections are recurrent. Also, the patients have recurrent herpes diseases like cold sores and bacterial infections that affect the skin. Also, the patients have fever that lasts for more than one month and always sweat at night. Other symptoms include regular diarrhea that lasts for more than one month. In addition, the patients have unrelenting coughs and tuberculosis (Lashley &Durham 2009).
The last stage of HIV infection is the Aids stage. Patients get Aids when they enter the last stage of HIV infection. Patients can take 18 months before developing Aids. The symptoms of HIV infection become acute during the last stage and patients are infected by organism that cannot be treated using antibiotics. Most of the organisms are resistant to antibiotics. In addition, the immune system also deteriorates during the last stage and this exposes the patients to opportunistic infections. Patients having Aids are thin and emaciated due to diarrhea and vomiting. Also, the sores in the mouth and thrush become painful and make it hard for the patient to eat and hence this leads to emaciation. The Lymph nodes are bigger as they exceed one centimeter in diameter. Also, the patients have severe skin diseases like ring words and warts. Most of the patients infected with HIV/AIDs always have diseases that are linked with the Nervous system. For example, the patients always complain of pains in the hands and feet. Also, the patients have neurological disorders like loss of memory and vision. Lastly, the patients can have sexually transmmited diseases (Libman, Makadon &American College of physicians 2007).
III
3. ATransmission
People have identified different methods through which HIV can be transmitted, but a large percentage of the methods do not lead to transmission of HIV. HIV can be transmitted via three methods. That is blood, transfusion, sexual contact and from mother to child. First, HIV can be transmitted via blood transfusion. This happens when a patient gets blood that is contaminated. People are supposed to be keen when getting bloods transfusion so as to avoid getting HIV. The blood should be screened thoroughly before being used. Screening the blood helps indentify blood that has HIV virus and pure blood.
Apart from blood transfusion, people can get HIV when blood that is infected comes into contact with an open wound. Most of the people who use intravenous drugs can get HIV as they always have open wounds. Reusing needles also leads to HIV. Most of the developing countries are not able to offer quality care. This is due to lack of adequate financial resources to purchase hospital equipment like needles. This leads to sharing of needles and hence infections. Health care professionals lime nurses and doctors are supposed to protect themselves from blood contact and thus prevent infections. There are other practices can lead to transmission of HIV apart from blood contact. Sharing of razor blades and ear piercing can lead to HIV. People should be careful when getting ear piercing and also avoid sharing of razor blades and other sharp objects (Triggle 2008).
Moreover, children can get HIV from their mothers. Transmission of HIV virus from mother to child during birth is a big problem in developed nations and developing nations. Most of the countries have developed strategies to prevent the transmission of HIV from the mother to the infant either during breastfeeding or birth. Most of the infants can get HIV when they breastfeed milk from infected mothers. Most studies have proved that infants are likely to get infection during birth and when breastfeeding if the mother does not get the right treatment. The transmission rate is almost 25%.However, the rate of contracting HIV during birth is low when the doctors use cesarean section during birth and also provide the mother with antiretroviral drugs. Also, mothers can avoid transmitting the virus to infants after birth by not breast feeding the child. Further, exclusive breastfeeding of the child helps prevent HIV infection. In addition, provision of antiretroviral prophylaxis to infants who are breastfeeding helps reduce the chances of getting HIV virus (Levy 2007).
Additionally, HIV is transmitted sexually. Most of the HIV infections are acquired via unprotected sexual relationships. This happens when secretions from a person having HIV cone into contact with the genital of their sexual partners. The rate of HIV infections in many countries has increased due to increase in number of people having unprotected sex. This has in turn increased the deaths resulting from HIV /AIDs and hence forced the government to provide safety precautions. Most of the countries provide protective measures like condoms. Using condoms reduces the chances of getting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV. Apart from the methods listed above, there are other practices in the society that lead to transmission of HIV virus. First, female genital cutting increases the chances of getting HIV. This happens when people use tools that are contaminated. For example, using the same tool to circumcise several people can lead to infection if one person in the group is infected. Also, circumcision of the young boys can also make them contract HIV if they are circumcised using contaminated tools as stated above (Levy 2007).
There are other methods and practices that have been associated with contraction of HIV in the world, but they have not been proved. For instance, researchers argue that HIV can be transmitted through saliva and tears from a person who is infected. Also, HIV can be transmitted through urine of a person who has HIV. However, there is no enough evidence to show that HIV can be transmitted through these methods. Other people argue that mosquito’s bites also cause HIV, but it has not been proved (Gifford, Lorig, Laurent, et al, 2010).
IV.
4. A. HIV Statistics in the world
In 2009,the number of people who had HIV/AID was almost 33.3 million. This is according to a HIV/Aids report published by UNAIDs in 2010. The number of women who were infected in the 2009 was almost 30.8 million. In addition, the number of children who were infected was 2.5 million. People who were infected with HIV in 2009 were almost 2.6 million. Adults infected with HIV accounted for approximately 2.2 million and the children formed o.4 million. The number of deaths m Aids in 2009 were 1.8 million people. The rate of HIV is high in sub Saharan Africa. Nearly 1.8 people were infected with HIV in 2009 in sub-Saharan Africa. West and central; Europe had 2.6 million people infected with HIV in 2009. 68% of patients having HIV are found in sub Saharan Africa and this has affected the sub Saharan countries greatly. The number of HIV infections in the world has reduced due to use of antiretroviral therapy. Also, the number of peopled dying of AIDs has reduced because people are able to use antiretroviral drugs and improve the quality of life (AVERT 2011).
V
A treatment of HIV
There is no cure for HIV/AID, but there are different drugs that have been developed to treat the disease. There are different drugs that are used to treat the disease like the antiretroviral drugs. Antiretroviral drugs are drugs that are used to treat retroviruses like HIV. The drugs are aimed at reducing the rate of HIV in the blood. This helps improved the healthy of the person and make him or her live for long. Patients having HIV are required to take the drugs for the rest of their life. Some times the patients are required to take three drugs or four at the same time. This is called the HIV active antiretroviral therapy. There are different types of antiretroviral drugs. The drugs are grouped according to different stages of the retrovirus cycle shown by the drugs.
Examples of the ARV drugs include ‘nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)’ and ‘ integrase inhibitors’. The NRTIs infringe the actions if the reverse trscriptase protein and hence lower the rate of HIV in the body. The HAART being used to treat HIV is made up of three classes of ARV drugs. That is two NRTIS and a protease inhibitor. The HAART also consists of two NARTIs or NRTIs and a NNRTI. The therapy should be started when the CD4 count is below 350. In addition, it should be used when a person has a CD4 cell count that ranges between 350 and 500.The entry inhibitors are used to treated patients who have viruses that are resistant to the therapies that are currently being used. The therapy does not cure the disease or eliminate all the symptoms. Patients are not supposed to stop the treatment as this leads to increase in levels of HIV-1. The use of the therapy has led to improvement in the quality of life and reduction in morbidity and mortality of HIV patients. Most of the HIV patients are able to live for long due to the therapy.
Also, the therapy has helped reduce the effect of the HIV infection like pain and opportunistic infections. Though, the drugs have helped reduce the level of HIV in the body. Most people infected with HIV in the world are not able to access the treatment. This is because it is expensive. The therapy also has side effects. The therapy has led to suppression of HIV to levels that are lower than expected. This has made it hard to detect HIV. Withdrawing the treatment leads to increase in viral loads and decreases the CD4+T-cells.In most cases withdrawal of the treatment results to Aids (Gichocki 2009).
Conclusion
In conclusion, HIV is a lentivirus. There are other kinds of lentivirus like SIV virus. Most people including scientists have linked the origin of HIV with the mutation of SIV virus. The scientists claim that the SIV virus in monkeys entered the human’s body through cuts and sores and changed to HIV. People having HIV show different symptoms. The symptoms exhibited by HIV patients depend on the stage of infection. There dared five stages of HIV infection. The patients loose weight and have swollen glands. Also, the patients suffer from opportunistic infections and herpes zoster. Most countries have relied on antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV and minimized the effects of the infection. The HAART therapy has been effective in treating the disease and hence reduced HIV infections and deaths. Almost 2.6 people in the world had HIV in 2009.The infection is mainly transmitted through sexual contact, blood transfusion and transmission from mother to child. It also results from sharing needles etc.
Reference
AVERT. HIV and AIDS estimates 2009. Retrieved from http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm on 1/06/2011
Gichocki,M.Living with HIV. A Patient’s Guide. McFarland, 2009
Gifford,A.L.,Lorig,K.,Laurent,D.,et al. Living well with HIV & AIDS. Bull Pub., 2005
Poindexter,C.C.Handbook of HIV and social work: principles, practices, and populations. John Wiley and Sons,2010
Libman,H.,Makadon,H.J.,&American college of physicians.HIV. ACP Press, 2007
Levy,J.A.HIV and the pathogenesis of AIDS. Wiley-Blackwell, 2007
Lashley,F.R.,&Durham,J.D.The person with HIV/AIDS.Nursing perspectives. Springer Publishing Company, 2009
Triggle,D.J.HIV/AIDS Treatment Drugs. Infobase Publishing, 2008
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