Aids

Running head: AIDS EPIDEMIC

AIDS Epidemic

Abstract

The global HIV/ AIDS pandemic constitutes one of the most pressing threats known to mankind. Over the past 20 years, more than 65 million people have become infected with HIV/ AIDS. More than 25 million have died. 1 Roughly 14 million children have lost one or both parents due to AIDS. By 2010 it is estimated that approximately 100 million people will have been infected and that there will be 25 million AIDS orphans worldwide. A humanitarian catastrophe of incomparable proportions, the

Pandemic is also a threat to global economic and geopolitical stability and a critical strategic threat to the United States.

References

AIDS. (2007, February 10). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 10, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Geneva, & UNAIDS. (2004). 2004 Report on the Global Aids Epidemic, Retrieved from

http://www.netlibrary.com.ezproxy.apus.edu

Council on Foreign Relations. Addressing the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: A U.S. Global AIDS Strategy for the Long Term.

New York, NY, USA: Council on Foreign Relations, 2004.

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/apus/

Centers for Disease Control. Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia among homosexual men--New York City and California. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 30(25):305-308, 1981. PubMed; PMID 6789108

AIDS is an extremely serious disorder that results from severe damage to the body's defenses against disease. It often leads to death. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS was first identified in 1981 in the United States, primarily among homosexuals and intravenous drug users who shared needles. Several years later, the causative agent of AIDS--human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)--was discovered. This discovery coincided with the growing recognition of AIDS in the United States as part of a global infectious disease pandemic. Since that time, more than 1.5 million people in the United States have been infected with HIV, including more than 500,000 who have already died.

AIDS is caused by one of the group of viruses called retroviruses. Research teams in France and the United States made independent discoveries of the virus. French researchers discovered a virus that they linked to AIDS in 1983. They named it the lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). In 1984, American researchers isolated a virus as the cause of AIDS, calling it the human T-lymphotrophic virus type III. These two viruses were later found to be the same virus.

The AIDS virus attacks certain white blood cells that form a key part of the body's immune system. The virus kills these cells, called T-helper cells. This destruction of the T-helper cells make AIDS victims susceptible to certain illnesses that are normally not serious. These illnesses are called opportunistic because they take advantage of damage to the immune system.

Infection with the AIDS virus can produce symptoms often associated with other, less serious conditions. With AIDS, however, these symptoms are usually prolonged. They include enlarged lymph glands, tiredness, fever, loss of appetite and weight, diarrhea, and night sweats. The AIDS virus may also infect the brain or central nervous system, resulting in such symptoms as thinking or memory disorders and coordination problems.

People with AIDS also suffer from severe opportunistic illnesses. Bacteria, virus, fungi and parasites cause opportunistic infections. There are about 12 such illnesses that affect AIDS patients. Pneumocystics carinii pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma are the most common, afflicting about 85 per cent of people with AIDS. Pneumocystic carinii pneumonia, a parasitic infection of the lung, is the leading cause of death among AIDS patients. Karposis sarcoma is a form of cancer that usually arises in the skin and looks like a bruise, but grows and spreads. Many people do not develop any symptoms when they first become infected with HIV. Others have many of the AIDS symptoms but none of the opportunistic illnesses. These symptoms usually disappear within a week to a month and are often mistaken for another viral infection. Some of these patients may develop AIDS. During this period, the quantity of the virus in the body will be high and it spreads to different parts, particularly the lymphoid tissue. At this stage, the infected person is more likely to pass on the infection to others. The viral quantity then drops as the body's immune system launches an orchestrated fight.

Researchers have identified three ways in which the AIDS virus is transmitted: (1) intimate sexual contact, (2) exposure to infected blood, and (3) transmission from an infected pregnant woman to her fetus. The most common way of becoming infected is through sexual contact. Sexual transmission of the AIDS virus has occurred mainly among homosexual men, but it has also occurred among bisexual and heterosexual men and woman. The AIDS virus also afflicts intravenous drug users, who can be exposed to infected blood by sharing hypodermic needles and syringes. Transfusion recipients and hemophiliacs have contracted the virus from the blood or plasma of infected donors. Infected pregnant women can transmit the AIDS virus to her child even if she has no symptoms. Women are more susceptible to the HIV infection than men. Data from a number of studies suggest that male-to-female transmission during sex is about twice as likely to occur as female-to-male transmission, if no other sexually transmitted infections are present.

A test for detecting the signs of the AIDS virus in the blood became widely available in 1985. The test determines the presence of antibodies to the AIDS virus. The use of the AIDS virus antibody test on donated blood has greatly introduced the chances of contracting the virus from transfusions.

Many treatments for AIDS have been tried, but a cure for the disease of AIDS- virus infection has yet to be found. Some patients have responded to efforts to strengthen their immune system. Researchers have studied several experimental drugs that stop the growth of the AIDS virus in laboratory cultures. One of these, the antiviral drug azidothymidine (AZT), has prolonged