Patients with Aids Can Live a Full Life

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, which is the virus that leads to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) if left untreated. Unlike many other infections, once one has HIV, they will have it for life even if treated. It can be contracted in numerous ways: blood to blood contact (like sharing needles), open wounds, sexual contact (like seminal fluids and genital contact without protection). An infected individual’s immune system is at risk since that is the virus’ main target. The CD4 cells are a type of white blood cells that play a major role in protecting the body from infection. They send signals to activate the body's immune response when they detect “intruders,” like viruses or bacteria. They are at great risk since they are the body's main source of defence. The CD4 cells being under attack by the virus poses a big risk to the infected for more infections or infection related cancers. The HIV infection can destroy so many CD4 cells over time, thus making the infected individual more susceptible to infections and infection related cancers.

There are two strains of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is related to viruses found in chimpanzees and gorillas living in western Africa, while HIV-2 viruses are related to viruses found in the endangered west African primate sooty mangabey.

HIV-1 is the most common and pathogenic strain of the virus. HIV-1 can be divided into group types: Group M, Group N, Group O and Group P. The most common group is Group M, “M” being for major. More than ninety percent of HIV-1 cases are from Group M. The 'N' in group N stands for "non-M, non-O". It is a very rare type of HIV. As of 2015, less than 20 Group N infections have been recorded. The O ("Outlier") group is not usually seen outside of West-central Africa. In 1997 about 2% of all HIV infections were thought to be from group O. This raised awareness cause Type O could not be detected on early HIV tests. Group P was reported to have greater similarity to a simian immunodeficiency virus recently discovered in wild gorillas. HIV-2 has not been widely seen outside of Africa. It has been seen once in the United States back in 1987. There are eight known types for HIV-2 which are types A-H. Groups A and B are both pandemic. All types are confined to West Africa. There has not been a lot of information discovered on HIV-2 due to very little people being infected with it.

Individuals who are infected with HIV-1 or HIV-2 will experience a variety of symptoms through multiple different stages in HIV. The HIV virus progress through three different stages: acute illness, an asymptomatic period and the advanced infection. The acute illness phase lasts for a short period of time with multiple symptoms. Around 80% of patients in the acute stage will experience flu like symptoms. It’s the primary stage of the infection and lasts until the body has created antibodies against the HIV virus. Very common symptoms associated with the acute illness are a body rash which is from dermatitis (see figure 2), it appears reddish or pink and is itchy, HIV patients will also experience fever, sore throat and experience severe headaches. Some more uncommon symptoms HIV patients will experience fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, ulcers in the mouth or on the genitals, muscle aches and joint pain, nausea and vomiting, and night sweats. Symptoms associated with acute illness will only last for one to two weeks then will progress to the asymptomatic period. Throughout the whole asymptomatic period the individual may not experience any symptoms for months or even years. The individual may not appear or even feel sick. This is when the virus is in the body replicating. It may take up to a decade for the individual to develop the advanced infection. Once this happens the virus will break down the immune system initially causing the infected to develop acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) which bears all the same symptoms but a lot more severe.

Although HIV and AIDS is a life threatening virus that is with the individual for life, patients are fully capable of living a normal and full length life with the advanced medications to suppress the progression and the symptoms of HIV, a proper well balanced/nutrient dense diet with regular exercise and by avoiding alcohol and drugs the individual will be able to live a full functioning life. The advanced medical research that has been provided into developing a medication to treat HIV patients improves the quality of life and the life expectancy of the infected individual. The medication works in a variety of ways. It controls the growth of the virus by stopping the infection from getting into healthy cells, improves the overall function of the immune system, and slows and/or suppresses the symptoms of the HIV virus. The FDA has approved over two dozen different types of antiretroviral drugs that are broken into six different groups based on function. The six types are:

Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs)

Non-nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs)

Protease Inhibitors (PIs)

Fusion Inhibitors

CCR5 Antagonis

Integrase Inhibitors

NRTIs make the HIV virus to use incorrect versions of building blocks so infected cells can not make more HIV. NNRTIs (also known as ‘non-nuke’) bind to a specific protein so the HIV virus can't make copies of itself, PIs block a protein that infected cells need to put together new copies of the HIV virus. Fusion Inhibitors are different from NRTIs, NNRTIs and PIs because they block HIV from entering healthy cells rather than affecting the HIV cells themself. CCR5 Antagonis also stops HIV before it gets inside a healthy cell, but in an alternate way than fusion inhibitors. It blocks a specific kind of "hook" on the outside of certain cells so the virus can't plug in. Integrase Inhibitors stop HIV from making copies of itself by blocking a key protein that allows the virus to put its DNA into the healthy cell's DNA. Doctors recommend to take a mixture of these medications, to incorporate all the benefits of the medication. All these medications will improve the life of the individual. These improve the individual's quality of life by suppressing the symptoms and progression of hiv. Since the symptoms of HIV are capable of

making the patient incapable of interacting socially and doing everyday tasks, the medication is then prescribed to reverse all these symptoms thus making the individual feel normal. Along with reversing the symptoms of the virus, the medication is also used to prevent the HIV virus to expanding throughout the body. This