AIDS 101- What You Absolutely Need to Know by Mansi gupta
Introduction Due both to the
stigma and the awareness program attached with it, now AIDS has become a common
household term. There are very less people who actually know that the exact word
is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS in short. Because of the morbidity
and mortality attached and also because of the ignorance about it there are lots
and lots of myths against this deadly disease. This alone shows the anxiety and
concern of the general mass.
History The virus for this disease is thought to have transmitted from simian
monkeys in the forests of Africa to humans and from there it traveled to USA and
different countries. It was brewing in the bodies till in 1981 in USA the Center
for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) recognized it for the first time and
reported that there was an unexplained occurrence of an unusual pneumonia in a
few homosexuals. Soon the disease was to be found in intravenous drug users. But
it was only in 1983 that the causative virus was isolated from a patient and
then further classified. Obviously because of the ignorance initially the
information was confined to only certain specific institutions in the early
1980s. Then as the disease became more prevalent and showed its mortality
pattern more and more people became aware of this disease. Today it's a topic of
concern for every type of doctor be it a family physician, obstetrician,
dentist, dermatologist or any other field.
HIV and AIDS AIDS is a disease, as the name suggests, in which the person over a
period of time loses his power of immunity to fight infections and hence he is a
prey to a host of infections which otherwise wont have occurred. The causative
organism is a virus called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. On gaining entry
into the body of a subject through another patient's body fluids such as blood,
blood products, semen, etc. the virus remains in the lymphatic system and gets
replicated. Then over a period of years it reduces the body's immune system.
Current problem The problem is so severe that according to CDC, till 2003 the
number of AIDS cases in USA are 1.2 million and the number are still increasing
and 40,000 new cases get infected each year in whole of USA.
Diseases associated with aids There are many different diseases associated with
this disease ranging from all types of bacterial infections to viral infections
and other protozoal and helminthic infections.
Management The disease is managed by a whole lot of drugs because of the
inability of the scientists to develop a vaccine against it. The drugs against
it are basically divided into two types. One type prevents against the possible
development of the potential bacterial, viral and helminthic infections and the
other group helps in the killing and preventing replication of HIV. The first
group has drugs such as trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole, clarithromycin,
amphotericin, fluconazole, etc. The latter group has antiviral drugs such as
zidovudine, didanosine, saquinavir, indinavir, enfuvirtide, etc.
Prevention Till there are no effective vaccines available prevention is the best
cost effective treatment available. Adherence to universal precautions meaning
that every body fluid from a patient is considered to be infected from HIV until
proven otherwise should be practiced. Also there are various institutions and
organizations both governmental and non-governmental involved in creating
awareness throughout the world.
About the Author:
Mansi gupta writes about
aids topics. Source: This article is taken from
www.goarticles.com
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