The Nature Transmission Prevention And Treatment Of

The Nature, Transmission, Prevention, And Treatment Of The HIV/AIDS Essay, Research Paper

Arthur Ashe is an admirable and well known

American tennis player who won many championships. He became the first

African American male to win the men.s Wimbledon title in 1975. Also, he

was on the United States Davis Cup team from 1963 until 1984. Some of his

other major accomplishments include helping to form what is now the Association

of Tennis Professionals and winning the Australian Open, the United States

Open, and the French Open. Ashe lived a wonderful and successful life:

however, in 1983, disaster struck! Ashe acquired an incurable disease through

a tainted blood transfusion. This disease killed him in 1993. What is this

incurable disease that still haunts the lives of so many people. This is

a disease known as AIDS. AIDS is a fatal disease without a cure and a disease

that responds to little treatment. How can the spread of AIDS be stopped.

This paper will discuss the nature of the AIDS virus, the transmission

and the prevention of transmission, as well as the available treatments

for people with this disease.

First of all, AIDS is an acronym for Acquired

Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is acquired which means that it is not

passed down from generation to generation through a person.s genes. AIDS

is a disease that attacks the immune system, a system in the body that

produces white blood cells in order to fight off diseases. This disease

causes the immune system to be deficient, or weakened, so that it cannot

properly fight off diseases. AIDS is a syndrome, or a group of illnesses

with many possible symptoms that can occur together in a weakened condition.

AIDS is a pandemic, meaning that it can be found on all continents. The

disease was discovered in 1983, by a French cancer specialist, Luc Montagnier,

along with other scientists, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. However,

there were AIDS cases reported as early as the 1950.s. “The 80s will go

down as the decade that AIDS began. We want to know, – Why” (Bevan 27).

One of the reasons is the promiscuity of sexually active people during

the 1980s and the sharing of intravenous hypodermic needles and syringes

by drug users.

Secondly, AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency

virus, or HIV. This virus attacks the antibodies in a person.s immune system,

thereby disabling that system. HIV works in an unusual way because it uses

the immune system to its advantage. Viruses cannot live unless they are

inside of a living cell called a host. The virus uses the host cell to

reproduce themselves, causing the cell to die in the process. The new virii

are then set free. The HIV virus attacks T4 lymphocytes, which are a special

type of white blood cell. These cells are the body.s method of defense.

Without them, humans are susceptible to disease and infection. It is not

HIV that kills people, but the opportunistic infections people get because

of a weakened immune system. Bevan characterizes HIV by saying, “It.s the

sneakiest virus of all. It goes for the crucial link in the immune system,

the cells at the heart of the fightback effort” (Bevan 24). This is why

HIV is so dangerous.

Being HIV positive does not mean that a

person has full-blown AIDS, and not everyone who gets HIV develops full-blown

AIDS. When one fully develops AIDS, the signs and symptoms become more

evident. These symptoms include: “a failing immune system, persistent swollen

lymph nodes and opportunistic infections” (Stine 114). A common example

of a skin disorder caused by AIDS is Kaposi.s sarcoma. That is, “a multifocal,

spreading cancer of connective tissue, principally involving the skin;

it usually begins on the toes or the feet as reddish blue or brownish soft

nodules and tumors” (Stine 442). Lymph nodes are gland-like forms that

help stop the spread of infection. When they become persistently swollen,

one can develop lymphadenopathy syndrome or LAS. This condition can bring

on mild symptoms of fever and weight loss. Other signs of full-blown AIDS

include oral lesions such as thrush and hairy leukoplakia. People may also

develop kidney disorders and gastrointestinal diseases like severe diarrhea

that can cause weight loss.

Since AIDS is such a serious incurable

disease, it is important to know how the disease is transmitted. One method

of transmission is via bodily fluids by having sex. This includes all forms

of sex: vaginal sex, anal sex, and oral sex. The transmission also occurs

in many other sexual activities. The human immunodeficiency virus can be

transmitted through vaginal secretions in women to men by way of the bloodstream.

In the same way, men can pass HIV to women in their semen. Men can also

pass it to other men by way of bodily fluids if the men are bisexual or

homosexual The more sexual pa

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