Understanding The Epidemic of The Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, simply know as HIV, is a virus that infects the immune system cells that defend against viruses and converts them into viruses and reproduces theses same virus cells. With less immune system cells it becomes harder to stay in good health. The virus spreads by the transfer of body fluids from a person who has HIV including blood, semen, breast milk, and other body fluids. Main ways of driving the spread of HIV is sexual intercourse and sharing used needles or drug equipment. HIV quickly became an epidemic not only in the US but throughout the world beginning in 1981 with the first case detected. By 1983 the outbreak had shown its destructive strength according to UC San Francisco (2011), there was as many as 3,000 AIDS infection, which is caused by HIV, and 1,000 deaths.

The first man to be cured of HIV was Timothy Ray Brown, a patient who contracted HIV was diagnosed with leukemia and required a bone marrow transplant with this transplant his HIV was cured. This was because he coincidentally the match for Brown had a mutation in the same cells the virus effects. Although this has not been able to replicate because of the extreme rarity of finding a bone marrow that has this same mutation Brown seems to be cured of HIV and has been living off his antiretroviral therapy medication ever since. This problem exists today because there is no actual cure for HIV, however, antiretroviral therapy (ART) which can slow the disease progression.

Another issue is that 1.1 million people in the U.S. live with HIV today, however, 1 in 7 are unaware they have it. This happens worldwide with no boundaries, and the source of HIV is identified to be a chimpanzee in West Africa and in 1959 the first man with the disease was from Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, today the concentration is in eastern and southern Africa at 53%. The risks for the community in the future are trying to maintain surveillance on the needs of HIV victims, the new infections, trying to prevent further infections and care. Another risk for communities in the future is due to the virus's ability to mutate and become resistant to new developing HIV treatment. The highest communities at risk and the most affected in the United States are gay, bisexual men, or transgender women who have sex with men.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus deaths have been on the reducuing ever since 1996 in the United States and Europe this can be attributed to the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This, however, is only a treatment option and not a cure. Because there is no cure for HIV there are to solve the problem we look at prevention measures including these two procedures. The first is a public health behavioral intervention program which is information provision like awareness for the transmission of the disease. This includes preventing the disease from being tested and making sure your partner is, having safe sex, using sterile needles and limiting sexual partners. The second prevention measure is a medicine called Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PeEP) which is a pill that must be taken every day and is used for those who do not have HIV but are at high risk for contracting it.

The most effective way to avoid the contraction of HIV is to make sure all of your partners are tested for HIV because the leading cause of transmission is through sexual intercourse. Not only this but also to increase the national condom programs, by providing condoms to low and middle-income countries this could effectively reduce the newly affected number. Prevention can include many factors the last valuable one I am going to discuss is male circumcision in high-risk areas. This is important because with male circumcision there is a reduced risk in contracting HIV.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PeEP) is used to prevent permanent infection of HIV in high-risk areas. This is highly effective at 92% and very useful prevention tool. It can also be used in combination with other preventative measures to further reduce the risk. This pill is meant to be taken daily or its infection rate increases. You must see a health care provider every 3 months and take consistently. The problem still had not been solved by other countries however measures have been taken in the past including from the United Nation, and African Countries. Looking back till June 2001 in the United Nations, the “global emergency” an initiative was set up to establish HIV/AIDS prevention. They established goals to reduce the infection rate by 25% in the age group of 15-24 years old and 20% in infants. Some way they planned on doing so is through actions such as inexpensive condoms, early detection of HIV, elective testing, sexual education and much more. These proved effective and has been helpful in reducing the number of infected in the United Nations. Africa is another place that would prove beneficial to look at with the African Union (AU) established in 2012. They established a program of shared responsibility which provided financial support in response to HIV and sustainability. This helps show the political understanding of the epidemic and allowed for funding in order to prevent the disease and allowed for assistance for those who are affected. This epidemic was costly for many countries but through these programs, we can see a reduction in those who are newly infected with HIV.

In conclusion from the literature, we can see that what should be done to prevent the recurrences of this problem is to get tested and make sure that your sexual partner does not carry the HIV disease. The second prevention mechanism is to have less risky sex meaning to use a condom and to know your sexual partner, also you can push for this preventative measure by advocating for national condom programs to provide condoms for those who cannot afford them. The third example to prevent the transmission of this disease is to always use sterile needles not only in healthcare but if you are injecting drugs to be safe and not share them. Lastly, if you are in a high-risk area take the pre-exposure prophylaxis which will help reduce the risk of contracting the disease if you do have sexual intercourse with a carrier of HIV. In my opinion, I believe that prevention is the key to defeating HIV and there needs to be more awareness of the impact of living with HIV and how it's transmitted. This is because the largest group of newly infected are gay or bisexual at 50%. Therefore, there may not be an awareness of how the disease can be transmitted through other means besides the traditional s between sex between a male and female. I believe that it is extremely to defeat the spread of HIV and that the only hope to eradicate the disease is through finding a cure because even if you take the preventive measures there is still a chance that you contract the disease.