Coping with Hiv and Aids - Horrifying or Pleasing?

Coping With HIV and AIDS:

Horrifying or Pleasing?

A Term Paper

Presented to

Professor Tan

Related Subjects Department

SET, MSU-IIT

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

ENGLISH 2 (Writing in the Discipline)

Second Semester, SY 2013-2014

By

Adriel A. Omboy

        March 11, 2014        

Table of contents

1. Introduction

1. Body

1. Immune System

1. Importance of Immune System
2. Relationship between HIV/AIDS with the Immune System

1. HIV theory

1. Differences between HIV and AIDS

1. HIV

1. HIV-1
2. HIV-2

1. AIDS

1. Who are in peril of contracting HIV?

1. What is the evidence that HIV causes AIDS?

1. What is an ART treatment like?

1. Conclusion

1. Bibliography

1. Introduction

Can you imagine yourself having a critical disease? Imagine yourself growing without a family of your own and children and imagining that you know you shall die soon. Perhaps, some of you should not feel that kind of life someone has and that is why you are lucky. Millions of people around the world are suffering from a critical condition, namely HIV and AIDS. Some of them think that this may be a death sentence. Maybe they are right or maybe they are wrong. HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus causes slow but constant damage to the immune system. AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the condition diagnosed when there are groups of related symptoms that are caused by HIV infection or when someone has less than 200 CD4 Cells. This disease makes the body vulnerable to life-threatening illness called opportunistic infections. These diseases are acquired only by humans. There are some treatments released to temporarily fight these diseases. And scientists are in search in finding a cure for HIV and AIDS.

1. Body

1. Immune System

Every day your immune system is busy protecting you from the thousands of germs around you don’t even notice that it is at work. Vaccinations activate your immune system, enabling it to defend the body against germs that are to be encountered. You have no doubt heard about a disease called AIDS. AIDS causes the body to lose its immunity and leaves it unable to protect itself from all sorts of germs. AIDS does this knocking out the immune system’s ability to function (Kawamoto et al, 2009).  We have things inside our bodies that protect us from being sick. These things are found in our immune system. One kind of protector is the B-Cell. B-Cells make immunoglobulins (im-mu-no-glob-u-lins), also called antibodies (an-ti-bod-ies) or Igs. Each has a certain job to do to keep us well. They are like guards. They guard us from getting sick. Their job is to kill germs, such as viruses, fungi, and bacteria that get into our bodies and make us sick (Sara LeBien, 2007).

1. HIV Theory

Many people believe that HIV was originally an animal disease that eventually crossed into humans. This sometimes happens in nature—many other animal diseases, such as the Ebola virus, have appeared among humans. According to this theory, HIV may have come from certain types of monkeys or chimpanzees. There are monkey viruses, called simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) that are closely related to HIV. Some researchers believe that one of those viruses could have turned into HIV and that by hunting and eating chimpanzees, humans may have become infected. There are other—less likely —theories as well. For example, some people think HIV was caused by contaminated polio vaccines, or purposely created as a weapon to kill others. At this point, no one knows the exact source of HIV (Frequently Asked Questions About HIV/AIDS, 2002).

1. Differences Between HIV and AIDS

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus. You may hear that someone is HIV infected, has HIV infection, or has HIV disease. These are all terms that mean the person has HIV in his or her body and can pass the virus to other people. HIV attacks the body’s immune system. The immune system protects the body from infections and disease, but has no clear way to protect it from HIV. Without treatment, most people infected with HIV become less able to fight off the germs that we are exposed to every day. Many of these germs do not usually make a healthy person sick, but they can cause life-threatening infections and cancers in a person whose immune system has been weakened by HIV. HIV treatments can slow this process and allow people with HIV to live longer, healthier lives. People infected with HIV may have no symptoms for ten or more years. They may not know they are infected. An HIV test is the only way to find out if you have HIV. AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a late stage of HIV disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), (State of New York Department of Health [NYSDOH], 2011). There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Both types are transmitted by sexual contact, through blood, and from mother to child, and they appear to cause clinically indistinguishable AIDS. However, it seems that HIV-2 is less easily transmitted, and the period between initial infection and illness is longer in the case of HIV-2 (Found Care, 2014). Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) occurs when infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) destroys the body’s natural protection from illness. The immune system weakens the point where it can be invaded by "opportunistic" infections and certain cancers. These infections would not cause problems for healthy people. For people with AIDS, they may cause serious or even life-threatening problems (“AIDS”, 2004).