All About HIV and AIDS Essays -- The AIDS Epidemic 2015

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome); HIV is the etiological agent of AIDS leaving the body vulnerable to a variety of life threatening diseases (8). Transmission: AIDS is transmitted from the HIV virus through blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk to others from infected host (1). The virus can be spread through sexual contact by oral, vaginal, or anal sex; receiving a blood transfusion, injection involving needles, artificial insemination and organ transplants from an infected donor. Transmission from mother to child during pregnancy (intrauterine) from shared blood circulation while in fetus, delivery, or after pregnancy when nursing infant from breast milk of infected mother (9). The exact mechanism of mother to child HIV/AIDS transmission is still unknown (9). Reservoirs: Infected human. Latent reservoirs include CD4 and T-Cells. Reservoirs are still not fully understood (1). General Characteristics: The stages leading to diagnosis of AIDS include Acute HIV infection detected within a few weeks to months, asymptomatic HIV infection having no symptoms, early symptomatic HIV infection, to advanced HIV infection known as AIDS (13). A CD4 count test resulting in less than 200 cells/mm3 is used for diagnosis of AIDS even when the patient shows no symptoms (8). Specific illnesses found only in patients that have AIDS are used to determine further testing for a positive diagnosis. Tests for HIV can be used to identify AIDS. HIV is diagnosed by blood tests involving two or more positive ELISA tests that have been confirmed by a Western blot assay (6). Test include third-generation, fourth-generation, rapid tests, HIV RNA tests, confirmatory tests, STARHS and home sampling tests (6). Once conf... .... http://www.who.int/hiv/data/2011_epi_core_en.png http://www.who.int/topics/hiv_aids/en/ 11. United States. â€Å"Texas HIV Slide Set 2010.† Texas Department of State Health Services. 2010. Web. 4 May 2012. http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/hivstd/reports/default.shtm 12. Goodman, Brenda MA. â€Å"Most Americans with HIV Don’t Have Infection Under Control.† WebMD. 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 6 May 2012. http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20111128/most-americans-with-hiv-dont-have-infection-under-control 13. Dugdale, Vyas, Zieve, ADAM. â€Å"AIDS.† MedlinePlus. 9 June 2011. Web. 6 May 2012. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000594.htm 14. Department of Health and Human Services. â€Å"HIV/AIDS.† National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 05 Jan. 2009. Web. 6 May 2012. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/hivaids/understanding/howhivcausesaids/Pages/howhiv.aspx