Hiv / Aids Infectious And Parasistic Diseases - 880 Words

My system is Infectious and Parasistic diseases. I’ve chosen HIV/AIDS as my topic because it is a world-wide epidemic and I believe everybody should know their HIV status. I will first give the basics about HIV, how it is transmitted, tests used to detect the virus and medications to control it. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are lentiviruses (a subgroup of retroviruses) that infect CD4 cells (commonly known as T-cells), macrophages and dendritic cells. The Virus can be transmitted through the rectum, the vagina, the mouth, and the opening of the penis. Only certain fluids contain the virus. They are blood, semen, pre-seminal fluids, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids and breast milk. The HIV virus infects a T-cell, multiplies and eventually the cell explodes. When that happens on a massive scale, your immunity is compromised. That makes it possible for infections, such as the common cold and pneumonia, to thrive. That is usually in the end stages of the disease. The highest to lowest risks for contraction are, in order, anal sex (the prevalence of HIV is higher among gay and bisexual men), vaginal sex, having multiple sex partners, sharing equipment used to prepare and inject drugs, being born to an infected mother and, very rarely because of rigorous testing, receiving blood transfusions and organs/tissues. The two most used tests are HIV ELISA and HIV Western blot tests to detect antibodies to the virus in the