HIV Epidemic By: Allyson Loving

As a teenager, one of the most pressing questions you can be asked is: Are you sexually active?  Do you answer truthfully? The importance of this question is often underestimated. HIV is an infection that can spread without most people even noticing. Many believe that because they do not see symptoms, they are not infected. The virus most people fear and are aware of is AIDS. Many people think that the HIV virus and the AIDS virus are the same, but they are two totally different viruses. HIV is the virus that infects a person. While AIDS is the disease that later develops in people with HIV (“HIV/AIDS”).  The best way to prevent the HIV epidemic is to avoid high-risk behaviors such as having unprotected sex or sharing needles (HIV / AIDS: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment).

In 1999, a strain of SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) found in chimpanzees was almost identical to HIV-1 found in humans (History of HIV and AIDS Overview).  The way many people believe that HIV was passed from chimpanzees to humans was when hunters would kill chimpanzees for food, and the chimpanzee’s blood would get into cuts on their body and their bodies would become the new HIV host and would start adapting to the virus, rather than fighting off the virus (History of HIV and AIDS Overview).  The four main groups of the HIV strains are M, N, O, and P; every time the chimpanzee’s blood would infect a human it would have developed a slightly different strain, explaining why there is more than one type of HIV-1 strain (History of HIV and AIDS Overview).

            Scientists have created a ‘family-tree’ concluding that the first transmission took place in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Origins of HIV and AIDS). Kinshasa was a very busy transport city, along with a growing sex trade helping the spread of HIV (1). Haitian professionals where working in the Democratic Republic of Congo and returned to Haiti and where blamed for bring the HIV virus to Haiti (1).

People in the USA say that HIV started in the 1980s, but this was when the virus was officially recognized as a major health condition (Origins of HIV and AIDS). In 1981, rare diseases where infecting the gay men population in New York and California (1). The disease included Sarcoma, which is a rare cancer and a lung infection commonly called PCP (1). Nobody knew what was starting the rare disease to spread, so it got called many different names that related to the word ‘gay’ (Origins of HIV and AIDS). It was not until the mid-1982 that the disease was found to be spreading among many other populations, from hemophiliacs and heroin users (1).

 In September of 1982, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention used the term AIDS for the first time and descried it as, "a disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known case for diminished resistance to that disease,” (History of HIV and AIDS Overview). By 1983, the disease was suggested that it was spread through sexual interactions, AIDS could be passed from mother to child before, during or shortly after giving birth, and by the end of the year the number of AIDS cases in the USA was 3,064, and of this number, 1,292 had died (History of HIV and AIDS Overview). By 1984, the National Cancer Institute had found that the retrovirus HTLV-III was the cause of AIDS (History of HIV and AIDS Overview). By the end of the year, there were 7,699 AIDS cases and 3,665 AIDS deaths in the USA with 762 cases reported in Europe (History of IV and AIDS Overview). In 1985, the blood banks started screening the nation’s boold supply,   the first international AIDS conference was held in Atlanta Georgia, a teenager was banned from school because he was infected with AIDS from the blood he was given to help treat his hemophilia, the first high profile death from AIDS was Rock Hudson, and by the end of the year every region reported at least one case of AIDS, and that has totaled to 20,303 cases nationwide (History of HIV and AIDS Overview). Most recently in 2015, UNAIDS released their 2016-2021 strategy with the new Sustainable Development Goals, that called for an acceleration in the global HIV response to clinical prevention and treatment targets (History of HIV and AIDS Overview). 

“Magic” Johnson was one of the few celebrities that had gone public about being HIV positive, contr5acting it form having unprotected heterosexual sex (FRONTLINE). Johnson was in Utah for a preseason game when his doctor unexpectedly called him and told him that he had to come home immediately (1). Celebrities did not willing announce that they were HIV positive, so when “Magic” Johnson was convinced to go public by AIDS activist Elizabeth Glaser, it was a shock to his huge fan base (1). Glaser also told him that before she died, that he would become the new face of the disease and educate people about it (1).

The most well know celebrity that is HIV positive is Charlee Sheen. When Sheen finally went public about his diagnoses, he had already been HIV positive for four years (Charlie Sheen Says He Is HIV-positive). He first revealed the disease to people he thought he trusted, but they demanded money from him to stay quiet, Sheen paid them around ten million to stay quiet (1).   Sheen Does not know how he contracted the virus, but he has been known for seeking prostitutes which is one of the most likely reasons, in 1995 he spent around fifty three thousand dollars on sexual services (1). Sheen does not have AIDS, he is a healthy man living with the HIV virus in his body (1). His doctor continues to describe how HIV attacks the white blood cells in your body, making you more susceptible to developing rare cancers and infections like pneumonia or tuberculosis, then the diagnoses will move to AIDS (1). Since his diagnoses, he has had unprotected sex with two women under the care of his doctor, and his doctor said that is was highly unlikely that he could have spread the disease to them (1). Now the times have changed and HIV has become a livable disease, if every dose of medication is taken on time (1).      

When HIV is left untreated, the virus attacks the immune system in the body making the body more vulnerable to many different infections and those infections will eventually lead to death (HIV Treatment Programs Overview). The drugs used to treat HIV are called antiretroviral, also known as antiretroviral therapy, this prevents the HIV virus from replicating itself and attacking more of the immune system in the body (1). Wen individuals are diagnosed and soon after start ART, have a greater chance of living in good health for decades, with the life expectancy of average healthy individuals without HIV (1).

Out of 37 million individuals that are living with HIV, not everyone has the access to the high quality medical care that will help them (1). Only 41% percent of adults and 32% percent of children that are diagnosed with HIV are receiving ART treatment (1). These numbers are very impressive, considering that in 2002 the World Health Organization had a plan, their 3 by 5 initiative, which aimed for 3 million people to receive treatment by 2005 (1). The 3 by 5 imitative plan did not quite make its objective, but did manage to reach 2.2 million people to receive treatment by 2005 (1). UNAIDS is now working towards the 90-90-90 target. Experts are aiming that by 2020 90% of individuals living with HIV will know their status, 90% of the individuals diagnosed with HIV will receive treatment, and that 90% of the individuals on treatment will be virally suppressed (1). If the 90-90-90 target is reached and is successful, this would mean that 73% of individuals living with HIV would be virally suppressed; this could possibly end the HIV epidemic by 2030 (1). Previous guidelines would only recommend treatment to individuals with a more depleted immune system, individuals with tuberculosis, and pregnant women preventing HIV transmission to an unborn child (1). The 2015 treatment recommendation would predict that almost 37 million individuals would need antiretroviral therapy (1).

The six drug classes used to fight HIV are non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, fusion inhibitors, CCR5 antagonists, and integrase strand transfer inhibitors (Overview of HIV Treatments). In the guidelines set by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, it recommends that starting ART with three different HIV medications from two of the six different classes is the best plan of action when it comes to living with and treating HIV (1). The main way that the HIV drugs will decrease your viral load is by treatment adherence (Medication Adherence).  Treatment adherence is a termed used for taking the HIV medications when and how the individual is supposed to (1). When individuals are adherent to their HIV medications it prevents resistance, if one dose of medication is missed it gives the virus the opportunity to replicate and then it can become resistant to the current HIV medication as well as other medications, leaving the individuals with fewer treatment options (1). Some forms of alternate therapy include massage therapy, dietary supplement, meditation, and acupuncture (Alternative Therapy).

The first infection of HIV was among the gay men population, so most people thought that since they were not part of their population, they would not become infected. Camus’ beliefs would relate to the HIV epidemic by showing how people are often reluctant to the situations that require instant action and usually stepping out of ones’ comfort zones.  In the book The Plague, the people of Oran overlook the early signs of the plague. For example, they claim that the dying of the rats across the city was simply a coincidence.  Whenever the city called for the burning and disposal of the rats, everyone assumed that it was someone else’s responsibility, so no actual action was taken to stop the plague. When the first confirmed cases of the plague, the people of Oran just ignored all of the warning signs that a plague was among them. This happened with the HIV epidemic, since the first population was the gay men population, many ignored the fact that the virus could be spread many different ways. No one was immune to the plague, just as no one is immune to HIV. It seems that we should have learned from our past to avoid epidemics in the future, but if something is not harming you, why worry?

HIV is not a curable disease, but a livable disease. Many individuals assume that they do not have symptoms, which means that they do not have the disease. However individuals can have the HIV virus inside of them without even knowing. As you now know that AIDS is what forms from the HIV virus being inside of you and you know how to prevent the spread of the disease, that more individuals should be more aware. The technology is the most advanced that there has ever been, bus the only way to reduce the spread of HIV/Aids is if all individuals seek treatment immediately after diagnoses, but many individuals do not, so the HIV/Aids epidemic will be around for many more years. 

 

Work sited

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