The Struggles of a Person Battling Against Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
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Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a combination of signs and symptoms forming a distinct clinical image of a disorder. As it implies, it is acquired meaning it is neither congenital nor hereditary. It involves a suppression of the one’s immune system thereby increasing the risk of infections. If the immune system of a person goes down, there will be an increase in the susceptibility of that person to various infections, which has a very high probability to eventually arrive at death. Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV is the causative agent of AIDS. It’s a type of retrovirus, which is also described as a slow type of virus, that is, the period between the onset of infection and the appearance of symptoms tends to be longer thereby giving an opportunity for these microorganisms to be transmitted to other hosts. The incubation period or the time between the infection and the appearance of AIDS is about seven to twelve years. A diagnostic evaluation to know whether a person really has AIDS is to obtain the CD4 count of that person. The normal CD4 count is around 500- 1500. This is done to have a distinction between HIV positive individuals from individuals categorized as having AIDS. The confirmatory diagnostic test is the western blot analysis.
The signs and symptoms of an individual that is infected by HIV or has AIDS are fatigue, loss of weight for about ten percent of the total body weight, chronic cough for one month, persistent diarrhea, prolonged fever, appearance of oral thrush in the buccal cavity, nausea and vomiting, and repeated infections. The mode of transmission of these microorganisms is through sexual intercourse, transmission from a pregnant female to the fetus during pregnancy, during breast-feeding, during child birth, through blood transfusion, sharing of needles or syringes infected with HIV, and through organ donation.
As the virus enters into the body of an individual, the virus rapidly mutates thereby making it a very difficult task for the body’s immune system to recognize the foreign microorganism. Treatment is therefore, very important for the survival of an individual infected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The drugs used as treatment modalities for AIDS are not actually used to treat or cure the abovementioned infection and these drugs are known as enteroviral drugs. These types of drugs inhibit the reproduction of HIV. One group of enteroviral drugs used as medical management is called Protease Inhibitors. These drugs inhibit protease enzymes, which are essential for the formation of the virus. Some of the drugs available in the market classified as Protease Inhibitors are Saquinavir, Indinavir, and Ritonavir. Another group of enteroviral drugs used as medical management for AIDS is Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors. These drugs work by inhibiting the enzyme known as reverse transcriptase, which is important in the replication of the virus. Some of the drugs available in the market classified as Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors are Didanosine, Lamivudine, Zalcitabine, Stavudine, Nevirapine, and Zidovudine.
Since AIDS had no cure up to this time, how can an individual prevent the acquisition of HIV? What are the important roles of the health care department in order to promote prevention? What is the responsibility of the government with regards to this issue? Now, given the fact that AIDS do not have a cure only emphasizes one thing and that is prevention. An individual can prevent acquiring HIV if he or she is well educated about it. This puts emphasis or highlights the roles of the health care workers. Giving awareness to the public about the modes of transmission, and the necessary precautions so as to prevent acquiring AIDS will create a big difference. Again, the key is prevention through information dissemination. Health education to the people who has HIV infected relatives or family members are also very important. Putting emphasis on not sharing personal things such as toothbrush and razor blades is essential to prevent the spread of HIV. In addition, promotion of safer health practices is also important and this can be done using condoms. Since organ donation is one mode of transmission of HIV, it is therefore, strictly discouraged for a person with AIDS to donate his or her organs.
A person with AIDS is experiencing not only possible infections but also the shame of having it. Therefore, family support is important in the management of the condition.
