Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, better known as AIDS, is the final stage of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Scientists believe that HIV came from a particular type of chimpanzee in Western Africa. It is also thought that humans came in contract with the disease when hunting and eating the infected animal. (www. aids. gov, January 2011). The first case of AIDS in the United States occurred in the summer of 1981. Over the next several years there was a lot of research done on the cause of this disease and where it originated from.
While when the disease first surfaced there were several people living with the disease that did not know they had it. Now today over 33 million people suffer from the disease. Although AIDS is a disease with no cure and will result in death there are several medications that have been developed over the past twenty plus years that provide those infected with a way to live a normally. The first outbreak of AIDS in the U. S. was reported in several gay, therefore causing the assumption that the disease was a gay disease.
At the time it was called “GIRD”, (gay-related immune deficiency. ) (www. about. com, January 2011) due to all of the first outbreaks being found in gay males. By 1983 the disease is renamed by scientist as the HIV. Later on the disease would be found in heterosexuals, drug addicts, and people who received blood transfusions proving that the disease is not just a disease that can be contracted by those participating in homosexual activities. By the mid eighties the disease is seen more in the public eye as it begins
to affect more and more people. Around this time if becomes more familiar to the world when the famous actor Rock Hudson dies from the disease. Also around the same time a young boy infected with the disease is banned from his school. In this early time when the disease is first discovered and is killing many people and very rapidly there are a lot of misconceptions of the disease and how it is spread and who can actually get it. As more research is conducted all of the different ways the disease can be contracted are learned.
The disease is now known to be contracted from sexual contact (either heterosexually or homosexually) through the use of dirty needles by drug addicts and through blood transfusions that use blood that has been infected by the virus. The virus is carried through bodily fluids such as, blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and rectal mucous and even breast milk. Although the disease may be transmitted through many bodily fluids it can not be transmitted through all bodily fluids such as tears or urine. One must first have the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) before the acquire AIDS.
HIV weakens the immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. (www. aids. gov, January 2011) Although HIV can be described to other viruses such as the flu, the difference is that HIV can not be fought by the human deficiency system therefore once it is contacted there is no way to get rid of the virus. HIV can hide in your system for a very long time but it attacks your bodies T-cells which are needed to fight off infections and diseases. When HIV has attacked so many of your T-cells then it highly likely that next it will turn into AIDS.
Your body contracts AIDS because your immune system is deficient, which it becomes over time once you have contacted HIV. AIDS is the last stage in HIV and is brought on by a very badly damaged immune system. Once your body contracts AIDS you will need several medications and a lot of medical attention to prevent death or at least to slow down the process. With all the research that has been conducted over the last twenty plus years, it is more likely for people to live with HIV for a longer period of time than it was when the disease first surfaced.
Now there is a better chance of living with HIV a lot longer before it actually turns into AIDS. By the end of 2007 there was a reported 470,902 people living with AIDS in the United States over 20,000 more than what was reported in 2006 (www. avert. org). Each year the number of affected people grows significantly. By the end of 2008, there was a reported 1,077,972 people affected with the disease. Just over 75 percent of adults and children living with the disease are male. Almost two-thirds of adults and adolescents living with AIDS contracted the disease through male to male sexual contact.
African Americans account for almost half of the people living with AIDS as of 2007. There has been a decline over the years of children affected by the disease from mother to child because of AIDS testing and antiviral drugs used to prevent giving it to the child during pregnancy. (www. avert. org). The research and invention of many antiviral drugs has made it become easier for a person to live longer AIDS. Since the first outbreak of AIDS, it has been a very controversial subject. Upon the arrival of its first outbreaks there was a fear in many people about contracting the disease, because the cause of the disease was unknown.
In the very early years of the first cases of the disease many were very prejudiced towards those affected with the disease. Many did not want to be around people with HIV or AIDS because they were unaware of how the disease could actually be contracted. In the very beginning it was very common for someone to think that could contract the disease by just touching the infected person. Over the years and with all of the research more information has been explained to us and is made available for us to understand the disease.
Although it should be common knowledge to everyone that the disease can not be transmitted through regular physical contact there are still many people ignorant to the facts of how the disease is spread. Due to this ignorance many people that suffer from the disease have at one point and time have experienced some type of prejudice toward them because they are infected AIDS. These prejudices have affected people living with AIDS at their jobs, at school, and at many other places. In the very beginning stages of the world learning about AIDS many were fearful of contracting the disease.
This fear came from the fact that the disease was spreading very rapidly, because there was no exact cause for the disease, and because it had no cure. Upon learning that a person was affected with the disease many had to worry about being evicted from there homes, being banned from their schools, and also being fired from their jobs. The first AIDS discrimination case to go to a public hearing was the case of Geoffery Bowers, an attorney that was fired from his law firm because he was infected with AIDS. (www. reference.com).
Bowers’s claims to have been fired from the firm when lesions began to show on his body, a side affect of Kaposi’s sarcoma that is a disease commonly found in people suffering from AIDS. Bowers’s died the age of 33 before the case was over, but his family was later awarded $500,000 for the settlement. The movie “Philadelphia”, staring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington was said to be a movie based off of Geoffery Bowers life story. The case of Geoffery Bowers gave the world a greater look at the disease and some of the discrimination that people living with AIDS may experience.
There is a lot of discomfort that people living with AIDS go through when others learn of their disease. It is important for AIDS patients to be involved in different support groups to help them cope with their disease. There are many different types of support groups all around the world that can help the many different types of people living with AIDS. There are many support groups right in their cities and even websites where those infected can go and speak with others that are coping with the disease. One can only imagine how hard it is knowing that the illness you have could soon cause you to die.
The Center for AIDS Research(CFAR), program at the National Institutes of Health provides administration and shared research support to synergistically enhance and coordinate high quality AIDS research projects. ( www. niaid. nig. gov) The CFAR program serves many different purposes, such as promoting the importance of AIDS research, promoting discipline in AIDS research, and promoting and supporting innovative AIDS research initiatives among other things. The CFAR program is currently based out of the Bronx, New York, Houston, Texas and many other sites in the United States.
The CFAR program has been sponsoring a HIV Winter Symposium: “The Road to the Cure for HIV/AIDS” for the past eight years. The AIDS Research Alliance goal is to live in a world without AIDS. The main purposes of this research group it to find a cure for AIDS. Established in 1989 (ARA), hopes to eliminate the effects that HIV has on health and also to prevent new infections. ARA has conducted over 80 plus clinical and pre-clinical studies. They also were responsible for the first HIV vaccine trial. Almost half of all existing anti-HIV treatments arrived to market and arrived there faster due to ARA’s involvement.(www. aidsresearch. org).
ARA is also responsible for the creation of rapid HIV test that provides results in twenty minutes rather than fourteen days. ARA works with several different pharmaceutical companies and scientists to aid for the cure for AIDS. Over the past twenty-two years ARA has worked and continues to work with several people suffering from HIV and AIDS to find a cure. Sisonke is a large community based project driven by the energy and insight of a small local community groups who are responding to evolving local needs and challenges.
(www. avert. org ) Sisonke is based in South Africa and works to educate groups on developing HIV and AIDS interventions. Sisonke is working with over 800 orphans to help them with the prevention, treatment, and care activities of AIDS. AIDS care is being provided by immediate family members in their homes and Sisonke is helping in educating the family members on how to care for the sick family. Sisonke is funded by AVERT, an international AIDS charity, that specializes in helping AIDS patients in southern Africa.
The HIV/AIDS Program (HAP), coordinates a number of statewide and regional programs designed to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS, to ensure the availability of quality medical and social services for HIV infected and affected individuals, and to track the impact of the epidemic in Louisiana. (www. dhh. louisiana. gov ) The goal of HAP is to educate on the prevention of HIV and AIDS, to monitor disease trends and to offer client-centered services. HAP provides services to those individuals who are most at risk for transmitting the disease in Louisiana.
HAP and all of the services it provides are funded by the state of Louisiana. One intervention that can be used to minimize the impact of the illness is to join a support group. Joining a support group with people that are suffering from the disease will always be beneficial to a person living with AIDS. Through the people that they meet and talk with in the support group, they can learn of their experiences of what they went through when the first learned they were infected. This will help a great deal with all of the emotions that are felt by the person when they first learn they are infected.
Being able to discuss the situation with people who actually know what you are going through can be very comforting in any situation and especially in this one. Also in the support group that has others that are suffering from AIDS, those in the group can help and discuss with others ways to explain your new health condition with family, friends, and co-workers. This will be of great importance to the person who is newly affected because this probably is the second hardest thing to deal with concerning being affected with AIDS, coming in second to learning to cope with the disease.
Through these support groups one can also learn ways to live with the disease, how to increase their time living with the disease, and also receive assistance in how to enjoy a life with a significant other. Also another important intervention other than support groups would be to get counseling. It may be very good for an infected person to be able to discuss with someone any fears that they may have concerning the disease.
It can also be very beneficial for a person living with AIDS to receive advice from someone who is very educated on AIDS and can help with their transition of a person living happily even though they are affected with AIDS. Working with a counselor, who can also educate you on beginning treatment and the medications that will help you live with the disease. Over the past twenty something years since the first case of AIDS was discovered in the United States there has been a substantial amount of information learned about the disease.
Through research from many different sources so much more information has been learned about where the disease came from and how it is spread. Also with research there have been many medications that have been created that help a person living with AIDS live a much longer and comfortable life than when the first case was learned. Finding out and living with AIDS can be a very hard concept for anyone to grasp. Of course a person will go through several emotions upon learning that that they are now living with a disease that as of now as no known cure.
But luckily there are several support groups all over the world that can assist a person in learning how to live and cope with their disease. So much information has been learned over the years and about the disease and hopefully in the near future there will be a cure discovered for the deadly disease.
Reference Page www. aids. gov , January 2011 www. avert. org, January 2011 www. reference. com, January 2011 www. niaid. nig. gov, January 2011 www. dhh. louisana. gov, January 2011 www. about. com, January 2011.