Overview of the topic As I have learned from my past lessons in high school and elementary, HIV which stands for human immunodeficiency virus is a kind of virus, specifically lentivirus, that causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome better known as AIDS. As what our high school teacher taught us, HIV can be transmitted commonly from person to person by having an unsafe sexual intercourse with an infected person whether anal, oral or vaginal sex, through blood transfusions from the contaminated needles, and the transmission from a mother to her baby after giving birth.
About the signs and symptoms, what I know is that a person rarely develops the complications severely. Usually, a person develops the complications within one year, from somewhere in 8 – 10 years, and within 20 years. Some of the common symptoms of primary HIV are fever, aching muscles and joints, sore throat and swollen glands like lymph nodes. I think that this is why more and more people are suffering from this virus because they thought they they do not have this virus because the signs and symptoms are common and the virus is rarely developed until they notice it or had a check – up. AIDS is caused by HIV.
This affects the immune system. If left untreated, it takes around ten years on average for someone with HIV to develop AIDS. However, this is for persons who have a reasonable diet, people who are not that healthy have a greater possibility to progress from HIV to AIDS more rapidly. AIDS is a major health problem in different parts of the world, and Philippines is one of the countries with a huge number of HIV cases. Although treatments for HIV/AIDS can slow the course of the disease, there is no known cure or HIV vaccine. It can only be treated and lessen the possible death and cases of HIV.
III. Impact analysis/self-realization/application After listening from the speaker and trying to absorb all that he said, honestly I’ve become more and more afraid of having sex. Of course I don’t like to be someone who has this kind of virus, syndrome or infection. And maybe I won’t be able to apply into a good job if I have AIDS, or maybe I could not, at all. I was really disappointed about the cases of people having HIV. The percentage of people here in our country is already overwhelming and it might get higher after some time if we won’t take action about it.
The best thing to do is to be a lot more careful, to be twice more aware, and to control ourselves from having unsafe sex. People should get rid of temptation and people should think wisely. Additionally, people should always get a regular check – up to test whether they already possess AIDS, then if yes, it should be treated immediately. If no, better. IV. Lessons Learned Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome developed from Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV) is a disease of the human immune system. ADIS is the serious final stage f HIV. It carries nonspecific symptoms.
HIV is a slow virus that thrives on living human cell, attacks the immune system by making his/her body susceptible to infections such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. HIV can be transmitted into many ways such as vaginal, oral or anal sex, blood transfusions, contaminated needles or indirect contact through solid particles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. It can be transmitted by any contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid that has the virus in it, such as the blood, semen, vaginal fluid, or breast milk from an infected person.
The virus and disease are often referred to together as HIV/AIDS. The disease is a major health problem in many parts of the world, and is considered a pandemic, a disease outbreak that is not only present over a large area but is actively spreading. The Philippines is one of the countries with a great number of infected persons, 1220 HIV positive reported as of November 2011. 90& of positive cases reported were male, ages 20-29, and 107 of 204 reported came from NCR. Although treatments for HIV/AIDS can slow the course of the disease, there is no known cure or HIV vaccine.
Antiretroviral treatment just reduces both the deaths and new infections from HIV/AIDS, but these drugs are expensive and the medications are not available in all countries. Due to the difficulty in treating HIV infection, preventing infection is a key aim in controlling the AIDS pandemic, with health organizations promoting safe sex and needle-exchange programs in attempts to slow the spread of the virus. In cooperation, we should also participate in these programs and better yet not to contribute to the percentage of people acquiring HIV.