Human Immunodeficiency Virus

This article provides an overview of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), including their causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and prevention. It also discusses the social, economic, and personal problems faced by infected individuals and offers solutions to address these challenges.

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Sociology
Student’s Name
6/4/2019

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus is becoming the most serious disease that is affecting the
lives of humans globally. It is analyzed that East and Southern Africa is hardly strike by HIV.
It consists of the major number of individuals living with HIV. It consists of 6.2% of the
world’s inhabitants and was recorded one-third of the new infections in the year 2016
(Kharsany and Karim, 2016).
The HIV outbreak in this county includes immature women, men who have sex with men,
transgender people, sex workers, prisoner and the folks who put in drugs are at an augmented
exposure to disease. HIV is considered a leading reason of death in Africa. The Sub-Saharan
region of Africa consists of the poor people and is not aware of the precautions which
become the cause for the most affected country. Presence of HIV and AIDS affects the
African economy as it consists of a large number of infected persons which in turn decreases
the labor supply and the labor productivity due to suffering from the disease for the longer
period of time (Hakim et al, 2017). The further paragraphs will reflect upon the social,
economic medical and personal problems faced by infected persons and will also cover the
diagnosis, symptoms, prevention, and precautions for reducing HIV and AIDS suffering.
The main problem faced by HIV patients includes the social stigma and the negative attitude
of the people affects the social and the mental health of the patients. Ostracism, depression,
anxiety, frustration, social rejection leads to personal and social problems for the patients. It
creates social isolation and complications in overcoming from the disease. Social rejections
create difficulty in getting social support and the patients are not able to satisfy the basic
needs because they face the problem of unemployment (Collier and Sterck, 2018).
The patients suffering from HIV suffer stigma and discrimination. The patients suffer
negative attitude, prejudice, and abuses which denied them to take the health services. The
affected persons are shunned by their families, peers and wider community. They are not able

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to access quality health services and also face poor treatment at the workplace settings and
educational institutions. Such discrimination and erosion of the rights create psychological
damage and fear towards accessing the health care services (Des Jarlais et al, 2016).
The infected person suffers social isolation and ridicule at the workplace from their co-
workers and the employers and suffers discrimination practices which include refusal and the
termination of employment. Such discrimination leads to difficulty in fulfilling the basic
needs and creates poverty for the infected persons (Bigna et al, 2016).
Due to increasing economic crises at Africa, the population suffers from high food
uncertainty and restricted access to the hygiene, sanitation and the water facilities which
create difficulty in the medication of the HIV treatment due to an empty stomach. It leads to
attack of rigorous diarrhea, cholera or other gastrointestinal infections that accelerate
development to severe AIDS-related illnesses if left untreated. This triggered poverty in the
country and affected the economic situation of the country. The insufficient supply of the
antiretroviral drugs and the health care providers became the reason for the most HIV
positives in Africa (Halkitis et al, 2017).
HIV is the virus that breaks down the cells of the immune system. It stands for Human
Immunodeficiency Virus that makes easier to get sick. This disease is not curable but
medicines help the person in staying healthy. The virus remains in the body for a lifetime.
Intake of the medicines lowers the chance of spreading the virus into other people. It is
analyzed that if HIV is not treated it turns into a serious disease named as Acquired
Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It attacks the immune system of the human and infects
and reduces the white blood cells (Insight Start Study Group, 2015).
It is caused by contact with infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluids. It is mostly caused when
the persons have unprotected sex with the person who is infected from HIV. The virus can

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also be transmitted from the mother to the baby during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. It
is also caused by sharing the same needles of the infected person to the other person (World
Health Organization, 2017).
The common symptoms for HIV consist of headache, skin rash, headache, sore throat, muscle
aches, joint pain, fever and swollen glands. These symptom usually occur for 2-3 weeks. The
other symptoms comprise weight loss, swollen lymph nodes, extreme tiredness and night
sweats (World Health Organization, 2017).
It is diagnosed by the doctors using the blood test and the doctor also diagnoses it through
blood and urine test. If the blood test comes to positive HIV DNA or RNA is done to be sure
about the disease. HIV is treated by antiretroviral therapy which consists of a mixture of
medicines that slow the rate of a multiplicity of the virus. The medicines reduce the amount
of virus and help in staying healthy. The doctors monitor the effect of HIV through Viral load
and CD4 + cell count test that reflects the amount of virus in the body (Jasra et al, 2018).
The humans must use Pre-exposure prophylaxis under which daily intake of antiretroviral pill
reduces the risk of infection rate. The humans must take the treatment to transmit the disease
in other humans. It is analyzed that 96% of the population gets less affected if the infected
person undertakes a successful antiretroviral therapy (Kojima et al, 2016). The infected
person must engage in safer sexual activities and must use condoms to prevent the
transmission of the disease in the other persons. The humans must focus on proper perinatal
care and must include antiretroviral therapy for the mother and the children to reduce the risk
of transmission to 2%. The needle sharing must be avoided. It is analyzed that 20% to 40%
get an infection from sharing of the needles and other blood-borne diseases. The humans
must conduct a regular test to get aware of the disease as early as possible and reducing it to
transmit to other people by undertaking proper antiretroviral therapy (Cohen et al, 2016).

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Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a severe critical condition which occurs at
the advanced stage of HIV infection. If HIV is not treated it leads to the development of
AIDS which in turn severely damages the immune system. The progression at this stage
becomes difficult. If the person is left untreated it leads to the death of the person. AIDS is
also recognized as advanced HIV infection. At this stage, the body becomes vulnerable to
opportunistic infections. The symptoms of AIDS include dry cough, blurred vision, diarrhea,
dyspnea, swollen glands, unintentional weight loss, enduring tiredness and white spots on the
tongue or mouth. It also leads to depression, memory loss, and other neurological disorders.
The development of AIDS reduces the ability of the individual to fight with a range of
infections, diseases, and cancers. AIDS is the condition which is complex and the symptoms
may vary from person to person. This condition only occurs when the person has contracted
HIV (Remien et al, 2019).
AIDS is diagnosed when the CD4 cell count fall below 200 per cubic millimeter. The most
common opportunistic infections include pneumonia, tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis,
cytomegalovirus and cancer including Kaposi’s sarcoma and lymphoma. It is through
counting the cells and the presence of opportunistic infections AIDS can be diagnosed. The
life expectancy at the third stage HIV decreases (Turan et al, 2017).
The drug’s use for the treatment of AIDS includes fusion inhibitors, protease inhibitors,
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase
Inhibitors and Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors. These drugs help in
reducing the virus and focusing on making the immune system healthier to handle the
complications (Turan et al, 2017).
In order to prevent serious illness from third stage infection, the HIV infected person must
take the treatment at the first stages of HIV and must focus on having a balanced diet. The

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infected person must take proper HIV vaccines and must undertake herpes treatment which
will help in reducing the risk of HIV transmissions. In order to block the AIDS virus
diaphragms and other cervical barriers will help in blocking the virus. Another way to
prevent AIDS is the application of the gels and the creams to the vagina or rectum that
reduces HIV transmission and microbicides. Male circumcisions and preventive pills can be
used to prevent AIDS (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017).
From the above discussion, it is critical to note that HIV and AIDS are becoming the
foremost cause of the death of the persons. It is analyzed that Africa is hardly hit from due to
lack of awareness among the population and improper food security. The young women and
the sharing of the needle increases the vulnerability of infection. The infected person suffers
from stigma and discrimination because they experience rejections at the workplaces and do
not get social support. In order to remove the social and personal problems faced by the
disease, the infected person must educate the partners, employers, family to get the social
support and reduce the discrimination faced by the infected persons.

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