Impact of HIV on Human Body

Running head: HIV
HIV
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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HIV
Q. 1.1 HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus from the family of lentivirus as this can be
transmitted from one human to another. This virus is targeting the human immune system and
specially the CD 4 cell which is specialised to defend the body from external threats. The HIV
virus reduces the number of CD 4 cell and increases the vulnerability of the human body to any
disease. The HIV also reforms the genetic pattern of itself so that the immune system cannot
detect the virus and this is why there is no effective cure present for the virus and the effects of
the virus. On the other hand, the process of the treatment of this condition is to treat the patient
with external immune support providence. Thus, inadequate treatment can lead to development
of AIDS and subsequently death of the person. Hence, this virus is advance from other viruses as
it transmits very easily and also the genetic reformation along with the immune system targeting
are the advantages of this virus unlike other viruses (Patel et al. 2018).
Q. 1.2 The HIV infection affects the body drastically as the impact of the virus or the infection is
found on the immune system. There is a total of five distinct stages of the disease. The stages and
the symptoms of the disease are as follows:
a. Asymptomatic stage here the symptoms are not distinct and cannot be identified as HIV
infection as only flu can be seen although irregularly.
b. Acute HIV infection is the stage 2 and the symptoms of this stage can be fever, chills, rash,
muscle ache, sore throat, fatigue and many others.
c. Clinical latency or chronic HIV infection is the stage 3 and this is a long stage. However, there
is no distinct symptom can be seen in this stage though the viral multiplication still ongoing and
the viral mass increase can be detected.
d. AIDS is the fourth stage if the treatment of the person paused or neglected. The symptoms of
this stage are rapid weight loss, diarrhea, pneumonia, extreme tiredness and many others.

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HIV
e. The final stage is death as there is no effective treatment still present for this disease.
However, the person can live for a long time event after the infection if the treatment would be
provided with priority (Sorgho et al. 2019).
Q. 2.1 There are many myths and misconceptions present regarding the HIV infection
transmission as the health literacy regarding this disease is very low. The disease is marked as
the social taboo and there is a presence of social stigma which leads to the development of these
misconceptions. The misconceptions include, a) HIV transmission can be possible if a person is
around a HIV positive person, b) mosquito bite can spread HIV, c) HIV cannot be transmitted
through oral intercourse, d) homosexuality spread HIV and heterosexuality does not spread it, e)
a person can be identified by only watching the person he or she HIV positive or not, f)
antiretroviral drugs can kill HIV and many other myths are present (Wella, Webber and Levy
2017). However, all these are partially true or there is no true evidence of these misconceptions
present even. Hence, the misconceptions can be marked as one of the causes of increasing the
number of HIV infected patients.
Q. 2.2 HIV transmission process is strictly dependent on the sexual intercourse of people and the
safe sex processes. The transmission of HIV virus possible from unsafe that is without using any
contraceptive in the intercourse process. On the other hand, the fact is also that the HIV infection
can spread in cases of heterosexuality besides homosexuality. On the other hand, the infection
can also spread through oral intercourse and also through blood stream. However, mosquito is
not a vector of the virus and thus mosquito bites do not transmit the virus. Besides all these if a
person is not tested for the positivity or the presence of the HIV virus he or she cannot be
identified as HIV positive person as there is possibility of no symptom presence in the person.
Even it has also been seen that a person would not be identified HIV positive after test if the