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Example research essay topic: Infected With Hiv Living With Hiv - 2,016 words

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HIV and AIDS are one of the leading causes of death among 24 to 45 year olds and yet so many Americans seem to know nothing about it. So many people in the world believe HIV and AIDS are the same thing, but they are sadly mistaken. HIV is a virus. The letters stand for Human Immunodefiency Virus. HIV is a virus that attacks your immune system. What it attacks are important immune-system cells called T-cells.

HIV is a retrovirus, which means it is slow moving. By attacking and killing the immune systems T-cells, HIV can cause AIDS. Although, HIV may move more rapidly in some people, on the average it takes ten years for HIV to cause AIDS, even with out treatment. (HIV Positive) AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. One does not have AIDS until their T-cell count drops below two hundred cells per cubic millimeter of blood, or if one begins to suffer from opportunistic infections. These include Pneumocystic Carnii Pneumonia (PCP), Kaposis sarcoma (a kind of skin cancer), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Candida (a fungal infection that can be found in the throat, mouth or vagina).

So, just because a person is diagnosed HIV positive that does not mean they have AIDS, it just means the virus is in their body. AIDS does not come until the virus has beaten the T-cells. Therefore, the whole purpose of HIV treatment is to protect T-cells, and keep the HIV from turning into AIDS. There has been a broad spectrum of theories associated with the origin of HIV.

HIV has been blamed on everything from The White Man, to the polio vaccine, to the CIA. (HIV Positive) The truth is HIV has been spread to humans from monkeys. The same virus as HIV found in monkeys is called SIV, for Simian Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV- 1 the type found most common in Central and Southern Africa, the United States the rest of the world seems to have come from chimpanzees. HIV- 2, the type found in West Africa, seems to have come from the sooty manga bey monkey. Researchers believe the first infections occurred in the 1930 s. This was long before the polio vaccine, and long before anyone, including The White Man and the CIA knew much of anything about viruses. (HIV Positive) Some may wonder how a monkeys disease could affect humans.

The answer is simple; monkeys in Africa are commonly hunted for meat. If a hunter cuts his hand with his knife as he was butchering an infected monkey transmission would be almost certain. Even though the disease goes as far back as the 1930 s, the first occurrence of AIDS in America came a little more than twenty years ago on June 5, 1981. It came in a report from the Center for Disease Control, which said, A rare parasitic lung disease had been reported in Los Angeles, among five young men all active homosexuals. (HIV Positive) Since many of the first victims of the disease were gay men the first name given to the disease was GRID, Gay Related Immune Disorder. However, now it is clear that HIV is not a gay disease, it is spread just as easily by straight sex as it is by gay sex.

Although many people have been infected with HIV, its transmission is not as easy as one may think. Someone who is HIV positive does not have to worry about giving the disease to his or her family from coughing, sneezing, or by swimming in a pool with them. It is not even spread by a handshake, hug or even a kiss. Many people say HIV is transmitted by shared bodily fluids, yet there have been no known cases of HIV being spread by sweat, saliva or tears. However, there are bodily fluids that can spread HIV. These include, blood, vaginal fluid, semen and breast milk.

There are also a few different ways in which these fluids may transmit the virus. The first, most primary way of transmission is through anal and vaginal sex. One can also get HIV through oral sex, although it is much less common. Another common transmission is through drug use.

Sharing drug equipment can spread HIV. If someone who is infected uses drug equipment to inject drugs, and they get blood on the equipment the next person to use the equipment has a high chance of becoming infected. The final transmission is from mother to child. Without treatment, about one in four babies born to women with HIV have HIV themselves.

Fortunately, the use of medication before, during, and after delivery can cut the risk to just one in twelve. (HIV Positive) The risk may be reduced even further if the baby is delivered by Cesarean section. After the baby is born, an HIV positive woman must not breast-feed her baby. Breast milk carries HIV and may cause HIV in a baby that was born healthy. Symptoms on HIV are often hard to detect and many people may not even know they are infected. Shortly after one may become infected, they may get flu-like symptoms such as, fever, headaches, sore muscles, stomach aches, swollen lymph glands, or a skin rash. Some people may not get any symptoms at all.

Even if one does get symptoms, after they go away you may seem to be perfectly healthy for ten years or longer, even without treatment. During that time the virus is building up in the bloodstream and progressively killing off the T-cells and wearing down the immune system. Also even if one feels fine, they can still infect other people. The only way for someone to truly know if they are HIV positive is to be tested. The test does not check for HIV itself, it tests for the antibodies the body makes to try to fight HIV. If the test finds those antibodies, one is said to be HIV positive.

It should also be noted that it can take up to six months for the antibodies to show up, so initial test results may be inaccurate. Some people believe HIV is a death sentence, where this may have been true before it is now no longer the case. In 1996 a new class of HIV medicines called Protease Inhibitors (PIs) became widely available. At the same time it was discovered that taking three HIV drugs in combination could suppress HIV to undetectable levels.

Since these new treatments were introduced in 1996, the death rate from AIDS has dropped 80 % in the United States. (HIV Positive) Unfortunately, there is no cure for HIV. There is no treatment available today that can eliminate the virus from the body. The current treatment can reduce the amount of HIV to the point where it appears undetectable, yet it is not completely gone. Even though this means once one begins HIV treatment they are on it for life, people can and are living with HIV for much longer than before.

We are very fortunate in the United States to have so much research and so many places to turn. There are health centers and organizations all over America especially for HIV and AIDS. One organization that has done amazing things for people living with HIV is the AIDS Coalition of Southern New Jersey (ACSNJ). The ACSNJ is located in Bellmawr, New Jersey just twenty minutes from Rowan University. I was very lucky to have become a part of the ACSNJ last year. I began working for the Teen AIDSline in January of last year.

I have to say it was a life and mind changing experience. When I began at ACSNJ I had little knowledge of HIV and AIDS. I knew what I had learned from high school health classes, but that was minute compared to what I was about to learn. I had to take a class called HIV 101 that basically taught me everything I have discussed throughout this paper.

One aspect that really changed my mind and touched my heart was from working with the volunteers at the Teen AIDSline. What the Teen AIDSline consists of is a group of high school students available to answer phone calls with questions from other teens, and working on different projects to get HIV information out to teens. Some of these projects are creating bulletin boards for high schools to display, speaking to schools about HIV, and writing articles for high school newspapers. What really touched me were the volunteers themselves. Most of the volunteers I had ranged from eighth grade to senior year in high school. All of which knew someone who was HIV positive.

It was their determination and passion for getting the word out that really changed me. When I was in high school my major concern was with whom I was going to go to a dance, and these teens are concerned with life changing events. Working at the ACSNJ was an amazing experience for me and opened my eyes to all of the ways HIV can and does affect my life. I know that I have changed a few minds about HIV just from coming home from the ACSNJ and reading a few statistics to a group of friends. Even if that is the least I can do I know I am changing some lives. I wish everyone could work at the ACSNJ and get to experience the reality that I got, because I know it would save a lot of lives.

A few statistics I have read to my friends are so unbelievable they did not even believe me at first. Just a few of these are: The World Health Organization and other AIDS experts estimate that 90 % of the 30 million people infected with HIV worldwide are heterosexual. Worldwide, sexual intercourse between men and women is still the most common mode of AIDS transmission. In the United States, AIDS is still among the leading cause of death for men and women ages 25 - 45. Every night in the Unites States, about 16 million couples have sex, and it is estimated that every night about 36, 000 condoms break or slip. A recent study in the United States found that only 17 % of those with multiple sexual partners used condoms.

One study showed that 40 % of HIV-infected people had not disclosed their HIV status to their sexual partner. In adult couples in which one partner was HIV-infected and the other was not, only 50 % of the couples chose to use condoms. The ACSNJ offers many other programs besides the Teen AIDSline for people affected by HIV and AIDS and for volunteers who want to help. Some of these programs include: Positively Nutritious, We-R-Family, Buddy Services, and Cooper Hospital Childcare.

Positively Nutritious is a program that supplies food to people affected by AIDS. From Monday to Friday lunch and dinner are delivered to the persons home as well as groceries and individual nutritional help are available. We-R-Family is a program designed to focus on parenting education. It deals with important family issues and outings for families. Childcare is also provided. Buddy Services is a program that gives people affected by AIDS a buddy to talk to and support them.

The buddies provide comfort, companionship based on non-judgmental acceptance. Cooper Hospital Childcare is a program that provides childcare for parents while they attend their appointments. Parents may also go shopping or make other appointments while the children are being cared for. These are just a few of the wonderful services the ACSNJ provide for those infected or affected with HIV and AIDS. The ACSNJ is always looking for more volunteers and welcomes everyone. In my opinion I feel everyone should experience the joy of volunteering at least once in their lives, I know it was an experience I will never forget.

Works Cited A Beginners Guide to HIV: The Basics. (2001, September). HIV Positive Glaxo Welcome (Producer). (1995). Understanding the Disease [videotape]. Research Triangle Park, NC: Glaxo Welcome.

Heterosexual Practices in the Era of HIV/AIDS. The State University of New Jersey, Rutgers 2001. [pamphlet]


Free research essays on topics related to: hiv and aids, polio vaccine, men and women, infected with hiv, living with hiv

Research essay sample on Infected With Hiv Living With Hiv

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