Etiology/Pathophysiology

HIV only infects humans and  is not able to survive long outside the human body. Therefore, transmission happens human to human. Only certain body fluids (semen, blood, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluid, vaginal fluids, and breast milk) can transmit HIV. To get HIV, these fluids from an HIV-infected person must come in contact with a mucous membranes (mouth, rectum, vagina, and the opening of the penis), damaged tissue, or be directly injected into the bloodstream of someone who is not infected. In the US, HIV is spread mainly by having sex or sharing needles with individuals infected with HIV.

HIV weakens the body’s immune system by destroying a certain type of white blood cell (CD4). These cells are important in fighting disease and infection. Viruses can only replicate by taking over a host’s cell. HIV hijacks the CD4 cells in the body and uses it to make copies of itself at an extraordinary rate (as many as 10 million to 10 billion individual viruses are produced daily). As the new viruses are released the CD4 cell is destroyed. Our own cells become HIV factories and as more viruses are produced,  the immune system becomes compromised. HIV cannot be cleared out of the body (the immune system can’t seem to get rid of HIV). After so many cell have been destroyed, the body loses the ability to fight infections and disease, this leads to AIDS (the final stage). Once a person has HIV, they have it for life. It can hide for long periods of time and not everyone who gets HIV has it progress to AIDS. Treatments can keep the level of virus in the body low.

https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/what-is-hiv-aids/

file:///home/chronos/u-29a76c2305cd3bf5f919ac8a0ba66b8ac2664bc8/Downloads/2-Pathophysiology-of-HIV%20(1).pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/transmission.html

HIV epidemiology, globally and in the United States:

What is epidemiology?

According to the National Institute of Health “Epidemiology is a branch of medical science that investigates all the factors that determine the presence or absence of diseases and disorders. Epidemiological research helps us to understand how many people have a disease or disorder, if those numbers are changing, and how the disorder affects our society and our economy”.

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/Pages/epidemiology.aspx

Globally:

• At the end of 2013 there were 35.0 million people living with HIV.
• It is estimated that 0.8% of adults aged 15–49 years worldwide are living with HIV
• 1.5 million people died of aids related illness in 2013
• Sub-Saharan Africa remains most severely affected, with nearly 1 in every 20 adults living with HIV and accounting for nearly 71% of the people living with HIV worldwide.

http://www.who.int/gho/hiv/en/

United States:

• 1,201,100 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV, 168,300 (14% or 1 in 7) are unaware they are infected.
• Gay and bisexual men of all races are most affected.
• By race, blacks/African Americans face the most severe burden of HIV.
• About 50,000 new HIV infections per year.
• in 2013 47,352 people were diagnosed with HIV and 26,688 people were diagnosed with AIDS.
• 13,712 people with an AIDS diagnosis died in 2012 (death may or may not have been related to AIDS).

Estimated New HIV Infections in the United States, 2010, for the Most Affected Subpopulations

*Subpopulations representing 2% or less are not reflected in this chart. Abbreviations: MSM, men who have sex with men; IDU, injection drug user.

https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/statistics/

What is HIV?

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that is spread through body fluids. It kills or damages specific cells of the body’s immune system. The destruction of so many of these cells prevents the body from being able to fight off infections and disease. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the most advanced stage of infection with HIV. Unlike some other viruses, the human body cannot get rid of HIV. That means that once you have HIV, you have it for life.

In this blog I will talk about the prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS, how it affects the body, how it gets diagnosed, signs, symptoms, treatment options, and nursing care/diagnoses.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hivaids.html

http://www.cdc.gov/actagainstaids/basics/

http://www.cdc.gov/actagainstaids/basics/whatishiv.html