Aids Essay, Research Paper

The disease HIV came out of nowhere in the late 70 s and early 80 s. The people took the disease as frightening and scary, because it was impossible to fight. Before HIV came along, it had been Polio and Small Pox causing all the trouble, but scientists had been able to control those diseases. Soon, or maybe later, we will discover the cure for HIV. The acronym AIDS means acquired immune deficiency syndrome. This means someone has gotten a sickness that weakens the immune system. The disease is also widespread among primates and other mammals. The HIV disease and the AIDS virus have been showing up in over a hundred countries worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that at least eight to ten million people have been infected by the disease. (Greenburg 1992, 8) Every part of the world we live in is covered with living things, from plants and animals to infinite numbers of microscopic living things. These microscopic living things are called microorganisms, or small life forms. Some of these small life forms can help us out, and we invite them into our bodies. They help us to digest food, produce vitamins, and they may also do other functions. Other types can live quietly, causing no harm whatsoever. There are other types that cause harm, multiplying and then causing us to become ill. The disease-causing microorganisms get their own special name: Pathogens. Pathogens come from the Latin words meaning to cause suffering . Pathogens move into a living thing and start multiplying, causing disease in the organism. A couple of pathogens are yeast, protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. As you can already tell, bacteria and viruses are the two most common types of pathogens. Viruses have a much smaller and simpler form than bacteria. Viruses have many different shapes, including the following: rods, spheres, six sided crystals, one-handed rolling pins, bullet shapes, and more. Viruses are way to small to be seen with the naked eye, so we use the electron microscope to inspect them. A drop of blood can hold up to three million red blood cells, and each red blood cell can hold up to a thousand viruses. Viruses need host cells to perform their functions. Without a host, the virus can t carry out any functions. Viruses are composed of nucleic acids. The nucleic acid is wrapped in a protein coat. The nucleic acid of a virus carries the genetic information to form and make new viruses. If the virus can not find a cell to reproduce in, it will die. Viruses pick out certain cells. Most only invade one type of living organism. The virus floats through the bloodstream until it sees the specific cell it can enter. Then it enters and starts the process. Researches took on the job of studying the HIV virus. Certain clues were found, like whom the disease spread from. They figured that the cause was probably due to a microorganism, specifically a virus. Working with the clues, blood samples, and cell samples from infected people, they discovered the disease that cause the immune system to shut down. We call it HIV for short, which stands for human immunodeficiancy virus. The body has a line of defense in the fight against invaders. The first is the skin. The body is covered with a big strong layer of epidermis tissue. Inside defenses, like the mouth, nose, esophagus, intestines, vagina, urethra, and the rectum are under protection by the mucus membranes. We also have small hairs that trap invaders, and germ killing chemicals in our tears and saliva. The main center of defense is the immune system. It has many different types of cells to stop enemies. It can also use its own resources to multiply and flourish. The main purpose is to keep invaders from multiplying and causing disease. The three stages are entrance, detection, and then attacking. The cells that do the attacking are the white blood cells. The lymphocytes are small white blood cells. There are many kinds. They all develop from cells in the bone marrow. The two main kinds are the B-cells and the T-cells.

B-cells move straight from the bone marrow, directly into the blood stream. While in the blood stream they circulate with the blood, looking for foreign substances. In certain places the B-ells join to form lymph glands.The places are the neck, armpits, and groin. The B-cells look for markers on the invaders. It then gets the information from the invader and produces a substance to match it, called an antibody. The invader has an antigen that is matched. (Greenburg, 1992, 24) When the antigen and antibody meet, they lock together and the antibody makes a chemical reaction so the antigen can t reproduce or catalyze. When this process is over, the invader is destroyed. Left over B-cells stay in the body, in case it trys to reenter again. T-cells move straight from the bone marrow into the thymus gland. The thymus gland is a spongy-like organ right below the throat. The T-cells divide into different groups. Helper T-cells send messages to B-cells. The suppressor T-cells send messages to stop or slow down the production of antibodies. The killer T-cells destroy cells carrying invaders. Another group associated with lymphocytes, and part of the White Blood Cell gang are Phagocytes. These are the large white blood cells. They circulate through the blood, looking for invaders. When they find one they surround it. They do it just like the chemicals located in the stomach and intestine, to destroy the invader. These groups work together to destroy invaders in the blood stream. Medicines only slow the process of reproduction, so the body can have time to get more antibodies. HIV is spread in a couple of different ways. It can be passed to another person by one of these three fluids entering the

blood, semen, and vaginal secretion. Many people were worried, and still are worried, that they can get HIV through touching. That is false. You can t even get it by tears, saliva, or feces. The virus is so small that its usually killed by light and air.HIV can enter the body through several ways. Here is a list of ways: sexual intercourse, blood-to-blood contact, and from an infected mother to her child. Intravenous drugs are another way HIV can be passed. These are the only ways known to pass HIV from a person to another. HIV is known as the tiny, but extremely powerful virus. As it makes its way into the body, the person feels no symptoms. The person may not even fell symptoms from two weeks to ten years. The flu-like symptoms are the first things that may appear, but they eventually go away. After that, the person can stay healthy for up to seven years, or more. The first signs (after the flu like symptoms) of HIV are swollen glands in the neck and arm pits for months. Loss of weight, fungus, and Kaposi s Sarcoma are all clues. Soon, they cause opportunistic diseases, which are any number of rare bacterial, fungal, protozoal, and viral infections that are caused by common microorganisms in the surrounding area or enviroment, but that do not cause diseases in people unless they have a damaged immune system. (Watstein, 1998, 197) A cure for AIDS has not even been developed yet. Each year hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent looking for a cure. The process we are trying to use is a vaccination, by making people immune. But now we are studying the B-cells to see how they work, so we can make them stronger. Some treatments involving the use and combination of many different drugs have reduced HIV levels in many patients. Some have even stopped replication. The major problem of treating HIV is that it is powerful enough to develop a resistance against all known drugs. (Bender, 1998, 17)