Elimination and Control of HIV and Aids in Africa and United States

Introduction

People take HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and Aids (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) as two names of a same disease. Though they are interrelated, there is a huge difference between them. The biggest difference that separates them is; HIV is a virus which causes AIDS. As name implies, HIV weakens the immune system in the body of human beings that functions to fight diseases. Weak immune system in a body fails to kill the viruses and diseases which get inside the body and develop themselves there.

HIV

H - Stands for 'Human' as this virus only infects human beings.

I - Stands for 'Immuno-deficiency' as this virus creates deficiency within the immune system of a human body which causes a failure on the part of immune system to work properly and fight diseases.

V - Stands for 'Virus' as this organism is a virus, which means it is capable to reproduce itself (a characteristic of a virus). Reproduction takes place by taking over the machinery of the human cell.

AIDS

A - Stands for 'Acquired'. It's a condition/disease one acquires and gets infected with; it's not something which is transmitted to humans through genes.

I - Stands for 'Immune' as it directly affects the immune system of a human body. Immune system works to fight off and kills germs such as virus and bacteria.

D - Stands for 'Deficiency' as it weakens the immune system to the level that it stops to work and functions properly in a human body.

S - Stands for 'Syndrome' which causes human body to experience wide range of diseases and opportunistic infections.

If a person is diagnosed with HIV positive, it means he/she is infected with a virus that can develop itself into AIDS. HIV is not curable which means if person becomes HIV positive, he/she will remain HIV positive for the rest of hi/her life. Over a period of time, white blood cells, also called “T cells” and “CD4 lymphocytes”, are infected and eventually killed by HIV which makes the body unable to fight off certain kinds of cancers and infections.

HIV develops itself into AIDS.

CD4 count (white blood cells count) in a healthy person ranges between 600 and 1200. AIDS causes CD4 count to drop below 200 and makes the immune system severely weakened. This condition of low CD4 count does not always make itself evident in the form of flu, sickness or other infections.

We can say AIDS is advanced form of HIV. Immune system of a person with AIDS is weakened by HIV to the level that usually person by one of several cancers or opportunistic infections such as Kaposi sarcoma (KS), PCP (type of Pneumonia), memory impairment, involuntary weight loss (wasting syndrome) or TB (Tuberculosis) etc. If a person is HIV positive and also diagnosed with the opportunistic infections (such as one of the abovementioned opportunistic infection), he or she is said to have AIDS (even if the white blood cell count is above 200). AIDS usually develops in 2 to ...