HIV/AIDS Virus
Created By: Kelly Rohe, and Eunice Choe, Richardson/3rd
History, Origin, and Introduction
The virus referred to as AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, can be classified by a disease in which the afflicted organism experiences a severe decrease in the body's cellular immunity, significantly and proportionally decreasing the body's resistance to infection and malignancy due to contraction of the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) virus. Prior to its discovery, the HIV/AIDS virus had remained dormant and suppressed within the cells specific to the afflicted human organisms. Following its eruption among the homosexual male community in the year 1981 in Los Angeles, California, epidemiologists fervently worked to understand the mysterious and elusive disease responsible for claiming the lives of a suspected eighty young, homosexual males in California within the first two weeks of its discovery. Controversy surrounding the classification of this undefined disease diminished following the report and diagram released by the CDC commission characterizing this pandemic as an aggressive and irrevocable virus entitled HIV/AIDS. A series of investigations intended to determine the origin of this virus and the manner in which it distributed itself across such vast congregations were conducted in an effort to determine a treatment able to combat this immutable virus. Through extensive experimentation and investigation, scientists have compiled a theory which they believe justifies the introduction of the HIV/AIDS virus into humanity. In the year 1908, scientists believe that the first human individual contracted the HIV/AIDS virus through interaction with bush meet that had been previously afflicted by the virus. It is believed that the Chimpanzee responsible for distributing the HIV virus into human congregations had contracted the modern dialect of the disease upon consuming a Red Capped Mangabey monkey, afflicted by the Red Capped Mangabey dialect of the HIV virus, and by then later consuming a Spot Nosed Guenon monkey, afflicted by the Spot Nosed Guenon dialect of the HIV virus. Naturally, both dialects of this HIV virus would have been eradicated and eliminated by the Chimpanzee's immune system, but by sporadic chance, it is presumed that both variations of the HIV/AIDS virus, one specific to the Red Capped Mangabey monkey and the other specific to the Spot Nosed Guenon monkey, simultaneously infected the same individual cell within the Chimpanzee at the same, precise time. An enzyme housed within this afflicted cell then proceeded to replicate the genetic material specific to both viruses in an effort to reproduce. However, throughout this replication process, one of the viruses detached itself from its specific gene series and adhered itself onto the alternate virus. The enzyme then proceeded to duplicate the genetic material specific to the coupled virus, resulting in the production of a hybrid virus capable of sustaining itself within the environment provided by the Chimpanzee. In accordance with the "Cut-Hunter" theory, a Bantu male residing within the forests of Southeastern Cameroon exchanged blood with this afflicted primate upon inadvertently cutting himself with his instrument while butchering the bush meet. It is believed that the Bantu individual presented within the Cut-Hunter theory was the first human individual to contract the HIV/AIDS virus. This afflicted male presumably distributed the virus to a women who then proceeded to infect a fisherman who likely distributed the virus into the urbanized suburb where he presented his aquatic commodities to distributers. In the dense populations characterized by such urbanized regions, the virus continued to distribute itself among various congregations, as these industrial environments feature and incorporate greater prostitution-oriented activity, greater fluidity of social and sexual interactions, and greater, more concentrated population density. This is the process that likely justified the immense and rapid distribution of the virus described by HIV/AIDS.
HIV/AIDS Virus
Chimpanzee
Bantu Man in Possession of Bushmeat
Societal Impact and Significance of the HIV/AIDS Virus
HIV/AIDS is a virus that has significantly impacted and influenced the political, economical, and scientific aspects of society. The distribution of this highly aggressive virus to an approximated seventy million individuals in the thirty-one years following its introduction into the United States is a testament to its intrusive, potent nature. Deemed the most aggressive and threatening pandemic to grace North American soils, the virus characterized by HIV is estimated to afflict more than forty million more individuals throughout the duration of the next decade. The controversy surrounding the HIV/AIDS virus contributes its vigor and efficiency, as this virus was conceived in and thrives on the frailties and compulsions of society- sexual desire and drug addiction, bigotry and greed, and political indifference and social inertia, relying on such fallibilities to distribute itself on such a globally significant scale. The economical burden that the HIV virus has imposed upon society is immensely significant, as the expenses required to invest in antiviral medications, prescription vaccines and the expenses associated with medical and emergency attention are financially oppressive, detrimentally impacting the financial integrity specific to millions of individuals. The factors argued to most facilitate and motivate the rapid distribution of this virus, however, are described by fear, stigma, and immense political controversy. Attempts to combat the distribution of this virus, most prevalent among homosexual men and intravenous drug users resulted in furious public debate and scrutiny. It is in the opinion of much of society that politics are the driving and motivating force behind the rapid distribution of this pandemic. This political controversy can best be expressed by the divide that emerged between the prosperous and economically oppressed following the development of HIV/AIDS combatants, such as the "triple cocktail HIV treatment." However, the increased prices associated with the drugs made them unaffordable to patients residing in developing nations. The political endeavors to decrease the expenses of these drugs in underdeveloped countries such as Brazil and Africa are a testament to the ability that this political controversy granted the virus to flourish and thrive. HIV/AIDS is a disease that has devastated and detrimentally impacted society through the manipulation of societal flaw and fallibility. It is this disease that has instilled fear and oppression into society and it is because of this logic that this disease must be combatted in an effort to preserve the integrity and rectitude of the human race.
HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention
In an effort to combat against this adverse virus, scientists and doctors have been fervently working to develop a treatment able to prevent against the HIV/AIDS virus. While a scientific solution to the HIV/AIDS pandemic remains elusive, multiple treatments and methods of prevention have been established to decrease the progression of such an aggressive virus. For example, the establishment of needle-exchange programs and anti-drug clinics have been implemented and made available in an effort to decrease the rapid distribution rate associated with the HIV/AIDS virus. Since the discovery of this virus in 1981, an estimated thirty drugs have been established to prolong the lives of those afflicted by the virus. None of the drugs and medications that have been established have been observed to definitively and entirely combat against the HIV/AIDS virus, although research and experimentation continues to be conducted in an effort to discover a treatment able to eradicate the virus.
The two most efficient treatments that have been established are described by a two-drug regimen (lopinavir/ritonavir plus lamivudine) and the treatment referred to as the triple-drug cocktail. Both the two-drug and triple-drug regimen feature a series of either two or three drugs that combat against the virus in its various stages of development. It was reported that 88.3% of the patients participating in the dual-drug regimen were able to control the virus, while 83.7% of the patients participating in the triple-cocktail treatment reported containment of the virus. The statistics derived from these two treatments justify their classification as the most effective combatants currently in existence against the HIV/AIDS virus, although they have not been successful in entirely combatting against and eradicating the virus from those afflicted. A treatment for the HIV/AIDS virus continues to elude scientists and doctors, despite their fervent endeavors to develop such technologies.