Please choose one of the following emerging human pathogens for your main discussion:
- Hepatitis C Virus
- Zika Virus
D. You must discuss your chosen human pathogen to tell us what type of microbe it is, what disease it causes, how the disease is emerging, signs & symptoms, course of disease, treatment and prevention.
E. Your discussion should be well-written, in your own words, paraphrasing from only credible academic sources. You may not directly quote from your sources, minimum elaboration on the topic of a minimum of 200 words and maximum of 300 words. F. You must also cite your credible academic reference sources with parenthetical in text citations, and provide full end ref information in APA 7th Edition format.
PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS POST ALSO 100 WORDS MIN
Human immunodifiency virus also known as HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. HIV came to be from chimpanzees in Central Africa. The chimpanzee version of the virus is called simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV. (cdc.gov 2021) It is believed that it was passed to humans as they were being hunted and transmitted to humans when they ate the meat and came into contact with their infected blood. According to studies it is believed that it was passed to humans as far back as the late 1800’s. The virus has been in the United States since at least the 1970’s. (cdc.gov 2021). Since some peple may be infected and not know it, it is best to get tested so you know for sure. Some possible symptoms include: muscle aches, fever, rash, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat and chills. The good news for those infected with HIV is that due to modern treatments, if the disease it caught early enough, medicines can keep the virus from progressing or at the very least, slow it down. Due to the advancements in treatment, progressing to stage 3 is less common today than it was in the beginning. (cdc.gov 2021)
HIV is only transmissable through vaginal or anal sex, sharing needles or syringes or other drug equipment. In the beginning, since the virus was so deadly, people were scared that you could catch HIV like a cold or from just standing next to someone with it. Today, those notions have long been disproven. We now know that you cannot get HIV through touching or sweat, you can’t get it from insects, or by a toilet seat, and especially, not through the air. (cdc.gov 2021)
Treatment for HIV is antiretroviral therapy. There is no cure for HIV but it can be controlled with the proper treatment. Of course, there may be some side effects in some people, but they definitely do not outweigh the risk of the virus progressing and turning into AIDS (Acquired immunodificiency syndrome.) AIDS is diagnosed when HIV has reached the third stage and the immune system is so badly damaged that it has an increased number of severe illness which are known as opportunistic infections. (cdc.gov 2021). In the past, AIDS would be considered an imminent death sentence, however, studies have shown that people are living a few more years after the AIDS diagnosis. There was a study done showing that by June of 2016, 27.2% of subjects from a particular study had progressed to AIDS and 25.2% of those patients died. The survival rate was 88% at one year, 85% at two years, 77% at five years and 67% at ten years. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 2019). Survival rates are continuing to increase as people get treatment earlier (before it reaches the AIDS disgnosis) and maintain their treatments and a healthy preventative lifestyle.
