Aids: Epidemic Of The Century :: AIDS Essays

INTRODUCTION at that place is no doubt that support is indeed the epidemic of the century. Not save ar there many supporting facts and data, visiting urban cities and leash world countries prove this point. Furthermore, support is not still highly infectious, it is excessively the first major incurable epidemic throughout this biomedical gyration that mankind is going through. This epidemic might actually be the cardinal that will completely wipeout the third world. Scientists, government agencies and pharmaceutical companies be scrambling to find a cure to this epidemic but in the incriminate time we have to find a way to deal with it, if possible. As we continue into the next millennium with all sorts of problems facing humanity, the choice with adherence to AIDS is simple, evolve or dieINFECTIVITYThe Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has both different types of strains. HIV-1 is the North American strain while HIV-2 is the African strain. The only real difference be tween the two is that HIV-2 has the vpx gene while HIV-1 does not. As you can tell by the name, the virus works by gradually deteriorating the immune sy stubble. The virus can infect any cell with CD4 molecules on the cells membrane. It seems to specifically destroy or disable the CD4+ T cells. These cells are sometimes called "T helper" cells. They work by signalling different cells to perform their special functions. A normal healthy person unremarkably has a CD4+ T cell count of 800 to 1,200 per cubic millimetre of blood. erstwhile a persons CD4+ T cell count travel below 200/mm3, a person is diagnosed with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). A person diagnosed with AIDS will usually die of an opportunistic infection, not of HIV/AIDS itself.HIV is a virus and a virus is basically a microscopic bag of protein filled with a strain of DNA or RNA. To be more specific, HIV has a diameter of approximately 1/10,000 of a millimetre and is spherical in shape (see Figur e 1-1). The viral envelope consists of two layers of lipid molecules and contains proteins taken from the host cell. There are 72 copies (on average) of a complex HIV protein called Env. Env is made of three or four molecules of a glycoprotein, gp120, that form a cap and a stem consisting of gp41 molecules that anchor the structure to the surface of the viral envelope. HIV belongs to the class of viruses cognise as retroviruses.