HIV/AIDS
How can HIV/AIDS affect a patient and their family?
Nadara Bacon
Mr. Zeiser
Senior Seminar
April 2, 2014
Introduction
David B. King was diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in 1996. Over the years King developed Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome (AIDs). The sickness affected King in various ways. He was taking the cocktail for many years and other medications. After a while King was losing weight and gaining other sicknesses that his body just could not fight off. Eventually King was not able eat nor drink, later he was not able to talk because of the pain. King fought HIV/AIDs until April 13, 2011.
Overall 1.1million people are living with HIV (aids.gov, 2013). HIV/AIDs can affect a patient and their family in three major areas in life. First, a patient and their family can be affected financially. Second, a patient and their family can be affected emotionally. Finally, a patient and their family can be affected physically. However, patients and their families can be affected either positively or negatively in the three major areas.
Literature Review
In this article, Where did HIV come from?, by The AIDS Institute, gives information about where HIV/AIDS came from what were the names before HIV/AIDS or when it first was detected in the United States ( The AIDS Institute, 2011).
In the web page, Busting HIV Transmission Myths, written by Erica Roth, she talks about how HIV is passed through people and basically how you can get it. For example having unprotected sex with someone who is HIV positive can make you at high risk to detect HIV (Roth, 2013).
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services wrote an article called, HIV/AIDS Care Continuum, that talks about how some people HIV levels is not suppressed and also a medication that can suppress your HIV blood levels (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013).
In this article, My HIV Journey, by Aaron Laxton, he talked about how there were various videos that were personal narratives about people living with HIV, for example a man living HIV by the name of Aaron Laxton gave me great research on the emotional and financial effect when living with HIV( Laxton, 2012).
In the web page, 13 Signs You May Have HIV, written by Catherine Roberts, she talks about how the website give you 13 symptoms that are signs that you are infected by the viruses( Roberts, 2013).
In this article, Side Effects, by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, they talks about when having HIV you have to suppress it so you take medication. When first taking the medication you begin to feel certain short term side effects(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2009).
Background history
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system. HIV cannot damage the immune system until Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome is involved in the body. But however AIDS can damage the immune system.
AIDs stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome. AID’s is the final stage of HIV infection, which causes severe damage to the immune system. AIDs weaken the immune system and the body attracts various diseases. As AIDs weaken the immune system it kills the human body CD4’s (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
“A CD4 cell is known as T-cell. CD4 cells are also known as “generals” of the human immune system” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). The CD4 cell sends a signal when viruses or bacteria occur, warning the body to fight it but if the aids are killing CD4 cells, then the body will not get a signal to fight off the disease, Which over time will weaken your immune system. However, white blood cells also try to help out the human body.
“CD4 cells and white blood cells both contribute in defending the human body,” (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2014) White blood cells are cells of the immune system involved in defending the body against infectious disease. White blood cells are also an important part of your blood system, which also made up of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. Red blood cells play an important part of the body. Red blood cells are what carry fresh oxygen throughout the body, oxygen actually is the reason the body has such a bright color. Platelets are small, but still make up a big part of the human body. Platelets are blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding. The plasma is the largest component of the blood. But the plasma carries the blood components that are the white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. The plasma carries the components throughout. CD4 cells and white blood cells play a major part when it comes to the human body fighting off various diseases. Although HIV/AIDs are relatively new disease, they had to start from somewhere. (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2014)
HIV/AIDs arose from a type of chimpanzee in West Africa. Scientist basically believes that people would hunt for food and came across infected chimpanzees to eat; the hunters were later infected causing the virus to spread throughout Africa. The AIDS Institute believes the start of HIV/AIDs came from retrovirus (RNA that goes into a DNA and it has to go into a cell to replicate) monkeys. However, because of the monkeys, humans were now infected by the virus.(The Aids Institute, 2011)
“In 1959, a blood sample was detected finding the first man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo having HIV-1,” (The Aids Institute, 2011) HIV/AIDs were not first detected in the United States, and have also been around for decades. However there are two types of HIV. (The Aids Institute, 2011)
“There are two types of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2. They share many similarities whether it’s their basic gene arrangement, modes of transmission, replication pathway, and also the consequences,”(Nyamweya, 2013) But the two viruses both cause AIDs too. Although HIV-1 and HIV-2 have multiple similarities they also have differences. HIV-2 is mostly found in West Africa. HIV-1 is found worldwide. HIV-2 is less easily to transmit and rarely found. However when speaking about HIV, people are usually talking about HIV-1, HIV-1 is more easily transmitted. (Nyamweya, 2013)
“HIV/AIDs reached the United States in 1981, starting in New York and California,” (Aids Institute, 2011) Not knowing what it was, scientists in the United States thought of it as some rare type of cancer given name Kaposi's sarcoma(name that was first given before HIV was thought of). Scientists begin to become more familiar with the disease, 1982 the name "Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome" today known as AIDS. During this time scientists believe the majority with the disease were men having sexual contact with other men. They begin to believe AIDS might have been transmitted through certain sexual contact. However, scientists were determined to find the cause of AIDs. (Aids Institute, 2011)
Transmissions
Scientists first believed that sexual contact was the reason to detecting HIV/AIDs. They left out a lot of other ways to transmit the virus. Whether it is man on man or man on woman, it still can be easily transmitted. One way to get HIV/AIDs is unsafe sex, whether its vaginal, and anal sex. Researcher believes getting the virus. Although having sex can transmit the virus, re-using needles can also transmit the virus. (Roth, 2013)
Although having sex can transmit the virus, re-using needles can also transmit the virus, contaminated drug needles can infect the human body also. “If the needles have HIV antibodies, you will be at risk to get infected if using the needle,” (Roth, 2013) Not just drug needles can affect the body, it could be a re-used tattoo needle that the tattoo artist has just used on someone with HIV, whoever uses that needle will be at high with being infected.(Roth, 2013)
Even though needles play a part in transmitting the virus, childbirth can also transmit the virus. “Body-fluids- including amniotic fluids and blood throughout the pregnancy and childbirth can infect the baby of the virus,” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,2012) If the mother has HIV and is pregnant there is treatments the mother can go through to make sure the baby comes out HIV negative. Even though a child can be infected during pregnancy and childbirth, When Breast feeding a baby it is the same as childbirth and pregnancy the baby can come in contact with the mother's body-fluids. However, the virus can also be transmitted also through blood transfusion (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
Blood transfusion and also organ transplants can transmit the virus. If a doner is infected with the virus, it will infect the patient that it is given to. But because the United States have screening requirement. It's rare to get the virus from blood transfusion, or organ transplant. However the healthcare world can also put you in danger of getting infected (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
When working in the healthcare world you could be at high risk to get HIV transmitted in the body this way. Most people come across infected blood, fluids through needle sticks or cuts. When working in the healthcare world ,working with infected viruses you should wear things that can protect from getting infected. Even though there are numerous transmissions, there are also many body fluids that can contain HIV (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
HIV lives and reproduces in the blood and other body fluids. High levels of HIV can be found in blood, semen, ore seminal fluid , breast milk, Vaginal fluids, and anal mucous. But you cannot get it from body fluids like nasal fluids, saliva, sweat tears, urine, and vomit. However symptoms come a lot slower than the virus being easily transmitted (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
Symptoms
The HIV symptoms are common and many people do not know they were infected until years after they acquired it. There are at least 13 symptoms that occur. The symptoms can be simple some of them could be ones had growing up as a kids but they are actually signs of HIV. Fevers, Sore throats, body pain, persistent cough,swollen lymph nodes (small bean shaped glands throughout the body), headaches, weight loss, yeast infection, fatigue (causes tiredness), rash, night sweat, cold sores, but the worst symptom of them all is not having any.If you think you are at high risk it's best to get tested. But if tested positive there are treatments that keep the virus from attaching your immune system. (Roberts, 2013)
Treatments
Treatment is a lifelong process, so you will need HIV Medical care, getting Antiretroviral therapy would help a patient through treatment. Antiretroviral ( working against) are drugs that are used to prevent a retrovirus such as HIV. Once you begin to take the drug and the body immune can become suppressed.
When achieving viral suppression, the human body has a low amount of HIV in the body But you are not cured, however as long as you are taking the medication you can live a healthy and longer life. HIV/AIDs can affect a patient financially.(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
Essential Question
Being diagnosed with HIV places a financial burden on people, especially those who do not have health insurance. According to Aaron Laxton a person living with HIV/AIDs, “when you are newly diagnosed with no insurance the first series of blood test will cost about $3,000,” (laxton, 2011) Which mean if being HIV positive with no insurance it’s the responsibility to figure out a way to pay $3,000. $3,000 would just be first cost of blood work, future testing haves to be done every three months costing $1700. However blood work does not keep you healthy, what keeps you healthy is the medication.
When wanting to control your level of HIV, medication will be hard to control if you don’t have health insurance. Aaron Laxton a person living with AIDs stated, “there are programs such as Education For All also known as EFA(Education for all) for medication, but if you do have to pay out of pocket it might cost $100 per pill,”(laxton, 2011) Which means insurance sometimes there are programs that would like to help with the financial burden, but if you don’t receive help $100 per pill is what you will pay and you also have to remember that you take a multiple of pill everyday so if each pill cost $100 that’s a lot of money. However HIV/AIDs can be affected emotionally.
Being HIV positive can have an emotional affect on people, more so to the people who have HIV/AIDs who think their life is completely over. According to Aaron Laxton “life is not over, even though for a period of time people might not want to do anything sexually,” (laxton, 2011) Which means he doesn’t want people thinking they still can’t live their life because they actually can? But how you view yourself may be the emotional weakness when having HIV/AIDS. Laxton believes people should not walk around with your head in shame, he believes you should look from this day forward and people will view you the way you view yourself. Which means he believes if you view yourself as dirty because you have HIV/AIDs, then others will view you that way also. Enjoying your life should not end. Laxton explains that he is all for safe sex and having fun, having HIV/AIDs is not a death sentence. People with the virus made a mistake there is nothing wrong, Laxton is saying that don't let HIV/AIDs take away your freedom you should still live your life. However, going through rejection(to dismiss or refuse) can also have an emotional effect. (Laxton, 2011)
Being rejected because you have HIV/AIDs is not easy. A person should not feel like they did anything wrong, people will judge and will be ignorant to you because of the virus. Which means when becoming HIV positive negative opinions come with it also. The video explain how the female became accustomed to being rejected, she explained it made her sad and also she would cry but yet she was used to it, Which means accustomed to the rejected but it still hurt, but being rejected can still hurt your feelings. But also the female could not date who she wanted. She explains how 99% of the time she tells a man how she feels and she starts to feel like she can spend the rest of her life with a man and the man are very attracted to her until she tells them she is HIV positive, next they don't want her. The ones that don't mind that she is HIV positive she feels she can't have a relationship with them or want to even are with them. Which means she feels like she should be with someone she wants to be with, not a person she has to be forced with because she is HIV/ positive and the only that will accept her. Just because being HIV/positive doesn't mean you can't live your life. However there can be a physical affect on a patient. (The Body,2014)
Being affected physically can have numerous effects on the patient. For example losing weight can affect you physically because when having HIV/AIDs you begin to become sick vomit and eventually lose weight from the sickness. How but when on medication there can still be some physical effects. When taking medication there may be short-term side effect with the medicines. For example medication can cause Anemia, Diarrhea, Fatigue (tiredness), Headaches, Nausea and Vomiting, Pain and Nerve problems, which they are saying it is basically caused by the medication when your body is first getting immunes to it. But when not taking medication the final stage of HIV can occur which is AIDs. HIV/AIDs can lead to various sickness. The human body begins to become open to disease and will not be able to fight them off. However a patient is not the only one that can be affected by the virus, family members can also be affected (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012).
The family can also be affected physically, emotionally, and financially. The person and the family goes through different problems when dealing with HIV/AIDS.
The family can be affected when someone has HIV in their family. If the person is taking their medicine then they will possibly live a normal life with the virus, living virally suppressed. But if the person is not taking medication that can lead to AIDS which will damage the immune system causing the person to eventually die. However, some families may live in a low income household or just have no insurance, there is drug programs for example “the Ryan White Care help improve availability of care for low income,” (West Virginia Health & Human Resources, 2014) However, if the person was to not find a drug program or get on any type of medication they would eventually gets AIDS, the family will have to deal with the consequences. For example the person would get sick and have to go to the hospital often and if the person do not have insurance the family could be stuck paying the price. also if the person with AIDS is the caregiver this could be a problem because they would not be able to work, which will take create problems on how they will take care of their family. This can be an example of a financial effect. Eventually when the caregiver is not able to work because of the disease and is not able to provide for the family the person and family can start to feel stressed and depressed because of all the problems they have. Also the family will be sad and cry once they lose their family member to AIDS. This is an example of emotional affect. However, there are stories that connect to my thesis.
Case Study
HIV affected Magic Johnson in many ways, a way HIV affected Johnson was on his basketball career. Johnson announced he was HIV positive in 1991. Johnson had no choice but to confess because he could not continue to play in the NBA while having HIV. It could be a big effect on players. It can affect players on how they play and players would not be as physical no more and players can also catch the disease from open cuts. Johnson spoke out about how HIV brought his family closer HIV brought Johnson's wife and their kids closer to him because they cared so much that they would always make sure Johnson was doing everything he was suppose to do and doing it right. Johnson said his family would constantly ask, "Are you taking your meds, are you working out, are you eating healthy," ( Jothianandan, 2012) which means Johnson also thought that nobody could beat the disease alone and thought that anyone with the disease may need the support of their family. Without family support people probably will not pull through it alone ( Jothianandan, 2012).
The rapper Eric Lynn Wright who goes by the name of Eazy-E was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Before Wright found out he was diagnosed he was recently married to Tomika Wood and had a one-year-old son. Wright also has seven other children by six different women. HIV/AIDS affected their family because when he told them he was diagnosed, his wife and son had to get tested to make sure they did not have the disease as well. Wright was an ex-gang member, and a former drug dealer, but he never said how he got the disease. Although Ms.Wood and her son tested negative things were still not good,unlike Johnson wife Wood never said she will get through the disease with Wright as a family. Wright needed the support from his family to get through his disease, but since he did not get the support he could not last long on his own. Which is part of the reason he did not live long. Wright said, "I'm not saying this because I'm looking for a soft cushion, wherever I'm heading. I just feel I've got thousands and thousands of young fans that have to learn about what's real when it comes to AIDS" (Respers, 1995), which means that he was not asking anyone to feel bad for him or making any excuses. He just thought since he came out about it, that none of his young fans should take this as a joke (Respers, 1995).
Conclusion
In conclusion, HIV/AIDS is a serious disease and can be effective emotionally. Second financially and finally physically. HIV/AIDS is not a disease to be played with, in 2010 it was at least 1.8 million deaths caused from AIDS. One year later in 2011 there were 2.5 million new cases of HIV. HIV/AIDS is a disease to watch out for these days because you will sometimes never know when you are diagnosed with the disease. As of today everyone should be aware of HIV/AIDS because it is a very infectious disease and can affect you emotionally because you can start to get frustrated as the disease goes on. Second financially because you have to pay for treatment medicine, and physically because it can damage the immune system and can eventually kill you.
Bibliography
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). What is HIV/AIDS? Retrieved fromhttp://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/what-is-hiv-aids/
University of Rochester Medical Center (2014). What Are White Blood Cells? Retrieved from
www.urmc.rochester.edu/Encyclopedia/content.aspx?content-TypeID-160&contentID=35
Nyamweya, S. (2013). Comparing HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection. Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rmv.1739/abstract
Aids Institute. (2011). Where Did HIV Come From? Retrieved from
http://www.theaidsinstitute.org/node/259
Roth, E. (2013). Busting HIV Transmission Myths. Retrieved from
http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/busting-hiv-transmission-myths#1
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). How Do You Get HIV or AIDS? Retrieved from
http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/how-you-get-hiv-aids/
Roberts, C. (2013). 13 Signs You May Have HIV. Retrieved from
http://www.activebeat.com/health-news/13-signs-you-may-have-hiv/
Laxton, A. (2011). 13 Months of Videos Following My Diagnosis. Retrieved from
http://www.thebody.com/content/68681/my-hiv-journey-13-months-of-videos-following-my-di.html
West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.dhhr.wv.gov/oeps/std-hiv-hep/HIV_AIDS/caresupport/Pages/RyanWhiteCareAct.aspx
How can HIV/AIDS affect a patient and their family?
Nadara Bacon
Mr. Zeiser
Senior Seminar
April 2, 2014
Introduction
David B. King was diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in 1996. Over the years King developed Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome (AIDs). The sickness affected King in various ways. He was taking the cocktail for many years and other medications. After a while King was losing weight and gaining other sicknesses that his body just could not fight off. Eventually King was not able eat nor drink, later he was not able to talk because of the pain. King fought HIV/AIDs until April 13, 2011.
Overall 1.1million people are living with HIV (aids.gov, 2013). HIV/AIDs can affect a patient and their family in three major areas in life. First, a patient and their family can be affected financially. Second, a patient and their family can be affected emotionally. Finally, a patient and their family can be affected physically. However, patients and their families can be affected either positively or negatively in the three major areas.
Literature Review
In this article, Where did HIV come from?, by The AIDS Institute, gives information about where HIV/AIDS came from what were the names before HIV/AIDS or when it first was detected in the United States ( The AIDS Institute, 2011).
In the web page, Busting HIV Transmission Myths, written by Erica Roth, she talks about how HIV is passed through people and basically how you can get it. For example having unprotected sex with someone who is HIV positive can make you at high risk to detect HIV (Roth, 2013).
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services wrote an article called, HIV/AIDS Care Continuum, that talks about how some people HIV levels is not suppressed and also a medication that can suppress your HIV blood levels (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013).
In this article, My HIV Journey, by Aaron Laxton, he talked about how there were various videos that were personal narratives about people living with HIV, for example a man living HIV by the name of Aaron Laxton gave me great research on the emotional and financial effect when living with HIV( Laxton, 2012).
In the web page, 13 Signs You May Have HIV, written by Catherine Roberts, she talks about how the website give you 13 symptoms that are signs that you are infected by the viruses( Roberts, 2013).
In this article, Side Effects, by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, they talks about when having HIV you have to suppress it so you take medication. When first taking the medication you begin to feel certain short term side effects(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2009).
Background history
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system. HIV cannot damage the immune system until Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome is involved in the body. But however AIDS can damage the immune system.
AIDs stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome. AID’s is the final stage of HIV infection, which causes severe damage to the immune system. AIDs weaken the immune system and the body attracts various diseases. As AIDs weaken the immune system it kills the human body CD4’s (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
“A CD4 cell is known as T-cell. CD4 cells are also known as “generals” of the human immune system” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). The CD4 cell sends a signal when viruses or bacteria occur, warning the body to fight it but if the aids are killing CD4 cells, then the body will not get a signal to fight off the disease, Which over time will weaken your immune system. However, white blood cells also try to help out the human body.
“CD4 cells and white blood cells both contribute in defending the human body,” (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2014) White blood cells are cells of the immune system involved in defending the body against infectious disease. White blood cells are also an important part of your blood system, which also made up of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. Red blood cells play an important part of the body. Red blood cells are what carry fresh oxygen throughout the body, oxygen actually is the reason the body has such a bright color. Platelets are small, but still make up a big part of the human body. Platelets are blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding. The plasma is the largest component of the blood. But the plasma carries the blood components that are the white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. The plasma carries the components throughout. CD4 cells and white blood cells play a major part when it comes to the human body fighting off various diseases. Although HIV/AIDs are relatively new disease, they had to start from somewhere. (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2014)
HIV/AIDs arose from a type of chimpanzee in West Africa. Scientist basically believes that people would hunt for food and came across infected chimpanzees to eat; the hunters were later infected causing the virus to spread throughout Africa. The AIDS Institute believes the start of HIV/AIDs came from retrovirus (RNA that goes into a DNA and it has to go into a cell to replicate) monkeys. However, because of the monkeys, humans were now infected by the virus.(The Aids Institute, 2011)
“In 1959, a blood sample was detected finding the first man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo having HIV-1,” (The Aids Institute, 2011) HIV/AIDs were not first detected in the United States, and have also been around for decades. However there are two types of HIV. (The Aids Institute, 2011)
“There are two types of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2. They share many similarities whether it’s their basic gene arrangement, modes of transmission, replication pathway, and also the consequences,”(Nyamweya, 2013) But the two viruses both cause AIDs too. Although HIV-1 and HIV-2 have multiple similarities they also have differences. HIV-2 is mostly found in West Africa. HIV-1 is found worldwide. HIV-2 is less easily to transmit and rarely found. However when speaking about HIV, people are usually talking about HIV-1, HIV-1 is more easily transmitted. (Nyamweya, 2013)
“HIV/AIDs reached the United States in 1981, starting in New York and California,” (Aids Institute, 2011) Not knowing what it was, scientists in the United States thought of it as some rare type of cancer given name Kaposi's sarcoma(name that was first given before HIV was thought of). Scientists begin to become more familiar with the disease, 1982 the name "Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome" today known as AIDS. During this time scientists believe the majority with the disease were men having sexual contact with other men. They begin to believe AIDS might have been transmitted through certain sexual contact. However, scientists were determined to find the cause of AIDs. (Aids Institute, 2011)
Transmissions
Scientists first believed that sexual contact was the reason to detecting HIV/AIDs. They left out a lot of other ways to transmit the virus. Whether it is man on man or man on woman, it still can be easily transmitted. One way to get HIV/AIDs is unsafe sex, whether its vaginal, and anal sex. Researcher believes getting the virus. Although having sex can transmit the virus, re-using needles can also transmit the virus. (Roth, 2013)
Although having sex can transmit the virus, re-using needles can also transmit the virus, contaminated drug needles can infect the human body also. “If the needles have HIV antibodies, you will be at risk to get infected if using the needle,” (Roth, 2013) Not just drug needles can affect the body, it could be a re-used tattoo needle that the tattoo artist has just used on someone with HIV, whoever uses that needle will be at high with being infected.(Roth, 2013)
Even though needles play a part in transmitting the virus, childbirth can also transmit the virus. “Body-fluids- including amniotic fluids and blood throughout the pregnancy and childbirth can infect the baby of the virus,” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,2012) If the mother has HIV and is pregnant there is treatments the mother can go through to make sure the baby comes out HIV negative. Even though a child can be infected during pregnancy and childbirth, When Breast feeding a baby it is the same as childbirth and pregnancy the baby can come in contact with the mother's body-fluids. However, the virus can also be transmitted also through blood transfusion (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
Blood transfusion and also organ transplants can transmit the virus. If a doner is infected with the virus, it will infect the patient that it is given to. But because the United States have screening requirement. It's rare to get the virus from blood transfusion, or organ transplant. However the healthcare world can also put you in danger of getting infected (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
When working in the healthcare world you could be at high risk to get HIV transmitted in the body this way. Most people come across infected blood, fluids through needle sticks or cuts. When working in the healthcare world ,working with infected viruses you should wear things that can protect from getting infected. Even though there are numerous transmissions, there are also many body fluids that can contain HIV (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
HIV lives and reproduces in the blood and other body fluids. High levels of HIV can be found in blood, semen, ore seminal fluid , breast milk, Vaginal fluids, and anal mucous. But you cannot get it from body fluids like nasal fluids, saliva, sweat tears, urine, and vomit. However symptoms come a lot slower than the virus being easily transmitted (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
Symptoms
The HIV symptoms are common and many people do not know they were infected until years after they acquired it. There are at least 13 symptoms that occur. The symptoms can be simple some of them could be ones had growing up as a kids but they are actually signs of HIV. Fevers, Sore throats, body pain, persistent cough,swollen lymph nodes (small bean shaped glands throughout the body), headaches, weight loss, yeast infection, fatigue (causes tiredness), rash, night sweat, cold sores, but the worst symptom of them all is not having any.If you think you are at high risk it's best to get tested. But if tested positive there are treatments that keep the virus from attaching your immune system. (Roberts, 2013)
Treatments
Treatment is a lifelong process, so you will need HIV Medical care, getting Antiretroviral therapy would help a patient through treatment. Antiretroviral ( working against) are drugs that are used to prevent a retrovirus such as HIV. Once you begin to take the drug and the body immune can become suppressed.
When achieving viral suppression, the human body has a low amount of HIV in the body But you are not cured, however as long as you are taking the medication you can live a healthy and longer life. HIV/AIDs can affect a patient financially.(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
Essential Question
Being diagnosed with HIV places a financial burden on people, especially those who do not have health insurance. According to Aaron Laxton a person living with HIV/AIDs, “when you are newly diagnosed with no insurance the first series of blood test will cost about $3,000,” (laxton, 2011) Which mean if being HIV positive with no insurance it’s the responsibility to figure out a way to pay $3,000. $3,000 would just be first cost of blood work, future testing haves to be done every three months costing $1700. However blood work does not keep you healthy, what keeps you healthy is the medication.
When wanting to control your level of HIV, medication will be hard to control if you don’t have health insurance. Aaron Laxton a person living with AIDs stated, “there are programs such as Education For All also known as EFA(Education for all) for medication, but if you do have to pay out of pocket it might cost $100 per pill,”(laxton, 2011) Which means insurance sometimes there are programs that would like to help with the financial burden, but if you don’t receive help $100 per pill is what you will pay and you also have to remember that you take a multiple of pill everyday so if each pill cost $100 that’s a lot of money. However HIV/AIDs can be affected emotionally.
Being HIV positive can have an emotional affect on people, more so to the people who have HIV/AIDs who think their life is completely over. According to Aaron Laxton “life is not over, even though for a period of time people might not want to do anything sexually,” (laxton, 2011) Which means he doesn’t want people thinking they still can’t live their life because they actually can? But how you view yourself may be the emotional weakness when having HIV/AIDS. Laxton believes people should not walk around with your head in shame, he believes you should look from this day forward and people will view you the way you view yourself. Which means he believes if you view yourself as dirty because you have HIV/AIDs, then others will view you that way also. Enjoying your life should not end. Laxton explains that he is all for safe sex and having fun, having HIV/AIDs is not a death sentence. People with the virus made a mistake there is nothing wrong, Laxton is saying that don't let HIV/AIDs take away your freedom you should still live your life. However, going through rejection(to dismiss or refuse) can also have an emotional effect. (Laxton, 2011)
Being rejected because you have HIV/AIDs is not easy. A person should not feel like they did anything wrong, people will judge and will be ignorant to you because of the virus. Which means when becoming HIV positive negative opinions come with it also. The video explain how the female became accustomed to being rejected, she explained it made her sad and also she would cry but yet she was used to it, Which means accustomed to the rejected but it still hurt, but being rejected can still hurt your feelings. But also the female could not date who she wanted. She explains how 99% of the time she tells a man how she feels and she starts to feel like she can spend the rest of her life with a man and the man are very attracted to her until she tells them she is HIV positive, next they don't want her. The ones that don't mind that she is HIV positive she feels she can't have a relationship with them or want to even are with them. Which means she feels like she should be with someone she wants to be with, not a person she has to be forced with because she is HIV/ positive and the only that will accept her. Just because being HIV/positive doesn't mean you can't live your life. However there can be a physical affect on a patient. (The Body,2014)
Being affected physically can have numerous effects on the patient. For example losing weight can affect you physically because when having HIV/AIDs you begin to become sick vomit and eventually lose weight from the sickness. How but when on medication there can still be some physical effects. When taking medication there may be short-term side effect with the medicines. For example medication can cause Anemia, Diarrhea, Fatigue (tiredness), Headaches, Nausea and Vomiting, Pain and Nerve problems, which they are saying it is basically caused by the medication when your body is first getting immunes to it. But when not taking medication the final stage of HIV can occur which is AIDs. HIV/AIDs can lead to various sickness. The human body begins to become open to disease and will not be able to fight them off. However a patient is not the only one that can be affected by the virus, family members can also be affected (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012).
The family can also be affected physically, emotionally, and financially. The person and the family goes through different problems when dealing with HIV/AIDS.
The family can be affected when someone has HIV in their family. If the person is taking their medicine then they will possibly live a normal life with the virus, living virally suppressed. But if the person is not taking medication that can lead to AIDS which will damage the immune system causing the person to eventually die. However, some families may live in a low income household or just have no insurance, there is drug programs for example “the Ryan White Care help improve availability of care for low income,” (West Virginia Health & Human Resources, 2014) However, if the person was to not find a drug program or get on any type of medication they would eventually gets AIDS, the family will have to deal with the consequences. For example the person would get sick and have to go to the hospital often and if the person do not have insurance the family could be stuck paying the price. also if the person with AIDS is the caregiver this could be a problem because they would not be able to work, which will take create problems on how they will take care of their family. This can be an example of a financial effect. Eventually when the caregiver is not able to work because of the disease and is not able to provide for the family the person and family can start to feel stressed and depressed because of all the problems they have. Also the family will be sad and cry once they lose their family member to AIDS. This is an example of emotional affect. However, there are stories that connect to my thesis.
Case Study
HIV affected Magic Johnson in many ways, a way HIV affected Johnson was on his basketball career. Johnson announced he was HIV positive in 1991. Johnson had no choice but to confess because he could not continue to play in the NBA while having HIV. It could be a big effect on players. It can affect players on how they play and players would not be as physical no more and players can also catch the disease from open cuts. Johnson spoke out about how HIV brought his family closer HIV brought Johnson's wife and their kids closer to him because they cared so much that they would always make sure Johnson was doing everything he was suppose to do and doing it right. Johnson said his family would constantly ask, "Are you taking your meds, are you working out, are you eating healthy," ( Jothianandan, 2012) which means Johnson also thought that nobody could beat the disease alone and thought that anyone with the disease may need the support of their family. Without family support people probably will not pull through it alone ( Jothianandan, 2012).
The rapper Eric Lynn Wright who goes by the name of Eazy-E was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Before Wright found out he was diagnosed he was recently married to Tomika Wood and had a one-year-old son. Wright also has seven other children by six different women. HIV/AIDS affected their family because when he told them he was diagnosed, his wife and son had to get tested to make sure they did not have the disease as well. Wright was an ex-gang member, and a former drug dealer, but he never said how he got the disease. Although Ms.Wood and her son tested negative things were still not good,unlike Johnson wife Wood never said she will get through the disease with Wright as a family. Wright needed the support from his family to get through his disease, but since he did not get the support he could not last long on his own. Which is part of the reason he did not live long. Wright said, "I'm not saying this because I'm looking for a soft cushion, wherever I'm heading. I just feel I've got thousands and thousands of young fans that have to learn about what's real when it comes to AIDS" (Respers, 1995), which means that he was not asking anyone to feel bad for him or making any excuses. He just thought since he came out about it, that none of his young fans should take this as a joke (Respers, 1995).
Conclusion
In conclusion, HIV/AIDS is a serious disease and can be effective emotionally. Second financially and finally physically. HIV/AIDS is not a disease to be played with, in 2010 it was at least 1.8 million deaths caused from AIDS. One year later in 2011 there were 2.5 million new cases of HIV. HIV/AIDS is a disease to watch out for these days because you will sometimes never know when you are diagnosed with the disease. As of today everyone should be aware of HIV/AIDS because it is a very infectious disease and can affect you emotionally because you can start to get frustrated as the disease goes on. Second financially because you have to pay for treatment medicine, and physically because it can damage the immune system and can eventually kill you.
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