The Causative Agent Of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome...

Introduction Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, is the causative agent of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Currently, there are two types of HIV isolated, HIV-1 and HIV-2, which are both retroviruses and able to perform reverse transcriptase (Leboffe 2011). While HIV-1 is spread throughout the world, HIV-2 is confined to West Africa and is better protective against the progression to AIDS. Genome of HIV-1 only contains nine genes. It is transmitted by body fluids such as blood, breast milk, semen, and vaginal secretions. Its mode of transmission is via contaminated blood either by, IV drug use, sexual transmission, mother to child, blood transfusion or occupational risk. It infects 34 million people in a year worldwide, with approximately 1.8 million death. In the United States, the population infected with HIV is approximately 1.2 million people and one out of five people are unaware of the infection. Human Immunodeficiency Virus is the causative agent of HIV disease. It is 9.3 Kb pos itive sense RNA virus and 100 nm in diameter. HIV has no animal reservoirs and only infects humans (Leboffe 2011). History The origin of HIV-1 is a closely related chimpanzee virus that first infected humans in Central Africa in a first half of the 20th century (Cachay 2016). Some of the events that together made up rapidly enlarging and increasingly interconnected pools for transmission of pathogens during 1960-1970 were blood product industries, IV drug use, the sexualShow MoreRelatedOverview of HIV AIDS704 Words   |  3 PagesOverview of HIV/AIDS 1.1.1 Discovery Records show that Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first observed in the United States in the early 1980’s among healthy young intravenous drug users and gay men, who came down with Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP), opportunistic cryptococcal or cytomegalovirus infections and some rare malignancies like Kaposi’s sarcoma that are known to occur in patients with compromised immune system (1). 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