AIDS
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (), suppresses the immune system
related to infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A person
infected with HIV gradually loses immune function along with certain immune
cells called CD4 T-lymphocytes or CD4 T-cells, causing the infected person
to become vulnerable to pneumonia, fungus infections, and other common
ailments. With the loss of immune function, a clinical syndrome (a group
of various illnesses that together characterize a disease) develops over
time and eventually results in death due to opportunistic infections
(infections by organisms that do not normally cause disease except in
people whose immune systems have been greatly ...
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AIDS. Nearly
simultaneously, scientists working in the laboratory of American research
scientist Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda,
Maryland, and a group headed by American virologist Jay Levy at the
University of California at San Francisco isolated a retrovirus from
people with AIDS and individuals having contact with people with AIDS.
All three groups of scientists isolated what is now known as human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.
Infection with HIV does not necessarily mean that a person has AIDS,
although people who are HIV-positive are often mistakenly said to have AIDS.
In fact, a person can remain HIV-positive for more than ten years without
developing any of the clinical illnesses that define and constitute a
diagnosis of AIDS. In 1996 an estimated 22.6 million people worldwide were
living with HIV or AIDS—21.8 million adults and 830,000 children. The World
Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 1981, when the ...
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person's
ability to produce antibodies against HIV— can also be used to determine
the progression ofAids; however, this surrogate marker is less precise
during more advanced stages of AIDS because of the overall loss of immune
function.
Within one to three weeks after infection with HIV, most people experience
nonspecific flulike symptoms such as fever, headache, skin rash, tender
lymph nodes, and a vague feeling of discomfort. These symptoms last about
one to two weeks. During this phase, known as the acute retroviral
syndrome phase, HIV reproduces to very high concentrations in the blood,
mutates (changes its genetic nature) frequently, circulates through the
blood, and establishes ...
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AIDS. (2006, June 22). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/AIDS/47985
"AIDS." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 22 Jun. 2006. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/AIDS/47985>
"AIDS." Essayworld.com. June 22, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/AIDS/47985.
"AIDS." Essayworld.com. June 22, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/AIDS/47985.
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