Social Impact of HIV and AIDS - Essay Example

HIV and AIDS The word “HIV” is not uncommon to most. In fact, most sexually active people have heard the term so many times that they have most likely forgotten what it means other than that wearing a condom is a good idea. HIV is am abbreviation for the disease known as ‘human immunodeficiency virus‘. This virus is contracted through bodily fluid like semen, vaginal secretions and blood. HIV, though thought to be the same AIDS, is not actually AIDS. The HIV virus does however later lead to AIDS which is word for ‘acquired immune deficiency syndrome’. Of all of the diseases which are passed along socially, HIV and AIDS are the most feared and misunderstood. The purpose of this paper is to examine and research the social disease known as HIV and AIDS. When talking about any disease, even sexually transmitted diseases, it is important to know that diseases are not prejudice. Yes, there is genetically inherited diseases which take place with respect to an individual’s genotype and there are social diseases that result from certain cases of being exposed or from people’s behavior, like unsafe sex. Diseases however are a medical problem and are without human prejudice. Diseases, whether bacterial in nature or viral in nature, are opportunists and will take over and infect any available living thing that meets their needs. In other words, a viral infection does not simply take over in those with a type of orientation or religion. It happens when host is available. When the first reports of HIV and AIDS came into view in the 1980’s, a sexual revolution had ended and then it came a deadly STD where before that, only menacing STD’s were around. Because of the medical scare attached to HIV and AIDS, people responded as they have for millennia with a need to find blame. The 1980’s also brought in the beginning of a socially acceptable alternative to the strait life style. For many, this meant an easy scapegoat. The many gay men just gaining a sense of social acceptance were quickly labeled as carriers and/or spreaders of HIV and AIDS. The truth of the matter however, is that HIV is a virus which is spread through certain ways. This in actuality, has nothing to do with whether a person is gay or straight but rather whether the person has had unprotected sex or has been infected with HIV positive blood. To better understand how HIV is spread, it is important to mention that HIV is categorized as a ‘retro virus’. A retro virus is a virus that can be contracted but can then lay inactive for a period of time within the host’s body (the host is the person who has contracted the virus, most viruses require a ‘host’ for survival). The virus actually finds its way into the cell of each and every host cell. The nucleus is where the genetic material or DNA is housed. The virus actually hides within the host’s DNA for a lengthy period of time and then later shows up to wreak its havoc. The retro viruses are a very virulent (the term virulence or virulent refers to how symptomatic or ‘sick’ a virus makes you) breed of viruses. Since the HIV virus can act in just this way, it is present in host DNA and can then be found in cells carrying the DNA such as blood cells, sperm, and tissue cells which can be found in vaginal fluids or within the walls of the rectum. This means that sexual intercourse, anal intercourse, blood to blood exposure or blood transfusions with infected blood; can all be ways of HIV infection. It can be noted that it is easier for a male to transfer the virus sexually to females or other males simply because of the amount of infected cells involved in each seminal emission. For this reason, it was assumed, and is still sadly still assumed by some, that HIV is a ‘gay’ disease. This could not be farther from the truth because HIV is a sexually transmitted disease that threatens anyone who engages in unprotected sex. Really, any time anyone exchanges fluids containing cells with another person, the possibility of getting HIV exists. HIV and AIDS have caused additional public hysteria due to a lack of a known cure. First of all, most viruses are not able to be cured or treated unlike bacterial infections which can be treated with antibiotics. Viruses are small semi-organisms that possess both living and non living characteristics. They are armed with their own single stranded piece of DNA which in the case of retro viruses, will actually fuse with host DNA becoming a permanent part of the host’s genetic code! This is how the eventual symptoms of AIDS present and are equally incurable. The only manner in which to treat HIV is to take a mixture of antiviral medications known as the ‘cocktail’. Though this does not rid the body of the virus, it tends to keep it relatively inactive, “Today, there are one-minute HIV tests, one-pill, once-a-day treatment and undetectable viral loads that render a person significantly less infectious to others. These extraordinary drugs now give us the ability to control AIDS”(AIDS Healthcare Foundation, 2008). What happens eventually though in many cases, is that HIV positive individuals have a decreased number of white blood cells. White blood cells are responsible for spotting, attacking and destroying most bacterial infections. As the number of available white blood cells decrease within the body, the body becomes more susceptible to infection. When an HIV positive individual has a low white blood cell count and becomes ill with little immune response, this is known as AIDS. Sadly, there is little that can be done when individuals become ill and have minimal immune responses or no immune responses at all. From a social aspect, AIDS though a socially contractible disease, can be decreased if not made to become not existent, through taking care to only have safe sex the availability of condoms for men and women. Additionally, through the availability of clinics and clean medical supplies to those using street drugs, the contraction of HIV by means of shared needles can also be reduced or eliminated. At this point in time, the spread of HIV from blood transfusion is very rare due to new and improved blood cleaning and checking measures. Certainly, there may be isolated cases where people contract HIV from medical avenues or from contaminated blood, but if social awareness about safe sex is increased , the possibility of sexually contracting HIV will become minimal. AIDS has been described not only as a social disease but also a social problem. A social problem is one between social groups which continues to encounter a lack of proactive change in the right direction. This can be blamed on the multitudes of individuals who may be unaware of safe sex methods or who are not concerned with following them. The lack of concern for having safe sex %100 percent of the time, is not just a personal problem but is a sociological problem which continues to effect us all over the world. The human race is vulnerable to the same diseases and infections thereby making HIV no different. The only possible method which will prove effective in eliminating HIV and other mortally dangerous social diseases, is to make a collective and conscious effort to only have safe sex or no sex at all. Work Cited: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, 2008, “HIV and AIDS”, retrieved from website at: http://www.aidshealth.org/patients/inside-the-us/clinical-research/ Read More