HIV Infection
HIV Infection – General InformationHIV Infection is considered a
chronic, life threatening infection caused by the HIV virus, or human
immunodeficiency virus. This kind of virus damages and destroys the
patient’s cells of the immune system and interferes with the body’s
capability of fighting viruses, bacteria and fungi that can lead to the
appearance of certain diseases. By affecting the patient’s immune system,
the respective person becomes susceptible to several kinds of cancer types
and infections that the body ought to be normally able to resist to. The
most common are and
.
In almost all the cases, the infection evolves to a more severe condition
called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Due to its frequency, the HIV
Infection is considered a global epidemic. Most patients have between
fifteen and twenty four years. Even if many scientists try to discover
more effective treatment options, the condition still presents increasing
death rates all over the world. The virus usually affects the patient’s
lymphocytes, especially the CD4 lymphocytes that are responsible to attack
and destroy foreign organisms. Once entered in the patient’s body, the
virus inserts its genetic material into these lymphocytes making copies of
it inside those cells. When these cells break out of the host and enter
the bloodstream, they tend to attack other cells. After leaving, the host
dies from the effects of the virus. This leads to the appearance of a
severe immune deficiency that has been linked to the decreased levels of
CD4 lymphocytes, as the patient’s body cannot fight the foreign organisms.
The HIV infection can be transmitted sexually, through infected blood,
hereditary and through needle sharing.
HIV Infection – SymptomsThe symptoms of the HIV Infection can
vary, depending on the stage of the condition. There are cases in which
the infection is asymptomatic, but the most common signs in the first
phases are the ones similar with flu, and include , sore
throat, swollen lymph glands and rash. Normally, even if the patient does
not experience any symptoms he is able to transmit the virus to other
persons. There are cases in which the condition did not caused symptoms
for nine years or more. As the HIV Infection progresses, the patient can
develop several infections or chronic symptoms such as swollen lymph
nodes, which is considered the first sign of the infection, , , , cough and
shortness of the breath. By the time the condition progresses the
patient’s immune system has already been severely damaged, increasing the
risk of developing certain infections. The signs and symptoms of the
several of these infections can include soaking night sweats, shaking
chills or high , dry cough
and shortness of the breath, chronic ,
persistent white spots or unusual lesions on the patient’s tongue or
mouth, ,
blurred and distorted vision and . In advanced stages, the condition can cause symptoms such as
persistent fatigue, soaking night sweats, shaking chills or higher than
100 F for many weeks, swelling of lymph nodes for more than two months,
chronic and
persistent .
There are cases in which the condition leads to the appearance of the
cancer called cervical cancer.
HIV Infection – TreatmentIn most cases, the treatment options for
patients who suffer from HIV Infection consist in antiretroviral medicines
and CCR5 antagonists. The antiretroviral drugs can include nucleoside
analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors,
non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, fusion inhibitors and
integrase inhibitors. The effect of these medicines is to inhibit the
growth and replication of the HIV virus, at various stages of its life
cycle. The nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors used to
treat the HIV Infection have the effect of inhibiting the replication of
the HIV enzyme called reverse transcriptase. Scientists have discovered a
new medicine that can treat the HIV infection and hepatitis B
simultaneously. This drug is called emtricitabine or Emtriva. In most
cases, these medicines cause several side effects, but the major side
effect of the nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors is bone
marrow suppression, which can lead to a decreased level of red and white
bloods cells. There are some particular cases in which the medicines cause
hypersensitivity reactions such as rash, , fatigue,
,
vomiting, and
abdominal pain. The emtricitabine medicine also causes side effects such
as ,
,
abdominal pain, difficulty breathing and fatigue. The protease inhibitors
that are used to treat HIV Infection have the effects of interrupting the
HIV replication in a later stage of its life cycle by interfering with its
enzyme (also known as HIV protease). This causes the HIV virus to become
structurally disorganized and malignant. These medicines also cause side
effects such as ,
and
other gastrointestinal dysfunctions. These medicines can also affect the
patient’s sugar metabolism leading to the appearance of diabetes. Another
way to treat HIV Infection is the use of non-nucleoside reverse
transcriptase inhibitors which have the effect of binding directly to the
virus enzyme. The major side effect of these medicines is the rash. There
are cases in which the drugs determined the patient to experience abnormal
dreams, sleeplessness, dizziness and difficulty concentrating. In some
cases doctors can apply nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors to
treat the infection, as they have the effect of interfering with the
reverse transcriptase replication, preventing the virus from inserting its
genetic material into the patient’s cells. The most common type of this
medicine used by the doctors is or , which
can also cause, in some cases, liver damage. Fusion inhibitors are usually
used to treat the advanced cases of the infection, and can be prescribed
as enfuvirtide or Fuzeon.
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