The History of HIV AIDS Anatomical Component

The discovery of HIV started with the reporting of rare form of lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). The infection were reported to be seen among young men that was used to be healthy and reported not to have any kind diseases. In the same year, case reports among men with rare and aggressive form of cancer was also seen. The disease was later to be called as Kaposi’s sarcoma. The reporting of this diseases has been very rampant but was not treated with outmost urgency since the cases was then still small and rare. However, at the end of the year, the report of a severe immune deficiency among gay men were reported to increase – around 270 cases and among that number, 121 died.
The history of HIV AIDS has been a very curious case in the early years since the discovery and nomenclature of the disease. Observational studies and case reports has been rampant trying to understand the nature of the disease. While the curiosity of the scientific community has been on focus with the new disease, little was still known about it until 1982 when case reports among homosexual male in the south of California insinuated that the illness might be from contacting or transferring through the sexual contact among gay men, thus, calling it as gay-related immune deficiency (GRID). While the disease is still unknown, many were suspected to carry the disease especially among the gay community. The Center for disease control called it as 'AIDS' (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and was being reported around the world. In the Africa, Ugandan doctors has been seeing increase in patients with a rare form of fatal wasting which was coined as “slim” due to severe loss of weight. The awareness about the disease has been gaining attention which paved way to the formation of different organizations that specifically promote the causes against the diseases.
The disease continue to gain attention and started to be known to the public health and medical community in the Americas and European cities. In 1983, an increasing reported cases of HIV/AIDS among women whose partners have the disease suggesting it could be passed on via regardless of sexual orientation which was disprove the notion that is heterogenic disease that can only be passed among homosexual. The doctors at the Pasteur Institute work to identify a new retrovirus called Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus (or LAV) that according to them could be the main causal agent of the virus. With the growing concern of the people, the scientific and medical community continuously learning the new disease and later discovered the first reported cases of AIDS among children. The case report lead to the discovery that the virus can transferred via from mother to offspring. Results from further clinical researches revealed that children had probably acquired the disease from their mothers at any time during the birthing process. Another key development in the understanding the pathophysiology of the diseases was the CDC pin-pointed the key pathways of disease transmission, natural history of disease, and ruled-out the causal contact which was some of the key notion at that time. Center for Disease Control published the major breakthrough and was able to come up with the recommendation on how to have precautionary measures that is very essential among the public health and medical workers to prevent the transmission of the virus. With the attention given to the disease, the major stakeholders such as the WHO and other international organizations started talking about the possibility of an epidemic and how the world health can be able to combat the raging disease.
Many scientist dedicated their lives in the discovery and understanding the disease. The National Institutes of Health – National Cancer Institute was able to isolate and discover the possible natural history of the disease, it was a retrovirus that attached itself to the human RNA to replicate and destroy normal immune system. The leading Pasteur institute presented the characteristics of the retrovirus and how the mechanism of spread works. Hematology specific in identification of the disease was created with the hope to discover or create a vaccine that will prevent the spread of the disease. In the same time, the CDC further its work and was able to make more recommendation such as avoidance of needle sharing and other human secretion which may then be effective in stopping and preventing the transmission of the disease.
Many businesses such as bathhouses and clubs were closed due to the high risk activity. Many precautionary measures were made to ensure the regulation of the sex trade since the industry has been a very vulnerable avenue for the spread of the disease.
The use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was licensed by the US FDA to detect specific antibodies that is reactive to the virus. Blood bank started using the ELISA to screen the blood donors. While there are efforts to ensure that stop of the epidemic no vaccine has been successfully created for the disease. Another major event was the transmission of HIV in a young boy that is being treated for his hemophilia, it was later discovered that the virus was acquired through contaminated blood. This cause the major outrage and also policy change. This also cause an alarm due to the safety of blood products being obtained in the healthcare facilities.
In June 1995, the FDA approved the first antiretroviral therapy that contains a very potent protease. The ART was called Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART) which aims to reduce the number of infection and death related to HIV. The introduction of HAART resulted to a very promising decline in cases of HIV/AIDS related deaths and hospitalization between 60% and 80% in participating countries that was able to provide the services. This has be...