HIV and AIDS: interesting facts from around the world. Interesting facts about AIDS

Fact 1. HIV infection gradually turns into AIDS. The immunodeficiency virus infects helper cells, which are responsible for the immune response. If the infection mechanism is not acted on in time, the virus will completely absorb the helpers and the immunodeficiency virus gradually turns into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Not every case of HIV infection develops into AIDS, so it is necessary to undergo regular examinations for the presence of infection and receive the necessary treatment in a timely manner.

Fact 2. Life with the immunodeficiency virus is significantly shortened. You should not believe these assumptions, since life expectancy with HIV infection is the same as life expectancy healthy person. You can live with the immunodeficiency virus by regularly taking the necessary medications and undergoing regular medical examinations. Even if a person does not take medications, life expectancy can be up to fifty-five years.

Fact 3. There is no vaccine against HIV infection. Indeed, no effective vaccine has yet been found, however, all measures are being taken to find an antidote against this terrible disease. American scientists do not rest on the results achieved, so they do not stop for a second the development and search for new drugs that can cure HIV and AIDS.

Fact 4. Scientists have become aware of several cases of complete recovery from the immunodeficiency virus. Some patients have benefited from a bone marrow transplant from a donor who was naturally immune to developing HIV. There is also a cured infant who has been given a loading dose of antiretroviral drugs.

Fact 5. It is impossible to independently recognize the presence of HIV symptoms, since only a blood test can detect the presence of infection in the body.

Fact 6. Any person infected with the immunodeficiency virus has the right to work at their previous job. Also, intentional infection of HIV or AIDS is punishable by law and is a crime against humanity.

Fact 7. Some people, having false information about the dire consequences of the virus, rumors are being spread that it is very dangerous to be in the same room with an infected person. You can also become infected by shaking hands and kissing. You shouldn’t believe ridiculous superstitions, but you should study in detail all the ways to treat this disease.

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Good evening everyone.
Today I would like to talk about the plague of the 20th and already 21st centuries - AIDS.
Yes, indeed, this is a terrible and, unfortunately, incurable disease.
Let's clarify what we know about AIDS.
Also, I want to introduce you to interesting (if this word is appropriate in this context) facts about AIDS, and what is useful to know about this deadly disease.

Facts about AIDS.

2. In 1982 it was suggested that this disease is transmitted only through same-sex contact. And that is why this disease received the code name “gay-related immune deficiency” (GRID).

3. Soon, people of both sexes who took drugs, as well as people who were donors, were added to this group.

4. As a result, in August 1982, the disease received its modern name - AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS).

Useful information about AIDS:

5. 1986 - brought a new concept (after numerous studies) - the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.

6. It soon turned out that HIV was widespread long before that (in the late 50s - early 60s of the last century) in Africa.

7. Two immunodeficiency viruses that affect two species of African monkeys: common chimpanzees and smoky mangabeys have similar symptoms.

8. Geneticists took it a step further and found that these simian viruses crossed the species barrier and began spreading among humans between 1884 and 1924 in central Africa.

9. In 1986, American virologists made loud statement that a vaccine against AIDS will be found within ten years. But alas.

10.B given time Scientists still managed to make progress in inventing a cure for AIDS. Modern antiretroviral drugs prolong the life of patients by decades.

11. In South Africa, up to 20% of men and women are carriers of AIDS.

12. In Russia, the number of HIV carriers can reach one and a half million people!!!
This is approximately 1-2% of the population. And thus we are on a par with Benin, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Definition:

HIV infection is a progressive anthroponotic disease with a predominantly percutaneous mechanism of infection, characterized by specific damage to the immune system with the development of immunodeficiency, which is manifested by opportunistic infections, malignant neoplasms and autoimmune effects.

Epidemiology:

HIV infection is anthroponosis with percutaneous and vertical infection. The percutaneous route is realized through damaged skin and mucous membranes. The vertical path is ensured by the integration of DNA synthesized by the virus into the cells of the human body, including reproductive cells, as well as the ability of the virus to penetrate the placenta and breast milk.

The source of infection is a person infected with HIV who is in the incubation period and at any stage of the disease.

To date, the existence of the following routes of transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus has been proven:

during sexual intercourse;

from mother to fetus or child (vertical path);

during transfusion of HIV-infected blood and administration of its preparations, through sperm, during tissue or organ transplantation, as well as during sharing the same syringes and needles for intravenous injections without prior sterilization.

With any method, HIV transmission occurs only as a result of contact of a healthy person with infected biological fluids - blood, semen, vaginal secretions, milk, tissues or organs.

Susceptibility to HIV infection is very high (up to 100%). The infectious dose is 1 viral particle entering the blood.

To the group high risk HIV infection includes persons prone to homosexuality, sexual perversions (deviations), promiscuity (promiscuity) and intravenous drug use; children from HIV-infected mothers); recipients of donated blood, tissues and organs; medical personnel who have professional contact with the blood of patients

Etiology:

The causative agent of HIV infection belongs to the family Retroviridae, genus Lentivirus, which causes slow infections. Representatives of the Retroviridae family infect rodents, birds, mammals, and humans. The viruses included in this family are RNA viruses; they are capable of forming DNA on a viral RNA template using reverse transcriptase. Double-stranded RNA and reverse transcriptase, or revertase, are located in a double-layered protein nucleocapsid. On top of the nucleocapsid is a supercapsid - outer shell, consisting of phospholipids and glycoproteins that determine the tropism of the virus to host cells carrying CD4 antigens (T lymphocytes, blood monocytes, tissue macrophages, neuroglial cells).

The components of the virus shell have various antigenic properties and cause the synthesis in the host body of specific immunoglobulins, the determination of which plays a role in the diagnosis of the disease. HIV has pronounced antigenic variability.

Human immunodeficiency viruses types 1 and 2 are known.

HIV-1 was discovered in 1982 by Gallo and in parallel by Mortagna. HIV-2 was discovered in 1985 and first described in West Africa. Structurally, HIV-1 differs from HIV-2 in the structure of membrane glycoproteins. The most common infection is HIV-1. The clinical picture and pathogenesis of diseases caused by viruses are the same.

Pathogenesis:

zero - incubation period or primary latent - seronegative, lasting up to 3 months or more;

Stage 1- pronounced viral reproduction and primary immune response - seropositive, lasting up to 6-12 months;

Stage 2- hyperreactivity of humoral immunity, lasting up to 3-5 years;

Stage 3- compensated immunodeficiency (the number of T-lymphocytes is not less than 400 in 1 μl, T4: T8 is not less than 0.6);

Stage 4- pronounced inhibition of cellular immunity and the beginning of decompensation of humoral immunity with the extinction of 3 out of 4 skin allergic reactions;

Stage 5 - complete absence delayed hypersensitivity reactions and the development of local opportunistic infections;

Stage 6- terminal - with profound disorders of cellular and humoral immunity and generalized opportunistic infections.

The first four stages of pathogenesis are conventionally called "pre-AIDS", the rest - "AIDS".

The human immunodeficiency virus has been isolated in cultures of all physiological fluids of the human body and the secretions of its glands.

The virus enters the body in the form of a free or cell-bound particle, is captured by macrophages and distributed throughout the body, penetrating into cells bearing the CD4 antigen (T-lymphocytes, blood monocytes, tissue macrophages, thymus cells, bone marrow, etc.) . From the virus entering the body to the appearance of a sufficient number of identifiable infected cells must pass certain time. 3-8 weeks after infection, an illness similar to influenza or mononucleosis develops, which lasts about a week.

Then all symptoms disappear and there are no manifestations of the disease for several weeks, months and even years. During this period, the virus multiplies and can already be isolated in the laboratory.

Interesting facts about HIV and AIDS

Today, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the most studied of all viruses. More than 200 thousand scientific articles have been published on HIV. For 30 years we have learned its structure, epidemiology, life cycle, the functions of its proteins and much more. How to choose 10 key facts? I tried to cover all areas - from basic science to medicine.

1. HIV infects helper lymphocytes, which regulate the immune response. The death of these cells leads to deregulation of the immune system - its excessive activation and at the same time the inability to focus on pathogenic microorganisms.

2. HIV attacks the immune system during the first weeks of infection, but symptoms of impaired immunity appear on average after 8 years in the form of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This occurs when the immune system, previously feverishly replenishing the loss of helper lymphocytes, becomes exhausted and loses the fight against the virus.

3. HIV belongs to the retrovirus family, the lentivirus genus. HIV particles contain the genome in the form of two copies of RNA, which the virus converts into DNA after entering the cell. This DNA is inserted by the virus into the DNA of the host cell and remains there until the cell dies.

4. Lentiviruses have existed for millions of years and have been found in rabbits, cats, horses and a number of African monkeys. HIV entered the human population from chimpanzees approximately 100 years ago in western Africa.

5. HIV is transmitted through blood, sex, or from mother to child during childbirth. In everyday life, through kisses, bites and handshakes, HIV is not transmitted. It is not transmitted by mosquitoes either.

6. The most reliable way to prevent HIV infection through sex is a condom. Over the past 2 years, three new ways to prevent HIV have shown promising results: a vaccine, taking medication before sex, and a medicated lubricant gel, but the effectiveness of all three is still too low (30–50%) to be introduced into widespread use.

7. More than 20 drugs have been developed to stop HIV replication (more than for any other virus). Medicines reduce the amount of virus in the blood to negligible levels and prevent AIDS. Medicines also help prevent transmission of the virus from mother to child during childbirth and breastfeeding.

8. Having integrated itself into the DNA of a cell, HIV sometimes goes into a latent form, which does not manifest itself in any way, and therefore neither drugs nor the immune system can affect it. In this form it can exist for decades. Due to latent viruses, HIV medications must be taken for life. In the body of a person who has stopped taking medications, the virus emerges from its latent form, and the disease develops again.

9. HIV is very flexible genetically, which allows it to evade the immune response and also acquire resistance to drugs. To prevent drug resistance during treatment, three drugs are used at a time.

10. In the world, 33 million people live with HIV, more than half of them are women. Despite enormous progress in preventing HIV infection (the epidemic is on the decline in many countries) and treating AIDS (more than 5 million people are receiving medications), every year 2 million people die from AIDS because they do not have access to drugs.

The first clinical trials of a new vaccine have begun in South Africa. from HIV. For a country in which 18% of the population is infected with a deadly virus, and the Minister of Health recently proposed treating the disease with garlic, beets and lemons, this is a truly important step forward.

The vaccine, which took 10 years to develop, will be tested in clinics on 36 patients. This is by no means the first attempt to develop a drug that can provide immunity to the virus, but previous large-scale trials in South Africa ended in failure. If the current vaccine, created with the active participation of local scientists, works, doctors will have a chance to stop the AIDS epidemic in one of the main centers of the disease.

First phase of three

The trials do not yet test how effectively the vaccine can block the spread of the virus. In the first stage, which will last approximately a year, the safety of the drug is checked. During the second phase, the immune response, or the appearance of antibodies to HIV in the blood of volunteers, is assessed. This usually takes up to two years, and only then is the third stage possible - testing the medicine on voluntary participants.

We can talk about how effective the vaccine is only after the completion of the third stage. None of the drugs developed by doctors has yet passed this phase: even those drugs that worked well in the second stage, unfortunately, could not prevent infections in real life. But compared to how many different ways to combat infection are eliminated during animal experiments, the appearance of a vaccine in the clinic can be considered a very revolutionary step.

AIDS and South Africa

For South Africa, the availability of the vaccine in clinics is also important because it represents a change in government policy. Until recently, the situation in the country was aggravated by the fact that the president and the minister of health actually rejected the connection between HIV and AIDS. As the HIV epidemic grew into a catastrophe, patients were prescribed garlic, lemons, beets, and traditional medicine instead of drugs. Harvard researchers estimated in 2008 that 35,000 children were born with HIV in South Africa who may have taking into account the achievements of modern medicine, they could be healthy. But the drug program remained unimplemented in South Africa due to government restrictions and failed to prevent transmission of infection from mother to fetus during pregnancy.

In 2007, a scandal erupted around the Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msiman. True, it was not associated with the ineffectiveness of the HIV treatment methods she proposed, and repeated protests from the WHO did not play a significant role. The reason for Manto’s resignation was her liver transplant: journalists from The Sunday Times managed to find out that the minister’s liver had malfunctioned due to alcoholism. Also, according to the publication, Manto abused her powers as a minister during treatment and could send hospital workers for drinks in the middle of the night.

The vaccine currently being tested by doctors in South Africa is designed against HIV-1 type C. This means that it may only be effective against one variant of the virus - the one that is most common in South Africa. The entire family of HIV viruses can be described as follows: there is HIV-1 and HIV-2, and HIV-1, in turn, is divided into several groups (M, N, O): the main group M is also divided into several subgroups.

Along with subgroups, however, there are also so-called recombinant forms (CRF) - virus hybrids various types. If type C is responsible for the most terrible epidemics in Africa (in South Africa there are already half a million orphans, both of whose parents died from HIV), then in Eastern Europe the main types of virus are F and G.

HIV and age.

A rather interesting fact was discovered by a group of British researchers: older people over the age of fifty are much more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage HIV than younger people.

Dr. Valerie Delpeche, who works in the UK at the health protection agency, explains this fact by saying that these people simply do not imagine that this is possible, and cannot classify themselves as a risk group, so they simply do not take the appropriate tests. A frightening fact: over the past decade, the overall rate of people infected with HIV has tripled, while cases of infection among older people are growing much faster.

Interestingly, older people have HIV not because they, having become infected at an earlier age, took medications that helped them. This is due to the fact that they became infected over the age of fifty. Based on this, the researchers stated that it is necessary to take more detailed tests from older people and conduct more massive studies to find out exact numbers and the rising prevalence of the virus.

Dr. Delpesh also recommends testing for people who have multiple sexual relationships, as well as members of sexual minorities. After all, having identified a person’s disease in the early stages, he still has enough chances for a normal, fulfilling life.

HIV-positive patients have a real chance of recovery

Encouraging information came from German researchers: they managed to cure a patient of HIV infection using stem cells, reports Aidsmap with reference to a publication in the journal Blood.

The operation, during which excellent results were obtained, was carried out in Berlin (Germany), where US citizen Timothy Brown, who was also diagnosed with HIV, was undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (a type of blood cancer).

The chances that a bone marrow transplant would help were slim because the patient's immune system had been damaged by chemotherapy as well as immunosuppressive drugs that were supposed to help prevent rejection of the donor stem cells.

As a result, transplanted stem cells and subsequent antiretroviral therapy led to the fact that native lymphocytes were completely replaced with donor ones.

Mr. Brown has now been considered healthy for 38 months. Although his serious condition is noted, accompanied by a disorder of the nervous system, memory problems and partial blindness.

According to the conclusions made by doctors, the whole point is that the donor who provided his bone marrow for the transplant has a natural resistance to the immunodeficiency virus. A rare mutation in CD4, known as CCR5-?32, prevents the HIV virus from attaching to cells.

This mutation is present in about 1% of Caucasians who live in northern and western Europe, and is caused by a rare combination of mutated genes inherited from both parents.

Alternative options to bone marrow transplantation include obtaining stem cells from the umbilical cord blood of newborns and using genetic engineering.

For the first time, HIV infection was described in its final stage, later called “acquired immune deficiency syndrome” (AIDS) - Acguired Immunodehiciencu Syndrome (AIDS), in the “Weekly Bulletin of Morbidity and Mortality” dated 06/05/81, published by the Centers for Disease Control - CDC (USA, Atlanta).

In the next MMWR report, it was reported that in Los Angeles, 5 young homosexuals fell ill with a rare form of pneumonia and two of them died.

Over the next few weeks, new information was added: 4 more cases in Los Angeles, 6 in San Francisco, 20 in New York. Everyone's immune system was mysteriously failing. They had severe inflammation of the lungs, caused by pneumacysts, microorganisms that very often live in the lungs, but usually cannot cause disease in “normal” people.

Some patients were diagnosed with disseminated malignant skin tumors - the so-called Kaposi's sarcoma.

In addition, in a number of cases, combined forms of pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma were noted. Special studies showed that the patients had a pronounced suppression of the immune system, which was accompanied by the development of various secondary infections - candidiasis, cytomegalovirus and herpetic infections, etc.

The attention of not only doctors, but also the general public to this new disease was attracted by the fact that all such patients were homosexuals.

Thus, among AIDS patients in San Francisco, at first they accounted for more than 90%. If at the beginning of 1981 they talked about 5 cases, then in the summer there were already 116 of them.

In the spring of 1982, the first patient with hemophilia, a hereditary disorder of blood clotting that affects only men, fell ill. Then the number of cases of the “new disease” of hemophilia began to increase, although at that time there were 15 hemophilia patients registered in the United States.

The frequency of registration of AIDS among hemophiliacs was rapidly increasing and caused reasonable concern about the contamination of the donor blood bank, which is so necessary for hemophiliacs.

While there has been medical debate about the causes of immunosuppressive conditions, more and more new cases of the disease have been reported.

Among the patients were drug addicts of both sexes who had no tendency towards homosexuality. Some tried to attribute their immunosuppression to the effects of drugs. It is true that some drugs reduce immunity, but this immunosuppression does not appear to be specific to AIDS.

In January 1983, AIDS was reported in 2 women who had sexual relations with people with AIDS, prompting speculation about possible heterosexual transmission of the disease. Analysis of cases of AIDS in children has shown that children can receive the agent that causes the disease (most likely in the perinatal period) from an infected mother.

Scientists have noticed connections in some groups of patients.

Thus, group cases of the disease were described in the company of homosexuals who had sexual relations with each other. In addition, the drug addict was a non-homosexual who took drugs with these homosexuals, and the mistress of one of these individuals (a bisexual).

A natural assumption arose that the disease is caused by an infectious agent that is transmitted through sexual intercourse and through blood, since when administering drugs intravenously, they usually use one syringe, which, as a rule, is not sterilized, which is the reason for the infection of drug addicts.

The disease continued to affect more and more people. The number of detected cases doubled annually. An important observation was the discovery of a large number of cases of the disease among immigrants from the island of Haiti, representatives of the African race. Among Haitians, there was no correlation between the disease and homosexuality or intravenous drug use.

If among patients in the United States men predominated in a ratio of 10:1, then in Haiti the number of sick women was approximately equal to the number of sick men. Cases of the disease began to be recorded in Europe, where sick Africans were identified, and there was also no dependence of the disease on gender and bad habits.

There was no longer any doubt about the infectious nature of the disease, since within 1–2 years AIDS became epidemic among various population groups in many countries of the world.

And in 1983, almost simultaneously in France and the USA, the causative virus was isolated from AIDS patients. In France, the virus was isolated at the Pasteur Institute in Paris by the group of Professor Luc Montagnier from the lymph node of an AIDS patient with severe lymphadenopathy, so it was called “lymphadenopathy-associated virus.”

In the USA, the virus was isolated by the group of Professor Robert Gallo from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of AIDS patients, as well as persons examined for AIDS for epidemic reasons. It was named “T-lymphotropic human virus type III.”

The virus strains isolated in France and the USA turned out to be identical in morphology and antigenic properties. To designate the causative agent of AIDS in 1985, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the abbreviation HTLV-III/LAV, and since 1987. HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus).

Subsequently, AIDS was discovered in almost all countries of the world and on all continents.

Immunological studies have found that these patients have a sharply reduced content of CD4 lymphocytes (E-helpers). In subsequent years, multiple opportunistic infections and tumors were described, which are characteristic of immunosuppressed individuals. Retrospectively, it was shown that a similar syndrome has been observed since the late 70s in some cities of the USA, Western Europe and Africa, not only in the population of homosexuals, but also drug addicts, recipients of blood and its products, the nature of transmission of infection is similar to hepatitis B.

This virus belongs to the group of retroviruses containing RNA, having an enzyme - reverse transcriptase, which ensures the appearance of deoxyribonucleic acid of the virus in the genome of affected cells with damage to macrophages and T4 (CD4) lymphocytes with replication in the latter of the virus.

The progressive destruction of the immune system leads to the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Due to the fact that HIV antibodies are present in this disease in various clinical manifestations long before the development of AIDS, the disease has also received another name - HIV infection.

It was found that at the beginning of the disease, a flu-like syndrome can develop, after which for many years people can remain “carriers” of the virus without serious signs of illness, but gradually the immune system is destroyed by the virus, the number of CD4 cells drops, and the disease progresses.

Initial symptoms include weakness, night sweats, weight loss, mucocutaneous disorders, and persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL). With further progression of the disease, herpes zoster, oral candidiasis, hairy leukoplakia of the tongue and others develop. This syndrome was called AIDS-related complex (ARC).

Such a complex is, as a rule, a condition that progresses further to AIDS.

Subsequently, opportunistic infections or tumors give the picture of full-blown AIDS. In some cases, asymptomatic HIV infection can rapidly progress to AIDS. However, to date, practically healthy long-lived carriers have been known who have been living with HIV for more than 10 years.

Foreign scientists have isolated the virus from many biological fluids of the human body. The largest, and therefore most dangerous, concentration of the virus is found in the blood, semen, vaginal contents of a woman and breast milk.

The virus is also found in saliva, urine and even tear fluid, but in extremely low concentrations. In all well-studied and proven cases, infection occurred through “blood-to-blood” or “sperm-to-blood” contacts. The greatest likelihood of infection is when the virus enters directly into the bloodstream.

Almost immediately after the first reports of HIV, information appeared about its extremely high variability. The rate of error generation in HIV reversease is so high that in nature, apparently, there are no two absolutely identical HIV genomes.

Moreover, the variability in the most variable part of the genome, encoding the glycoprotein of the viral particle envelope, even in one patient is often 15 percent, and the differences between viruses isolated in different countries sometimes reach 40–50 percent. Obviously, such high differences cannot affect approaches to a vaccine development strategy.

The virus initially appeared in Africa and from there it spread to Haiti, where the entire population was African and, due to extreme poverty, easily became victims of sexual exploitation, and then it entered the United States. Researchers are unanimous that one of the epicenters of the spread of AIDS was New York. The first patients in South Africa were two white homosexuals who had returned from a vacation in New York. It has been proven that the first nine AIDS patients in Germany were infected in the United States.

In 1984, AIDS was declared the number one health problem in the United States. At the same time, a special institute was created in New York to study it.

The epidemic of this disease has affected almost every aspect of society, including the family, school, business world, court, army and government.

Despite the fact that AIDS was declared the number one health problem in the United States back in 1984, the national problem and program to combat AIDS was formulated much later. Only on February 5, 1986, President R. Reagan instructed Everett Cupp to prepare a report.

In accordance with the instructions, Cupp consulted with 26 US organizations (AIDS Council, Life and Health Insurance Council, Elementary and High School Associations, Nurses, Red Cross, Teachers Federation, Council of Churches, etc.)

After a thorough study of the problem, on October 22, 1986, the report of the US Surgeon General was made public in the form of an address to the American people. The appeal was published in print and broadcast on radio and television.

The report indicated the main routes of transmission of AIDS in the country. Cupp emphasized that the only weapons in the fight against AIDS are education and information, the purpose of which is to change people's behavior.

He insisted that the problem of AIDS must be urgently found at the earliest stages of education, considering it in the context of the hygiene and health program. It is necessary to supplement sex education in school (including information about safe sex) with the amount of knowledge acquired in the family. This training should be no less intensive than training in traffic rules.

Never before or after the discovery of HIV has the discovery of a virus caused such widespread public outcry. A direct consequence was unprecedentedly high funding for development, prevention, treatment of people with HIV, as well as basic research.

In the mid-80s, both outstanding world-famous scientists and young specialists from many countries joined them. As a result, very soon much more was known about HIV than about some other long-described infections. contained information on 48,703 publications related to HIV (about the influenza virus - half as much).

The most dangerous incurable disease of the twenty-first century was discovered in 1983. We are, of course, talking about the immunodeficiency virus. Since then, scientists have been able to learn a lot about it useful information. However, the most Interesting Facts Not everyone knows about AIDS.

Few people know that HIV and AIDS are not the same thing. These concepts, of course, do not oppose each other, but they are not synonymous either. An interesting fact is that AIDS is one of the last stages of HIV. This abbreviation stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The patient’s immunity almost completely ceases to protect the body from infections and viruses. At this stage, it is no longer possible to stop the processes that the disease has started. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is always fatal.

Interesting facts about HIV and AIDS: where did the modern symbolism of the disease come from?

Almost everyone knows that a red ribbon in the shape of an inverted V adorns banners and posters, as well as the clothes of concerned people and fighters for the rights of infected people. Interesting facts about HIV infection are also associated with the symbolism of this disease. The use of the symbol was invented by an artist from the states, Harry Moore. Since 1991, the red ribbon has been a sign of support and bright faith in life without immunodeficiency syndrome. Interesting facts about AIDS include the fact that the prototype of this symbol was the yellow ribbon, which in the eighties in the United States was pinned to the clothes of relatives of military personnel stationed in the Persian Gulf.

What else little known facts about HIV there are:

• The first type of virus was discovered in 1983. And scientists learned that there was also a second type only a few years later in 1986.
• The largest accumulation of infection cells is in the blood and secretions from the genitals. However, in small quantity Virus cells are present in all biological fluids of the human body.
• More than thirty years have passed since the discovery and study of the disease began, but a vaccine for it has still not been found.
• A case of recovery from the immunodeficiency virus is known to medicine. So positive thing The experiment on transplanting modified stem cells into infected people was completed.
• The first cases of infection in our country were recorded in 1982. The victims of the infection were a young woman and her daughter. A medical investigation revealed that the infection occurred from an African resident who was studying in the capital of our homeland at that time.

07 Mar 2017, 01:37

HIV Day
One of the most serious incurable diseases of the twenty-first century is the immunodeficiency virus. It is not for nothing that he is considered a real threat to humanity. After all, the incidence rate...

It's hard to believe that HIV and AIDS were only discovered about thirty years ago. To date, this scourge has gone from an unknown disease to a global crisis and has claimed more than thirty million lives. Despite progress, AIDS still kills about eight thousand Americans a year. In other countries of the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is much more dire: about 15% of the population is infected with AIDS in some countries in this region. There are some interesting facts about HIV and AIDS that are useful for everyone to know.

Where did this disease come from?

There are two strains of HIV: HIV-1 (which comes from chimpanzees) and HIV-2 (from the small African monkey). Within these two there are also several sub-strains. The most dangerous type is undoubtedly HIV-1. Exactly when HIV-1 made its move to humans is unknown, but most scientists agree that it happened shortly before 1931 and was probably the result of some tribes' addiction to chimpanzee meat.

Viruses are not living in the traditional sense, and they often challenge our understanding of how organisms behave and develop. The earliest strains of HIV to infect people are believed to have been mild and often destroyed by the immune system. Over the years, the virus has become more resilient, mutated, and recombinations have occurred. By the early 1980s, when it was first identified, it was practically a death sentence.

The very first cases

The earliest confirmed case of AIDS in humans was found in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus was discovered in preserved tissue samples in 1959. The disease took a decade to cross the Atlantic: the first known American from Missouri, a teenager named Robert Rayford, died of AIDS in 1969. Doctors believe Rayford was likely a male prostitute. By 1977, AIDS began to claim lives in Europe. Norwegian sailor Arvid Noy was the first known victim.

There is some evidence that AIDS swept through Europe after World War II, based on a wave of childhood deaths from adenoviral diseases that affect people with weakened immune systems. Their presence is almost sure sign that the patient has AIDS. Dutch researcher traces the path of the epidemic to the Baltic port of Danzig, from where it spread throughout the continent. It is believed that this was due to the then widespread practice reuse needles from syringes. Surprisingly, only about one-third of the children died, apparently because the virus they contracted had not yet fully evolved into the deadly version we know today.

Patient Zero

French-Canadian steward Gaetan Dugas is often called "typhoid Mary", "the plague" or "patient zero" of AIDS in America. This is a controversial point of view, since Dugas was certainly not the first person to contract AIDS, in the US or even in North America. The first known American was a Missouri teenager who died in 1969. However, it is very possible that Dugas's promiscuity caused the widespread spread of the disease. So many of the early cases diagnosed in the US were definitely linked to Dugas. His career as a steward allowed him to move easily between major cities, and his habit of visiting gay saunas brought him into contact with hundreds of other people, who in turn probably also entertained several partners. This led to the dramatic spread of the disease that occurred in the 1980s. Gaetan Dugas died in 1984 from kidney failure caused by an infection.

Masking the virus

HIV and AIDS are much more dangerous than other diseases due to their ability to evade the immune system and then destroy it. When a virus enters the body, it is “masked” by carbohydrate sugar molecules that cling to its surface and “deceive” the body: the virus is perceived as a nutrient. However, research shows that we are able to use this feature against HIV. The sugar molecules it uses are slightly different from those normally found in the human body - so much so that it is possible to synthesize a vaccine to help the body identify viruses and force the immune system to attack them.

Celebrities affected by AIDS

A lot of famous people became victims of AIDS, for example, tennis star Arthur Ashe and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. And many of these people (like all those who became ill in general) became infected from a simple blood transfusion, and not because they led a dissolute lifestyle. Such was the fate of the famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who became infected during bypass surgery. Perhaps the most famous case is Magic Johnson, who regularly appears on television sports shows looking healthy despite having HIV for over twenty years. There are people who claim that their wealth allows them to use experimental drugs.