Chain of Infection: HIV/AIDS

In the 1900s, a virus found in Africa called the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV)
was somehow transferred to humans. The virus then proceeded to mutate and became the
first ever Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). From then on, more and more people
became infected with the virus and died, including a sixteen year old boy named Robert
Rayford, who died in 1969 and eighteen year old Ryan White who died in 1990. It wasnt
until the 1980s that people noticed that the epidemic started spreading globally. Since not a
lot of people knew about the virus, they often feared that theyd catch the virus from being
around someone who was infected, when in reality, HIV was transmitted through infected
drug needles, blood,or unprotected sex. Sweat, urine, tears, feces, or saliva are not capable
of transmitting the virus.
When a person is first infected with HIV, they often develop flu like symptoms and describe
it as the worst flu theyve ever had. They usually do not know that they are infected with the
virus yet as the virus latches onto their CD4 cells (T-Cells). The CD4 cells act as an alarm
for your immune system. If there is an intruder pathogen, your CD4 cells send out a signal
to alert the antibodies. The HIV virus shuts your CD4 cells down, leaving you susceptible to
various diseases.
The second stage of being infected with HIV is called clinical latency. This stage of
infection usually lasts 10 years without treatment. During this stage, the HIV reproduces at a
slower rate than the first stage of infection. Gradually, the HIV latches on to all your CD4
cells and basically shuts down your immune system. A healthy individual has a normal CD4
cell count between 1,000 and 500. Once your functioning CD4 cell count reaches 200 and
below,you are diagnosed with AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.) The immune
system can no longer protect you without treatment, and youre expected to live no longer
than 10 years. So, the major question is, How could such an epidemic break out?
Lets go back to the 1959 when the first known HIV case occurred. The individual
died in the Congo, and was later confirmed of the infection by blood samples. So what
happened after that? In 1966, another individual was infected with HIV in Haiti, and at the
time, many Haitians were working in the Congo and the Americas. After this incident, the
plague began to spread like a wildfire. Robert Rayford, age sixteen, died from an illness that
doctors could not explain. He complained of shortness of breath and his legs and genitals
were swollen and covered with warts. Doctors misdiagnosed him with Chlamydia, and he
died May 15, 1969, a day after his birthday. It was confirmed eighteen years after his death
that Kaposi's sarcoma was Rayfords killer. Kaposis sarcoma can be linked to AIDS. Robert
Rayford was the first known AIDS death in the US. Over the years, AIDS was occurring in
more and more people, even in stars, including, Freddie Mercury (the lead singer in Queen)
and Robert Reed (who played Mike Brady in Brady Bunch). Eighteen year old Ryan White
died in 1990 and is the most known sufferer of the disease. White had always wanted to go
to school but because people didnt know exactly how HIV was spread, they protested
against White going to school in order to protect their kids.
On March 19, 1987, the FDA approved the first treatment for AIDS, called
Azidothymidine (AZT). Scientists chose 100 doctors who were diagnosed with AIDS and
either gave them the drug orally or by injection. The patients did not show any adverse side
effects and the progression of the virus slowed. In modern, if a twenty year old who had
AIDS was treated with AZT, they could live up to the age of eighty.On March 4, 2013,
doctors and scientists confirm that a two year old girl has been cured of HIV. When she was
born, doctors were aware that her mother was HIV positive. In hopes of controlling the virus,
the baby was given three antiretroviral drugs within 30 hours of her birth. When she was
tested for HIV two years later, there was absolutely zero trace of HIV in her blood. This
miracle gives people hope that in the future, everyone with HIV or AIDS can be cured, and
maybe there will be a vaccine against the virus.


Works Cited
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