Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is a virus that impaired the immune system. It is transmitted through bodily fluids like blood, semen, rectal and vaginal fluids, and by breast milk. It cannot be transmitted through air, water or casual touch. Presence of this virus in the body is a serious condition that cannot be treated but can be managed for some years (HIV Gov, 2017). In this particular term paper the history, morphology and characteristic features, symptoms and causes of the virus, effects of the HIV infection, treatment and side effects will be discussed.
Researchers believed that this virus was identified in chimpanzees and originated from SIV (Simian immunodeficiency virus) in the 1930s. After some decades it was transferred to Africa and other different parts of the world. This virus crossed from chimpanzees to the humans in 1920 (Faria et al., 2014). The first verified human case of this virus from the blood specimen, taken from a person in 1959. Firstly it was believed to be a gay disease. In 1983 this deadly virus was isolated and identified for the first time by scientists of Pasteur Institute in France (Burger-Calderon, Smith, Ramsey, SPNS Innovations in Oral Health Care Initiative Team, & Webster-Cyriaque, 2016).
HIV is a lentivirus of retroviridae family, spherical and nearly 120 mm long. It is made of two clones of RNA that are single-stranded and enclosed by capsid made of viral protein. The capsid contains three different enzymes responsible for replication reverse transcriptase, integrase, and protease. The capsid is enclosed by a matrix made of a viral protein named P17 that play a key role in the integrity of virion particles. Genes present in the RNA genome includes gag, pol, and env which contain the information essential for making the structural proteins for the new particles of the virus. The viral matrix is covered by two different layers of phospholipid. The virus firstly binds to the CD4 cells and starts replicating to affect a person’s immunity. During the budding the HIV exit CD4 and release HIV enzyme. The incubation period of this virus is 2 to four weeks (Schur et al., 2015).
For various people the primary infection is asymptomatic. Within two to four weeks a patient may develop flu-like symptoms of HIV such as chills, fever, skin rashes, muscle aches, fatigue, mouth ulcers, and swollen lymph nodes. After the asymptomatic phase the immune system is further impaired and other diseases like the pelvic inflammatory disease, the severe herpes infection can be caused. The untreated infection may result in AIDS and show symptoms like rapid weight loss, diarrhea, pneumonia, and memory loss (NICHD, 2016). The patient may feel extreme tiredness, sadness, depression, anger, stress, and HIV associated Neurocognitive disorder (HIV insite, 2017).
HIV infection can affect different body systems like the immune system, respiratory system, digestive and nervous system. The T and B cells are responsible to create antibodies and killing the foreign invaders. HIV attacks these cells and alters their antibody production ability. The immune system constantly fights with the virus and eventually, the body is unable to produce t cells and the immunity has been lost with the time (McMichael, BorrowTomaras, Goonetilleke, & Haynes, 2010). It can also infect the upper respiratory system and causes lymphoma, and pulmonary hypertension (Crothers et al., 2011). It also impairs the ability of the digestive system to absorb nutrients, food digestion and elimination of waste. The alteration in the immune system and the gastrointestinal functions may lead to diarrhea, oral thrush, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. HIV also affects the nervous system if the body and may cause issues like meningitis and encephalitis (Hong, & Banks, 2015).
HIV mostly results in loss of brain tissues and causes thinning of these tissues by 10 to 15 percent then the normal human being. HIV infection can also impair the lymphoid tissues and may lead to neurological complication to the body tissues. HIV virions attacks on the follicular dendritic cells present in the central part of the lymphoid organs, after releasing form here they are intermittently shed in order to cause more infection to the CD4+ T cells, and to generate a chronic inflammatory condition that specifically leads to the destruction or abnormality of lymphoid tissue (Duggal, Chugh, & Duggal, 2012).
The cells infected by HIV are sixty times smaller than the normal RBCs. The CD4=+T cells develops specific antibodies at the initial contact with the virus. The cells count drops less than 200 in the HIV positive people. It can also infect the dendritic cells, and WBCs and leads to autoimmunity. The HIV infection damages the mitochondria (Barve et al., 2010), envelope and the reverse transcriptase enzyme (Betancor, Alvarez, Marcelli, Andrés, Martínez, & Menéndez-Arias, 2015) and finally enters the nucleus of the cells and starts replicating there (Schaller et al., 2011).
However, the treatment is not possible but the progression can slow down. The treatment of this health condition involves antiretroviral therapy, which is the combination of three top-four different medicines. This therapy prevents the replication of the virus and slowing the HIV progression (Volberding, & Deeks, 2010). Some of the drugs approved by US FDA include Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs); integrate strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs), and non- Nucleoside/ non-nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). Some of the NRTIs are abacavir, emtricitabine, and lamivudine. Doravirine, efavirenz, and etravirine belong to NNRTIs classes of HIV drug. NRTIs and NNRTIs block the HIV enzyme reverses transcriptase and inhibits the proliferation of HIV. Protease inhibitors such as atazanavir and darunavir block HIV protease. Side effects of these drugs include serious allergic reactions, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, trouble breathing, IRIS syndrome, headache, abnormal dreams, heart rhythm problems, fever, blisters, and swelling of the face (Saag et al., 2018).
Conclusion
HIV virus is the deadly virus causes impairment of immune system, firstly isolated and identified in 1983 by the researcher of Pasteur Institute in France. It is about 120 mm long composed of two single-stranded RNA copies and belongs to the retroviridea family. The symptoms associated with the HIV infection include fever, rashes, fatigue, sore throat, night sweats, and muscle aches. It affects body systems like the immune system, digestive system, and nervous system. It can also affect the body tissues and cause thinning of the tissues. At cellular levels, it impairs mitochondria and other organelles f the cells such a cell envelope, and enzyme reverse transcriptase. Medicine approved for HIV includes NRTIs and NNRTIs. The side effects associated with these drugs include nausea, IRIS syndrome, and swelling of the face.
References
Barve, S., Kapoor, R., Moghe, A., Ramirez, J. A., Eaton, J. W., Gobejishvili, L., & McClain, C. J. (2010). Focus on the liver: alcohol use, highly active antiretroviral therapy, and liver disease in HIV-infected patients. Alcohol Research & Health, 33(3), 229. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3860514/
Betancor, G., Alvarez, M., Marcelli, B., Andrés, C., Martínez, M. A., & Menéndez-Arias, L. (2015). Effects of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase connection subdomain mutations on polypurine tract removal and initiation of (+)-strand DNA synthesis. Nucleic acids research, 43(4), 2259-2270. https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/43/4/2259/2411629
Burger-Calderon, R., Smith, J. S., Ramsey, K. J., SPNS Innovations in Oral Health Care Initiative Team, & Webster-Cyriaque, J. (2016). The association between the history of HIV diagnosis and oral health. Journal of dental research, 95(12), 1366-1374. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022034516661518
Crothers, K., Huang, L., Goulet, J. L., Goetz, M. B., Brown, S. T., Rodriguez-Barradas, M. C., & Justice, A. C. (2011). HIV infection and risk for incident pulmonary diseases in the combination antiretroviral therapy era. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 183(3), 388-395. https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201006-0836OC
Duggal, S., Chugh, T. D., & Duggal, A. K. (2012). HIV and malnutrition: effects on immune system. Clinical and developmental immunology, 2012.
Faria, N.R. et al (2014) ‘The early spread and epidemic ignition of HIV-1 in human populations’ Science, 346(6205): 56-61. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/346/6205/56
HIV Insite (2017). Coping with HIV/AIDS: Mental Health. Retrieved from: https://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/hiv?page=pb-daily-mental
HIV Gov (2017). How HIV is Transmitted. Retrieved from: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/about-hiv-and-aids/how-is-hiv-transmitted
Hong, S., & Banks, W. A. (2015). Role of the immune system in HIV-associated neuroinflammation and neurocognitive implications. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 45, 1-12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159114005054
McMichael, A. J., Borrow, P., Tomaras, G. D., Goonetilleke, N., & Haynes, B. F. (2010). The immune response during acute HIV-1 infection: clues for vaccine development. Nature Reviews Immunology, 10(1), 11. https://www.nature.com/articles/nri2674
NICHD (2016). What are the symptoms of HIV/AIDS. Retrieved from: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/hiv/conditioninfo/symptoms
Saag, M. S., Benson, C. A., Gandhi, R. T., Hoy, J. F., Landovitz, R. J., Mugavero, M. J., & Del Rio, C. (2018). Antiretroviral drugs for treatment and prevention of HIV infection in adults: 2018 recommendations of the International Antiviral Society–USA Panel. JAMA, 320(4), 379-396. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2688574
Schaller, T., Ocwieja, K. E., Rasaiyaah, J., Price, A. J., Brady, T. L., Roth, S. L., & Noursadeghi, M. (2011). HIV-1 capsid-cyclophilin interactions determine nuclear import pathway, integration targeting and replication efficiency. PLoS pathogens, 7(12), e1002439. https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1002439
Schur, F. K., Hagen, W. J., Rumlová, M., Ruml, T., Müller, B., Kräusslich, H. G., & Briggs, J. A. (2015). Structure of the immature HIV-1 capsid in intact virus particles at 8.8 Å resolution. Nature, 517(7535), 505. https://www.sfb1129.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Schur-Hagen-2014-Nature.pdf
Stanford (2005). Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Retrieved from: https://web.stanford.edu/group/virus/retro/2005gongishmail/HIV.html
The government of the District of Columbia (2015). Disease reporting & public health information system. Retrieved from: https://doh.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/doh/page_content/attachments/Provider%20Forum%20-%20Disease%20Reporting%20&%20Public%20Information.pdf
Volberding, P. A., & Deeks, S. G. (2010). Antiretroviral therapy and management of HIV infection. The Lancet, 376(9734), 49-62. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673610606769
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download