Saturday, December 1, 2012

World AIDS Day



Today is World AIDS Day.This day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic, caused by the infection of the HIV virus. I found an interesting blog titled “A generation free of AIDS?” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zp-heller/a-generation-free-of-aids_b_2220140.html) and it summarizes the newest statistical reports about AIDS in the world submitted by UNAIDS.

UNAIDS is an organization assigned to serve as the advocate for global action against HIV and AIDS. Their efforts are aimed to prevent the spread of HIV, and to provide care and support for those infected and to provide support for the families with affected patient.

According to UNAIDS the rate of new HIV infections has been reduced by more than 50% in adults (15-49 years) in 25 countries between 2001 and 2011.Furtheremore, the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes began to decline in the mid-2000s because of scaled up antiretroviral therapy and the steady decline in HIV incidence since the peak of the epidemic in 1997.

There is no current cure for AIDS, however, there are a variety of drugs that can be used in combination to control the virus. Usually when the diagnosis occurs, treatment is a combination of at least three of the following drugs to protect against drug immunity. The following treatments are available to control the AIDS pandemic:
1.      Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
2.      Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
3.      Protease inhibitors
4.      Entry or fusion inhibitors
5.      Integrase inhibitors.

 The main goal of the campaign is to achieve an AIDS free generation by 2015 by increasing prevention, and increasing the funding that goes into developing new and more efficient drugs that combat the virus and its changing strains. However,  UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé has warned caution when looking at the promising numbers because much more can be done to achieve this goal. We are still seeing the HIV/AIDS epidemic rise in countries where prevention and education is not as prevalent as in the developing countries, and now the sub-Saharan countries. According to Sidibé, there are still socio-economic gaps among the countries that are mostly affected by AIDS, and we must continue to fight against the disease by increasing knowledge about prevention and funding to AIDS/HIV research programs.

The UNAIDS Report can be found at :

http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/epidemiology/2012/gr2012/JC2434_WorldAIDSday_results_en.pdf
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5 comments:

  1. GraceB618December 2, 2012 at 9:09 AM

    This blog post was an excellent way to increase AIDS awareness - the whole goal of World Aids Day! Since I am unfamiliar about the pathophysiology of the HIV infection, I looked it up and found some interesting things:
    There are two types of HIV, HIV-1 that is common in the developed world and HIV-2 which is uncommon in the developed world. HIV-1 and HIV-2 are genetically similar but not identical. The virus has "clades" which are subtypes of the virus. HIV-2 carries a lower risk of transmission and slow progression towards AIDS likely because it is a less-aggressive infection. GALT (gut-associated lymphoid tissue) has been shown to be the site of early viral seeding and the proviral reservoir. The large amount of lymphoid tissue in GALT makes the gut an ideal site for HIV replication.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ethan OliverApril 18, 2019 at 3:37 AM

      I am deeply concerned about the still increase in population of people living with HSV, HIV, CANCERS, HEPATITIS, STROKES in our society today because of ignorance, to be Frank all this big names are grammars. I saw comments of people DR UTU helped get rid of their diseases, with the increase in population of people living with various diseases and myself as a beneficiary to DR UTU traditional cure I thought I too should reach the world via comment. Many People believed traditional herbs are so primitive and some are even shy to purchase it in public. Some went as far as trashing the legendary name of herbal medicine hiding its numerous advantages and let publicly it disadvantage and yet makes it look big, all this are just for pharmaceutical gain. All pharmaceutical cure are derived from existing traditional herbal cure from ages.
      Yes! I'm here to tell the world the actual FACT! which is; there is herbal cure for herpes, Ebola, HIV, cancers, hepatitis, ulcers, asthma, pile, diabetes and many big names of diseases. all my career I've lived my life believing and making research on this, till I confirmed it four years ago. Since four years ago and till today I still say yes! That among many real traditional herbalist Dr Nze Utu Njoku @ (drutuherbalcure) cures this diseases using African traditional herbs. After he cured me four years ago of genital herpes, ever since then I worked with him distance never a barrier, I'm a living witness to this. And I have directed both genital and oral herpes patients to him and they are permanently cured. I'm Ethan Oliver from Australia and also a herbal dealer and lover. I'm also a researcher on herbs for good health. Which also include Africa traditional herbal treatment, I support Herbal treatment, cure and vaccines. My view is based on my extensive research over a very long period of time, and my conclusion is, there is cure to all natural diseases including HSV, HIV, CANCERS, DIABETES, using the right medications with the right herbalist. Are you herpes positive and permanently want get rid of this disease or any of this big name diseases don't be scared to save yourself, contact Dr Utu for permanent herbal cure. Be bold and smart Don't be fooled by selfish people who say, cure is impossible.
      Dr UTU e-mail , 'drutuherbalcure@gmail.com'

      Delete
  2. JoeH618December 2, 2012 at 4:38 PM

    I am using an article in my project proposal about a newly developed technology from a researcher at Colombia University (not approved by the FDA yet, but it is being used in Rwanda I believe) that can detect if someone is HIV positive in about 15 minutes at a production cost of just about ten cents per test. This is huge because current HIV screening takes much longer than that. With a quick diagnosis, which is needed in an overcrowded refugee camp clinic, or on the domestic front in a homeless shelter or clinic, one easily find out if they have HIV and can take steps in preventing transmission. Here is the article. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/424892/a-quick-cheap-diagnostic-test-for-hiv-and-other-infections/

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 3, 2012 at 10:55 PM

    This is a very exciting post because in my externship I will be working with HIV positive and HIV negative patients and analyzing the use of treatment and preventative drugs. The doctor I will be working under is currently looking at intracellular pharmacology of nucleoside analogs for HIV and pharmacogenetics of antiretroviral agents. Prior to my interview with Dr. Anderson, I was not aware of the presence of preventative HIV drugs, but they do exist. In fact, the FDA just approved the first preventative HIV drug, Truvada in 2012. As it turns out, Truvada is used in HIV treatment also and was just recently found to reduce the HIV risk. It took two clinical trials to approve Truvada as a preventative HIV drug. In these trials, 2,500 HIV negative males with risky sexual behavior were followed. The drug was found to reduce the risk of HIV infection by half as long as the males took the drug on a regular basis. So interesting! I'm looking forward to learning more about HIV drugs, treatment, and prevention.

    Reference:
    http://gizmodo.com/5926460/hiv-drug-passes-fda-for-preventative-use

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ethan OliverApril 18, 2019 at 3:37 AM

    I am deeply concerned about the still increase in population of people living with HSV, HIV, CANCERS, HEPATITIS, STROKES in our society today because of ignorance, to be Frank all this big names are grammars. I saw comments of people DR UTU helped get rid of their diseases, with the increase in population of people living with various diseases and myself as a beneficiary to DR UTU traditional cure I thought I too should reach the world via comment. Many People believed traditional herbs are so primitive and some are even shy to purchase it in public. Some went as far as trashing the legendary name of herbal medicine hiding its numerous advantages and let publicly it disadvantage and yet makes it look big, all this are just for pharmaceutical gain. All pharmaceutical cure are derived from existing traditional herbal cure from ages.
    Yes! I'm here to tell the world the actual FACT! which is; there is herbal cure for herpes, Ebola, HIV, cancers, hepatitis, ulcers, asthma, pile, diabetes and many big names of diseases. all my career I've lived my life believing and making research on this, till I confirmed it four years ago. Since four years ago and till today I still say yes! That among many real traditional herbalist Dr Nze Utu Njoku @ (drutuherbalcure) cures this diseases using African traditional herbs. After he cured me four years ago of genital herpes, ever since then I worked with him distance never a barrier, I'm a living witness to this. And I have directed both genital and oral herpes patients to him and they are permanently cured. I'm Ethan Oliver from Australia and also a herbal dealer and lover. I'm also a researcher on herbs for good health. Which also include Africa traditional herbal treatment, I support Herbal treatment, cure and vaccines. My view is based on my extensive research over a very long period of time, and my conclusion is, there is cure to all natural diseases including HSV, HIV, CANCERS, DIABETES, using the right medications with the right herbalist. Are you herpes positive and permanently want get rid of this disease or any of this big name diseases don't be scared to save yourself, contact Dr Utu for permanent herbal cure. Be bold and smart Don't be fooled by selfish people who say, cure is impossible.
    Dr UTU e-mail , 'drutuherbalcure@gmail.com'

    ReplyDelete

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