It has been about a month since this class started and I feel like I am consumed by learning about HIV/AIDS. In four weeks I have read a book, watched three movies, and talked about the virus and I still don't know all there is to know about the HIV virus. I have had mixed emotions about the films and the book was better than I expected as iI enjoyed the story attached to learning about the virus. The book seemed more real to me than the movies. As I have learned new information such as the virus does not go dormant, but is asymptomatic and slowly replicating and taking over the body, and that if you are HIV positive you can still kiss people without giving them HIV, there is still a lot of unanswered questions. As I have researched information on the web I am concerned about the accuracy of the data that is given. I question why one country is throwing condoms at their citizens and other countries are ignoring the problem. I wonder why people infected with this awful virus continue to behave in irresponsible ways infecting others. I am learning that there are many HIV testing sites but some may be closing due to budget cuts, and can this virus ever be irradicated since it is worldwide? The more I learn, the more scared I get. I'm not scared about the virus itself, but the chances of catching it, not just for me but for my children. If this is a pandemic then why are we not having an all out war against it? I still have so many unanswered questions and I know that in the next four weeks I will be better educated then I am today.
In the AMA Morning Rounds web page at http://webmail.att.net/wmc/en-US/v/wm/4AAF95B5000F075D000010312222...., there is a short article that says that Myriad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a drug for HIV called Bevirimat that "may" cut the HIV virus as much as 50% in two weeks based off of a trial. This is a new class of medicine for HIV called maturation inhibitors. Although this trial is seen as positive, additional trials will be needed. The trial in Austrailia that led to this discovery shows that Bevirimat can reduce the HIV virus in blood about 20 times more than other drugs and has an average of 60 times better results than other current HIV durgs.
Web: AMA (2009). Retrieved, Sept. 15, 2009, from http://webmail.att.net/wmc/en-US/v/wm/4AA.....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The US will never 'throw condoms' at it population because that would admit that people have sex and we all know that the only people on this planet that should be having sex are a married man and woman and they had better be married to each other. The religious community would have an absolute fit, it we suddenly made condoms a household word. Sex is suppose to take place behind, locked, closed doors.
ReplyDeleteNow the paradox to that way of thinking is that we use sex to sell everything from underwear to perfume, to refrigerators. We are a nation of contradictions and we don't find that unusual at all.
The majority of individuals who are infected with this virus don't behave irresponsibly. You hear about those individuals because they make good sound bites for the new shows and good front page fodder for the papers. There are over 1 million people in the US who are infected, but you don't hear about 1 million irresponsible people.
Maturation inhibitors are drugs that will prevent the virus from budding out of the cell to find a new home to infect. It will become one of the 8 drug families aimed at stopping the viruses replication. That is all we have at the moment. Reducing the amount of virus in the blood stream which reduces the infectiousness of the virus. However, you must remember that there is a price to pay for taking the drugs. They are powerful, potent drugs with many side effects. Many of those side effects are what is killing the patients now.
Good post. Thanks for combining everything into one post.
I wonder the same thing Morgan... The decision whether or not to be sexually active is a personal decision, we can shut our eyes to it, or we can encourage people to be responsible. I don't think we should ever look down on anyone that chooses either way because I've seen people get made fun of for their decision even to abstain but I live with two Pharmacy Technicians and they tell me all the time that besides pain killers, one of the most common medications they fill is birth control. Sure there are other uses to birth control rather than its contraceptive effects, but I'd be willing to bet a majority of it is prescribe for the main purpose its intended for, BIRTH...CONTROL. Guess that means someone in the country is having sex, and guess that means that someone is at risk for HIV.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that would be the part of a "positive" war against the pandemic? Is to be more open about condoms for the public?
Maybe the first step to this fight is fear. I think the enemy of change is indifference, and after this class I don't think of us can be indifferent. It is very much a global concern not only for us, but like you said, the future of our families. I do think that in coming weeks you'll come out of this knowing so much more than you did... and what's really special is that, I think you already do!
Thank you Christine.I do think this is a very complex topic. You have the virus itself, you have the fact that it is a global pandemic, you have those who want to teach abstinence and those that want access to protection. Birth control pills will not stop HIV. You have the pharmaceutical companies who want to make a profit while providing a service. The ones who suffer the most are those that become infected. I believe this virus needs to be fought from all sides in a unified effort which will be very difficult to do when other nations are involved. As selfish as this sounds, maybe we should work on irradicating the virus here in the U.S. first so that we can be a beakon on light to other countries and then work with them to accomplish the same. I'm not sure this would even be possible since we have open boarders and many who travel for various reasons. I do think education is one of the best methods to fight this virus.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say “I wonder why people infected with this awful virus continue to behave in irresponsible ways infecting others,” it reminds me of an issue that could be addressed. Yes, people who are infected fornicate with other healthy people, thus the disease will spread. We know that this disease doesn’t discriminate. However, some people just don’t know what they have. Yes, I understand it is the person’s responsibility to be tested and find out, but sometimes it’s just not that easy. When I went to get tested there was a $10 dollar fee, and a full STD screening was an additional $50! This could be a cause as to why so many diseases are floating around out there. If more people were screened, more people could be treated, thus less disease floating out on the streets.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it’s not as easy as we think.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_re_as/med_aids_vaccine
ReplyDeleteIn this article it talks about a vaccine created in Thailand that reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 31%. This is just a stepping stone and by no means the finish line. But it gives hopes to creating a better vaccine for the future. I thought this was interesting because you found this article about the maturation inhibator and this one is a vaccine. Well lets hope reasearch continues and we see more advances.
Many of the HIV clinics charge for the test based off of your income. Sure, we need to make it very easy to get tested for many diseases, but there is more opportunities for people to be screened now than ever before and yet many still don't take advantage of it. We hear about the "little blue pill" over and over on all television stations, but nothing about HIV protection/education. Maybe the government should give tax breaks to those companies/organizations that offer reduced or free HIV testing and education and up the tax break if they buy some TV time? Just a thought.
ReplyDelete