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Hiv Epidemiology

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HIV Epidemiology

HIV Epidemiology
For the epidemiology paper I chose to write about HIV. HIV is growing concern in the community and too many people are uneducated about the seriousness of this disease. HIV is terminal illness; it will eventually consume your life at some point. There are treatment options out there but being compliant with the medication regimen is crucial to the maintenance and management of this disease.
HIV also known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus; with HIV the virus replicates and attacks our immune system causing it to go haywire. With the suppression of our immune systems it puts people with HIV at a bigger risk for infection and other common illnesses. People with HIV the common cold can be very critical because their bodies are unable to fight off the virus. The virus attacks our WBC (white blood cells) and they are what are used to fight off infection. The cells that are affected the most are WBC that is called CD4+ cells. If these cells begin to malfunction then the body loses its ability defend itself against infection. HIV is spread when blood, semen, or vaginal fluids from an infected person enter another person's body, usually through sexual contact, from sharing needles when injecting drugs, or from mother to baby during birth (WebMD, 2014). When we deal with patients who have this disease we need to be sure to educate them on the importance of safe sex practices and the importance of refraining from drug use especially when dealing with needles. Too many people out in the community are not educated enough on the prevention of HIV this in turn leads to an increase prevalence of the disease in the communities that we live in. At the end of 2011, an estimated 1,201,100 persons aged 13 and older were living with HIV infection in the United States, including 160,300 (14%) persons whose infections had not been diagnosed

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