Hope you all are having fun reading my blogs! This week I became very ill with some sort of infection similar to strep, but it is not. The doctor prescribed me a very strong antibiotic and according to my mom last time she was on it she got thrush too. Now I have a pretty week immune system and this illness is hitting me pretty hard this week, but it is opening my eyes as to how worse this infection could really get if I had no immune system. From what I have learned so far, if you have a weak immune system almost any infection can get really serious and lead to pneumonia or meningitis, which can then lead to death. This just showed me that if a HIV/AIDS patient came down with a simple virus it is not just a simple virus anymore it is a time clock. A time clock that keeps ticking away hoping you go to the doctor and get it treated fast before it turns into something worse. One important item I learned this week is that when you have HIV/AIDS every little thing in your life changes, not all for the worse, and becomes quite a bit more difficult.
Also this week we went over a question of the week which covered that Africa does not screen donated blood for HIV/AIDS like we do in the US. I was really amazed and embarrassed that I assumed that most of all Africa would screen all donated blood for HIV/AIDS, because it has been hit the hardest by it. Thankfully there are organizations out there trying to help this problem and collect money to help screen donated blood for HIV/AIDS and other viruses. One organization is the Safe Blood in Africa Foundation, which has already committed to screening one million blood units for HIV/ AIDS, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Syphilis. I really hope that soon Africa is able to screen donated blood for HIV/AIDS it would help lower the amount of people with HIV/AIDS even more and would be one step closer to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In this weeks did you know I am going to talk about a very important item in treating HIV/AIDS patients. A very big percentage of the drugs taken by HIV/AIDS patients are used in synergism. Synergism is the combining of multiple drugs to intensify their effects on a patient. The only good way I know how to explain this is say you have drug A which helps the body 1x and say you have drug B which helps the body 1x, but combined they help the body 3x.
DRUG A DRUG B A+B
1 + 1 = 3
An example of a HIV drug using synergism is Lexiva combined with Norvir. According to the Lexiva homepage it is a protease inhibitor, protease is a chemical that HIV needs to make copies of itself and Lexiva helps by blocking protease. Also according to the Lexiva homepage, Lexiva not only blocks protease, but helps your immune system by increasing your CD4T cell count. Now Norvir is used in synergy with Lexiva, according to Lexiva Norvir increases the amount of Lexiva in the body and further helps decrease the viral load and increase the immune system. Lexiva and Norvir help make HIV/AIDS manageable and is not a cure, but also helps us in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS.
References
Safe Blood for Africa Foundation(2008). Safe Blood for Africa. Retrieved(2/10/2010). http://www.safebloodforafrica.org/
ViiV Healthcare Group(2010). Lexiva. Retrieved(2/10/2010). http://www.lexiva.com/index.html
Sorry I did not put this up with the post but in the picture of the pills, the two pink pills are Lexiva and the off white one is Norvir.
ReplyDeleteJenna
Hey Jenna!
ReplyDeleteYes I am enjoying reading your blog, you always seem to have something personal to add to this class which is a nice touch. Also I LOVE that you put up those pictures with your "did you know" it really helped tie it together and make it easier to understand. I'm sorry to hear that you are sick, I know that can be frustrating, but on an upside it is kinda "cool" that you are able to experience something of a weakend immune system as with HIV/AIDS.
As far as your discussion of the QOTW, I never even thought about how Africa should test MORE because they are hit so hard by HIV and AIDS. I guess it would make sense for them to test more of the blood rather than less.
Can't wait to read next week's post! Oh by the way I just finished reading the At Risk book, I don't know if you have. Let me know what you think of it! :)
Great blog Jenna! It really hit home...I am a pharmacy tech and I have handed out many HIV medications. I have handed out many Norvir capsules, but never Lexiva. Synergism is actually very common in diseases other than HIV. Your post hit the nail on the head, when describing what this combination therapy is. I still need to get some pictures. You have inspired me. Thanks for such great info.
ReplyDelete-Viv
Norvir wasn't a very good HIV drug when used alone, but they found it could boost other HIV drugs and so it is used in that capacity. The company that makes it, Abbott Labs, increased the cost of the drug once they found out it was going to be used in combinations, since they were not making money on it as a stand alone drug. If I remember correctly, they were boycotted over this move.
ReplyDeleteHope you feel better soon, Jenna.