My last Blog

Hi everyone,

It is a bittersweet moment right now. I have learned so much in this class, from the different treatments to the mental affects of HIV/AIDS. I would have to say that the most interesting thing I have learned in this class is how much struggle HIV/AIDS patients goes through with the outside world compared to their physical condition. It seems that the judgment and the government makes HIV/AIDS patients life so much more difficult than it should be, which really disappoints me. Also, this class has showed me that the key to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS is education. If everyone knew about HIV/AIDS and how to protect themselves from transmission the transmission rate would drop and eventually stop.

This week has been a slow one, I wrote a post about PEP the post exposure prophylaxis and how if I was stuck with a needle while working in a health care facility I would start the regimen regardless of the side effects. I did a segment about PEP in the previous blog, and I think it is amazing that we have a sort of mourning after HIV/AIDS exposure pill. If only we could educate people about the regimen we might have a lower transmission rate too. I had absolutely no idea about PEP and I have done research on HIV/AIDS prior too, so imagine what people who have been exposed and have no idea about HIV/AIDS do. Again, I think that education is the key to eventually stopping the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Did you Know:

This week I would like to talk about cell entry blockers, or medications that block HIV from getting in the cells in the first place. Their is a fusion inhibitor called enfuvirtide, this drug can only be injected into the bloodstream according to the Harvard Health publications. Enfuvirtide works by stopping the final stage of fusion between the HIV cell and the host cell. Another cell entry blocker is the CCR5 co-receptor antagonist called maraovic. Maraovic works by blocking chemokine receptor CCR5 which HIV uses to attach to the host's macrophages, according to the Harvard Health publications. It is amazing all of the different drugs we have for HIV/AIDS patients now and we are closer than ever to finding a cure for it.

Harvard Health Publications Mircrosoft (2010). Fighting the Virus: Treatment Options for HIV/AIDS (4.14.2010). http://www.health.msn.com/health-topics/aids-hiv/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100227040

Almost done!

Hi everyone,

It is almost my last week here with you guys and it is a bittersweet moment. I have decided that in the next couple of semesters I am going to try and see if I can do research on if holistic remedies have any sort of effect on HIV/AIDS. Mainly I was going to see if certain herbs, and magnetic frequencies effect HIV/AIDS.

This week we were asked about if we think the Campus Confidentiality is a good idea or not. Basically, it states that if a student who is HIV positive and is having unprotected sex with someone else a health worker has the right to disclose their status. I believe it is a good idea in most situations, especially if there is proof that the student is having unprotected sex, and is trying to hide their status. However, I do believe that the workers should only disclose their status if there is absolute proof that the HIV positive student is having unprotected sex.

Also this week I attended a HIV positive panel with four different men and was shocked for so many different reasons. They all looked healthy to me and all averaged about 15 years since being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. It shocked me that most of them only see a doctor once every four months, and there viral loads are not detectable in most cases. I see doctors more than once every four months! This has just showed me that we have come so far since the recognition of HIV/AIDS and a cure is within arms reach. I expected to see them with KS lesions or oxygen tanks and to look old, but none of them had any visual symptoms of HIV/AIDS and one guy was even a body builder. It makes me happy that HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence and with all of the medical advancements HIV/AIDS patients can live a somewhat normal life.

Did you Know:

In this weeks did you know I would like to talk about HIV drugs and resistance. HIV drugs help stop most of the replication process in HIV/AIDS, but does not kill and stop the virus all together. And according to Avert every time HIV replicates it becomes slightly better than it was before, thus becoming resistant to HIV drugs. This is noticed by the viral load increasing, and the doctor should change the drug regimen, because the pills will not effect HIV/AIDS at all. Also Avert stated that you can avoid drug resistance by taking multiple pills, taking the pills on schedule, and regularly testing the viral load. Also according to Avert drugs can have another for of resistance called cross-resistance. Cross-resistance means that if HIV is resistant to one drug it can be resistant to another drug within the same group. Cross-resistance is most common with ARVs and can limit the amount drug regimens a patient can be on. HIV drug resistant strains are very threatening and on the rise, and if we do not find a solution to this problem we will eventually have a HIV strain that is resistant to all HIV drugs.

AVERT (2010). Continuing (ARV) antiretrovial treatment. viewed (April 7, 2010). http://www.avert.org/arv-treatment.htm