Only a few more left

Hello everyone,

I feel bad saying this, but I am so excited this class is almost over. I am grateful for everything I have learned in this class and I am excited to use this information to further my career too. I went to Mexico last weekend and found out that you do not need a doctors prescription for pharmaceutical drugs and they are a lot cheaper to. I do not know if this is fully true or not, but the person that told me did get certain prescriptions filled. So the first thing I thought about was if HIV medications were cheaper here. It would be like a double plus cheaper medication and a trip to Mexico =D.

Also this week we were asked specifically how we would tell people, and to whom, that we were HIV positive. The first person I would tell as soon as possible whether by phone or in person would be my partner. After I got over the denial of the whole situation I would tell my family and my friends. I would tell my friends all together in a group, but only my close friends that I hope would not judge me. I would tell my close family members face to face on an individual basis, and then tell them to tell the rest of my family, because I would not be able to.

Did you know

In this weeks did you know I would like to talk about the Thai vaccine trial for HIV that is fairly new. The vaccine contains ALVAC and AIDSVAX, and were administered to groups of individuals that were at high risk, like drug users, homosexuals, and high sexual activities, and low risk. This vaccine was shown to have 31.2% efficacy. This vaccine is mainly effective for low risk patients and lasts for about a year. Although Dr. Micheal Nelson made a point in the Thai HIV Vaccine article to not take the results to heart and that it is still a trial and there is a lot of unanswered questions. I think this vaccine brings promise and I am very glad that there are scientists still working towards the cure for HIV/AIDS.

Web MD. (February 26,2010). Thai HIV Vaccine. (March 31, 2010). http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/717677

Blog for week 9

Hello everyone,

Hope you all have had another amazing week. My week has been a little bit crazy and I have mainly been getting ready for a quiz coming up in this class. Last week I went over all the different tests for HIV and got tested myself a couple of weeks ago. It surprised me how many different tests there where for HIV and how they worked. To shorten it for you, the ELISA, IFA, Western Blot, OraSure, and Oraquick tests for HIV antibodies, and the PCR and Western Blot tests for viral DNA. The main test given for free most times at local health departments is the ELISA test. This test consists of HIV antibodies at the bottom of a plate and if the patients serum attaches to the plate the patient is HIV positive. One of the most expensive and accurate tests is the PCR test. The PCR test, tests for the viral DNA and can detect it even if the virus is in a latent stage and is often used to confirm ELISA results. The OraQuick and OraSure tests are basically quicker, but less accurate versions of the ELISA test. The OraQuick test is taken by blood and the OraSure test is taken through saliva. The IFA test is a stain that attach's to the HIV antibodies. Last of all the Western Blot tests for HIV antibodies and viral DNA by running the serum through the magnetized gel plate and comparing the DNA to HIVs viral DNA. It amazed me how many different tests there are for HIV. I hope that one day if HIV/AIDS is still around testing will become mandatory and free.

Also this week I was told to talk about if my grandpa contracted HIV from a nursing home what would I do about it. STDs are a major problem in the elderly community, just because someone is old does not mean they cannot be sexual. I do not know why this is, mainly I think it is because the elderly think that if they all already old whats the point of worrying anymore. Another issue is that if the elderly were HIV positive would the medication even be worth it? Depending on the side effects and the severity of the HIV/AIDS I would take the medication, but mainly just try to make the patients life as normal as possible. The elderly is a highly sexual community and a haven for STDs, and I really have no idea how to prevent it.

Did you Know

In this weeks did you know I would like to talk about PEP or Post-exposure prophylaxsis. PEP is a antiretrovial drug that is used immediately after someone has been exposed to HIV. According to avert.org PEP should be taken within 72 hours of being exposed to HIV or the chances of fighting off HIV is extremely diminsihed. PEP aims to stop HIV from becoming established in the body by helping the immune system fight it off. The most common drugs prescribed for PEP are zidovudine, lamivudine, and nelfnavir, which are also drugs that are commonly prescribed for HIV patients. This also means that patients on PEP will have side effects such as, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. According to advert.org patients should stay on the medication for about a month. Also according to advert.org not enough studies have been done to prove whether PEP is effective or not, but in most of the studies conducted positive results have been shown.

ADVERT (2010). What is PEP? (Veiwed March 23, 2010). http://www.advert.org/pep-prep-hiv.htm

Hello everyone again

Hi,

Hope everyone had an amazing spring break! It seems like it was way to short, but that is how it always is. This week is going to be a pretty long one trying to catch up on sleep and school work, especially due to the fact that are semester is closing soon. Last week we had to watch three or four movies and right different reviews on them. My favorite movie was Sliverlake Life, it was a self made documentary about a homosexual couple who both contracted HIV. The movie went over the problems with HIV/AIDS from symptoms to the publics reaction. To me they were the cutest couple ever and it was really sad when they filmed Tom dying. It showed his body being put in a bag and he was so skinny. Also, this video showed how bad the KS lesions really are, and by the end of the movie both Mark and Tom's bodies were covered in them. It was a really good movie to watch and I would recommend that you should watch it too.

Also this week we were told to wright about what we would do if we went to find a new dentist and put down that we were HIV positive and had to wait for a long time only to find out that the workers were talking out loud about are HIV condition and then tell us that the doctor was not accepting anymore patients. I would tell them to put me on the waiting list for when the doctor was accepting new patients and also ask if there were any names before me, just to be a pain since the doctor would then have to take me before he could take anymore patients. And then I would tell them that they would be hearing from my lawyers soon about the unlawful disclosure of my HIV status. It is so unacceptable that some people act this way, it is like your an outcast just because you have a disease that no one has found a cure for.

Did you Know:

In this weeks did you know I decided to research herbal remedies for HIV/AIDS patients since learning about them through the Silverlake Life movie. The main remedy I found was herbal cures. According to lifepostivie.com herbal medicine does not only help improve the immune system, but also helps fight off HIV/AIDS with certain herbs that target the disease. Also, different herbal medicines help fight off other opportunistic infections related to HIV and AIDS according to lifepositive.com. Another alternative medicine from lifepostivie.com is called HyperBaric Oxygen treatment, which involves inhaling pure, pressurized oxygen. It is supposed to help alleviate fatigue ,numbness, and other opportunistic infections from AIDS, according to lifepositive.com. It is really hard to prove if Allopathic or Holistic medicine works better mainly on the fact that there is not enough research in Holistic medicine to have hard numbers to prove its effectiveness.

References

Life Positive. (2010). Natural Treatment for HIV/AIDS. (March 16,2010). http://www.lifepositive.com/Body/body-holistic/AIDS/natural-treatment-for-aids.asp

Tom Joslin, Peter Frediman. (1993). Sliverlake Life, USA, Zeitgeist Films.

Hello again

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had another good week! This week has been an interesting one for me I did a lot of research on different diseases related to HIV/AIDS. One condition I researched was HIV wasting syndrome, which according to AIDS.org is, "the involuntary loss of more than 10% of body weight, plus more than 30 days of either diarrhea, or weakness and fever(aids.org, 1)." Also according to aids.org the wasting condition is caused alterations in your metabolism and hormones, and the loss of appetite due to HIV/AIDS. The second disease I researched was Kaposi's Sarcomas and according to Medline Plus they are, "a cancer that causes patches of abnormal tissue to grow under the skin, in the lining of the mouth, nose, and throat or in other organs(Medline Plus, 1)." Kaposi's Sarcomas are caused a strain of the herpes virus, herpes virus 8, because the virus brings genetic material into the cell causing too much division and growth according to Medline Plus. Another disease related to HIV/AIDS is Isosporiasis which according to aidsmeds.com is, "an organism infects the lining of the small intestine and can cause severe diarrhea and malabsorbtion (aidsmeds.com, 1)." And it is caused by the protozoan Isospora belli and is spread through feces according to aidsmeds.com. The last condition I researched was immunosuppression which according to Google Health is when the, "CD4+ count less than 200 microliter and/or CD4+ percentage of lymphocytes less than 14%(Google Health, 1)." It is caused when the body does not develop enough antibodies to help fight off a disease or foreign substance, or does not try to fight off the disease at all.

Also this week we were told to write about two different famous people that died. I have decided to wright about Robert Reed and Merritt Butrick to famous actors that died due to AIDS. Robert Reed was most remember for play the father, Mike Brady, on the Brady Bunch tv show, he was also in many other tv and movie apperances. Robert Reed was born in Illinois on October 19, 1932 and unfortunately died on May 12, 1992. Robert Reed died from colon and bladder cancer due to AIDS according to findadeath.com. Robert Reed is a well know actor and I hope that his death influenced some of the education and research movements for HIV/AIDS, but I was too young to remember. The other actor I wanted to talk about was Merritt Butrick. He was mainly known as the role of captain Kirk in Star Trek and in the movie Fright Night 2. He was born right here in Gainesville, Florida on September 3, 1959 and died on March 17, 1989. He died of AIDS when only 29 and was dedicated in a featurette during the film Square Pegs, according to findadeath.com also. It is crazy how many well know actors/actresses have died with HIV/AIDS or are still living with the condition. I hope it shows that everyone is at risk for HIV/AIDS and motivates people to help find a cure and educate for HIV/AIDS.

Did you Know

In this weeks did you know I decided to talk about a medication that helps with the HIV/AIDS related disease Kaposi's Sarcoma. According to aidsdrugsonline.com Etoposide is a medication used to treat Kaposi's Sarcoma and Aids-related non Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is also used to treat other various HIV/AIDS related cancers. It works by inhibiting the enzyme topoisomerase II and is used as a type of chemo according to aidsdrugsonline.com. Also according to aidsdrugsonline.com side effects include, "low blood pressure, hair loss, constipation, diarrhea, metallic taste in mouth, bone suppression (which lowers white cell count), and nausea(aidsdrugsonline.com, 1)." Now there was a ton more side effects on the home page, but too much for me to wright all down. One fact that surprised me was that a prescription of 28 pills cost $158.82! I do not know if insurance covers any of this medication, but I sure hope it does, because HIV/AIDS has been around long enough for the medication to be mass produced and become cheaper or covered by insurance. Also just going through the website shows you how many drugs HIV/AIDS patients have to take and the prices are through the roof, I have no idea how they afford it, because I could not now and neither could my family.

AIDS drugs. (2009). Etoposide Fact Sheet. (March 3, 2010). http://www.aidsdrugsonline.com/en/hiv-medications/etoposide

Merritt Butrick(March 3, 2010). http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/b/merrittbutrick/johnnyslash.htm

Robert Reed(March 3, 2010). http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/r/Robert%20Reed/robert_reed.htm

AIDS.org(2009). Wasting Syndrome(March 3, 2010). http://www.aids.org/factsheets/519-wasting-syndrome.html

Medline Plus(2009). Kaposi's Sarcoma. (March 3, 2010). http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kaposissarcoma.html#cat5

Aidsmeds.com(2009). Isosporosis(March 3, 2010). http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/isosporiasis6876.shtml

Google Health(2010). Immuno deficency disorders(March 3, 2010). http://www.health.google.com/health/ref/immunodeficiency+disorders

My fifth week

Hi everyone,

Hope you have had another good week. This week has been pretty laid back compared to others, and mainly my week focused on finishing assignment three. I finished the book At Risk this week and was kind of disappointed about the ending. The book ended with Amanda, becoming really sick again and leaving for the hospital most likely not coming back. I do not know if the book ended right before Amanda died, or if the book ended signaling what the rest of Amanda's life would be like. Overall it was a sad book, but also an educational book. The title speaks for itself, "At Risk" it shows how not just the stereotype patients are at risk for HIV, everyone is at risk. No one asks for HIV and it is sad that it happens to unfortunate people everyday.

This weeks question had to do with saving someone who is HIV positive and risk becoming infected yourself. Mainly the story was about if you drove up to a crash and one patient had a lacerated artery and mentioned, "HIV positive" without saying if it was they were or it was the driver what would you do. In my case I would save the patient while trying my hardest to avoid contact with blood. I would probably try to use my shirt or jacket to try and stop and tie off the bleeding. Just because a person is HIV infected does not mean that their life is already over and you shouldn't try as hard to save them. A person is a person no matter what they have and if you do have an HIV patient in your lifetime just think of them as you relative, because you would wanted them to be helped just as much as a non-HIV patient. Remember no one asked to become infected with HIV and it is not their fault, so do not treat them like they did.

Did you Know:

In this weeks did you know I have decided to talk about the cures that are complete myths, but are still believed to work in Africa. Some parts of Africa still to this day believe that HIV/AIDS is more of a punishment for sins than a disease and thus do not look towards medical help. One cure that some people believe in Africa is the virgin cure, according to Science in Africa. According to Science in Africa, " Encompassed in the current belief system of both prevention/cure of HIV/AIDS is the notion that an intact hymen, and the smaller amount of vaginal secretions in young girls, prevent transmission of the disease through sexual intercourse." Also another cure Science in Africa talks about is infant rape, or the force of sexual intercourse between the age of five to eighteen months. Now I know you are all probably looking this at how horrible these people must be, but please put your judgment aside for just one second. Most of the people who believe in these cures are uneducated and the only thing they know is they will die from this curse unless they use one of the two cures. These people are not doing this, because they want to! They are because it is all they know how to do without becoming deathly sick. To me this just proves how education would be one of the main preventives of HIV/AIDS. If we could have the chance to educate everyone on what HIV/AIDS is I can guarantee that the spread of HIV/AIDS would decrease.

Week 4

Hello everyone,

Hope everything is well for you. Anyways this week has been full of HIV/AIDS work thanks to this class. I finished the module about the immune system and was very surprised about how advanced we are about the HIV/AIDS virus. I think that if we already know the structure and function of the virus it should not be too long before we find a way to stop it from working if not cure the virus itself. Also I finished reading my book At Risk for are assignment this week and I cried like a little baby. The last half of the book finally went into how Amanda the HIV/AIDS patient felt about the whole thing and it was the same way I would feel if I knew I was going to die. She was scared about dying and if she would be in pain, the other side, and most of all that everyone would eventually forget her. The book ended with her not dying, but getting really really sick and having to go to the hospital so one could only assume she did die. At the beginning of this week I interviewed three of my old fellow CNA students about HIV/AIDS and was in shock about how uneducated they still were about the subject. One of the questions was what stigmas they associated with HIV/AIDS and two of my friends said someone who is a sexual person, careless, and someone who abuses drugs. This was sad to me, but it just emphasizes the need for education on the subject of HIV/AIDS.

Since last week I talked about two drugs working together for a strong impact on HIV/AIDS I decided it would be best to talk about one drug that has multiple chemicals working for a strong impact on HIV/AIDS. EPZICOM is just that, it is one pill that contains both abacavir and lamivudine, which are two NRTIs. According to the HIV/AIDS article NRTI stands for Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor and stops the replication of HIV by interfering with the reverse transcriptase enzyme, ultimately stopping the production of HIVs viral DNA. According to EPZICOM's homepage, "68% of patients taking a regimen with EPZICOM had their viral load become undetectable in less than one year. On top of that, patients had a 93% increase in their T-cell count." Just like the Norvir combination EPZICOM works by lowering the viral load and increasing the T-cell count, but EPZICOM is more convenient due to the fact that it is just one pill. Unfortunately, HIV can develop a drug resistance and if the patient does not recognize the problem soon enough it might be too late to start a new drug regimen in time.

Reference

ViiV Healthcare. (2010) EPZICOM Backbone Therapy. Retrieved(Feb, 15, 2010). http://www.epzicom.com/about-epzicom/backbone-hiv-therapy.html

The New York Times Company. (2010) About.com:AIDS/HIV Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor (NRTI). Retrieved(Feb, 17,2010). http://aids.about.com/od/hivaidslettern/g/nrt/.htm

Week 3

Hello everyone,

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