Essay on How HIV Attacks The Body

Submitted By paolita07
Words: 1245
Pages: 5
Open Document
How HIV attacks the Body
Yessica solarte

As commonly known, HIV cannot penetrate your immune systems first line of defense. You cannot contract HIV by breathing bad air or by holding the hand of somebody who is HIV positive. You have to work hard to become infected by doing things such as sharing contaminated needles, or by having unprotected sex with an infected person. Unfortunately, infected mothers can also transmit the virus to their unborn children or by means of breast milk. Basically, once HIV is in your system it is already to your third and final line of defense. HIV doesn’t target just any cell, it goes right for the cells that want to kill it, i.e. the monocytes, macrophages, and Helper T-Cells. Once HIV infects these cells, T-Cells come along and destroy those infected cells, thus one’s own body is killing off the mechanisms needed to destroy the virus. The virus can infect 10 billion cells a day, yet only 1.8 billion can be replaced daily. Thus, after many years of a constant battle, the body has insufficient numbers of T-Cell to mount an immune response against infections. At the point when the body is unable to fight off infections, a person is said to have the disease AIDS. This means that it is not the virus or the disease that ultimately kills a person; it is the inability to fight of something as minor as the common cold. How does HIV get into cells and infect them? Helper T-Cells bind to antigen presenting cells (APC’s) by means of a receptor on the cell surface called CD4. HIV is able to use it’s own gp120 (a protein on the surface of HIV) to bind to a cells CD4. HIV also binds to receptors CCR5 and CXCR4 of the cell surface. HIV’s membrane fuses to the cell membrane and gains entry into the cell. HIV is one of the few retroviruses, meaning that it can convert its two strands of RNA into DNA by use of the enzyme reverse transcriptase. Because it has two copies of its RNA, it has two chances to in case one of the strands does not work properly or is damaged. The virus then permanently integrates the newly formed DNA into the host’s genome. This means the cells is able to release more HIV into your body, and the process continues.

Behaviors to Reduce the Risk of HIV Infection

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the pathogen that destroys the body’s immune system allowing the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids). Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids) is a disorder of the human immune system in a person infected with HIV, characterized by severe breakdown of the immune system that leaves a person very susceptible to opportunistic infections. An opportunistic infection is an infection that would probably not have the opportunity to invade the body if a person’s immune system were healthy.
HIV Infection
A virus is one of the smallest pathogens that can cause disease. Like other viruses, HIV cannot replicate by itself. However, when HIV enters a person’s body, it attaches to a part of the helper T cell, takes control of the helper T cell, and reproduces it’s genetic material in the helper T cell. The virus multiplies inside the helper T cell, causing an interruption in the signals for help in the form of antibodies. The result of this is an unchecked spread of HIV and the eroding of the ability of the immune system to defend itself against other pathogens.
Most people have no symptoms when they are first infected. You must have a test to be sure you have HIV. It could take as little as a few weeks to many years for any symptoms to appear. Symptoms include fever, diarrhea, weight loss, tiredness, and enlarged lymph nodes.
Transmission of HIV
There are five ways of transmission of HIV.
Sexual Transmission: People who have open lesions and engage in sexual behavior are especially vulnerable to infection with HIV. The more sexual partners you have, the greater your risk.
It can travel through a person’s
· blood, semen, vagina, secretions ,HIV can enter through
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on How HIV Attacks The Body

Hiv disease Essay

HIV/AIDS The high death rate from AIDS prompted scientist to look for a cure to the deadly disease. The disease was discovered to be caused by the Human Immunodeficiency virus, HIV in 1982. In 1996, a new combination of drugs, antiretroviral medications were found to be effective and used to treat patients who in turn reduced the death rate. However, complications unrelated to AIDS increase in patients and so new group of medications Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) were introduced…

Words 454 - Pages 2

MIcro-organism HIV and TB Essay

Virus: HIV Life cycle and Life processes: HIV can infect a lot of different cells in your body and these include brain cells but its main target is CD4 lymphocyte also known as the T-Cell or CD4 cell. When the CD4 cell is infected with HIV the virus goes through multiple stages to reproduce itself and create more virus particles. The first process is the binding and fusion. This processes is where the HIV binds to a CD4 cell receptor and a co-receptor on the surface of the cell. Once the HIV has fused…

Words 1065 - Pages 5

Aids: Immune System and Person`s Hiv Statue Essay

immune-deficiency syndrome popularly known by its abbreviation. AIDS is a fatal disease as it attacks and destroys the immune system of the body. It is caused by a virus. Human immune deficiency virus or HIV for short. This virus is even invisible to a microscope and can remain in body for years together without showing any visible symptoms. HIV specifically targets key components of the cellular immune system and develop the body`s ability to fight infections. AIDS is the first to stage of infection of the virus…

Words 965 - Pages 4

Green Tea: Uses, Benefits, and Side Effects Essay

“Green tea has been used as traditional medicine in areas such as China, Japan, India, and Thailand to help everything from controlling bleeding and helping heal wounds to regulating body temperature, blood sugar, and promoting digestion.” (Green tea) Green tea is good for the body. It is good by the use of long life, lowering the chances of heart disease, prevention of HIV, decreasing the risks of esophageal cancer, and also introduced for losing weight. Even though it has good sides there are also risks about it. Havin…

Words 1042 - Pages 5

Aids Research Paper

are an estimated 34 million people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. What causes AIDS? AIDS is caused by HIV. HIV is a virus that gradually attacks immune system cells. As HIV progressively damages these cells, the body becomes more vulnerable to infections, which it will have difficulty in fighting off. It is at the point of very advanced HIV infection that a person is said to have AIDS. If left untreated, it can take around ten years before HIV has damaged the immune system enough for AIDS…

Words 1208 - Pages 5

Essay about Meow

Preventing HIV and risk. Preventing HIV and risk. The average teenager feels as if she or he could not possibly get HIV. Most believe that HIV only happens to other people. However, many teens are getting infected and are now living with HIV (HIV+). Not using condoms also puts teens at risk for other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs). In fact, one-fourth of all STDs each year occur among teens. This is especially alarming because the presence of an STD greatly increases a person's chances of…

Words 1549 - Pages 7

HIV Canyon University NRS427VDecember 22 Essay

HIV Julie Tomoi Grand Canyon University- NRS-427V December 22, 2013 HIV HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus) is an epidemic that affects people from all over the world. It affects all ages, all races and demographics. HIV attacks cells within the immune system. The body tries to fight the virus but eventually the virus wins. Once infected, the virus weakens the immune system to a degree that the immune system cannot fight against infections. Once you have HIV, you have it for life. There is no…

Words 1483 - Pages 6

The History Of HIV

many diseases that are incurable HIV is one of the most well known. Dedicated scientists and doctors are on a search for the cure for this disease since the first case was presented in 1968 in St. Louis. A young black male was hospitalized and died from complications. Later on the tissues and semen taken and frozen from this young male was found to have the HIV virus, which was his ultimate demise. According to the CDC "in 2011, the estimated number of diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States…

Words 2959 - Pages 12

HIV Presentation 2 1 Essay

Kafayah Ojugbele What is HIV/AIDS  HIV means Human immunodeficiency virus  AIDS means Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. This is a disease of the human immunodeficiency virus. Acronym H I – Human – This particular virus can only affect human begins. – Immunodeficiency – HIV decrease the immune system by destroying important cells that fight diseases and infections. V – Virus – Virus can only reproduce itself by taking over the cells in the body of the host. A – Acquired…

Words 2331 - Pages 10

AIDS paper

discovery of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, was made soon after. HIV is a lentivirus, and like all viruses of this type, it attacks the immune system. Lentiviruses are in turn part of a larger group of viruses known as retroviruses. The name 'lentivirus' literally means 'slow virus' because they take such a long time to produce any adverse effects in the body. They have been found in a number of different animals, including cats, sheep, horses and cattle. So how can animals have HIV as well as…

Words 901 - Pages 4