UNDERSTANDING HIV/AIDS: Overview and Life Cycle !

What is HIV/AIDS?

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, which is the virus that causes HIV infection. The abbreviation “HIV” can refer to the virus or to HIV infection.

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection.

HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells of the immune system. The loss of CD4 cells makes it difficult for the body to fight infections and certain cancers. Without treatment, HIV can gradually destroy the immune system and advance to AIDS.

How is HIV spread?

HIV is spread through contact with certain body fluids from a person with HIV. These body fluids include:

• Blood
• Semen
• Pre-seminal fluid
• Vaginal fluids
• Rectal fluids
• Breast milk

The spread of HIV from person to person is called HIV transmission. The spread of HIV from a woman with HIV to her child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding is called mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

In the United States, HIV is spread mainly by having sex with or sharing drug injection equipment with someone who has HIV. To reduce your risk of HIV infection, use condoms correctly and consistently during sex, limit your number of sexual partners, and never share drug injection equipment. 

Mother-to-child transmission is the most common way that children become infected with HIV. HIV medicines, given to women with HIV during pregnancy and childbirth and to their babies after birth, reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. 

You can’t get HIV by shaking hands or hugging a person who has HIV. You also can’t get HIV from contact with objects such as dishes, toilet seats, or doorknobs used by a person with HIV. HIV does not spread through the air or through mosquito, tick, or other insect bites.

The HIV Life Cycle

HIV attacks and destroys the CD4 cells of the immune system. CD4 cells are a type of white blood cell that play a major role in protecting the body from infection. HIV uses the machinery of the CD4 cells to multiply (make copies of itself) and spread throughout the body. This process, which is carried out in seven steps or stages, is called the HIV life cycle.

What is the connection between the HIV life cycle and HIV medicines?

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the use of HIV medicines to treat HIV infection. HIV medicines protect the immune system by blocking HIV at different stages of the HIV life cycle.

HIV medicines are grouped into different drug classes according to how they fight HIV. Each class of drugs is designed to target a specific step in the HIV life cycle.

ART combines HIV medicines from at least two different HIV drug classes, making it very effective at preventing HIV from multiplying. Having less HIV in the body protects the immune system and prevents HIV from advancing to AIDS. ART also reduces the risk of HIV drug resistance.

ART can’t cure HIV, but HIV medicines help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives. HIV medicines also reduce the risk of HIV transmission (the spread of HIV to others).

What are the seven stages of the HIV life cycle?

The seven stages of the HIV life cycle are: 1) binding, 2) fusion, 3) reverse transcription, 4) integration, 5) replication, 6) assembly, and 7) budding. To understand each stage in the HIV life cycle, it helps to first imagine what HIV looks like.

Now follow each stage in the HIV life cycle, as HIV attacks a CD4 cell and uses the machinery of the cell to multiply.

Read more: HIV Overview

Video: The Life Cycle of HIV

This video explains how HIV targets human immune cells, and uses immune cell machinery to make copies of itself. By comparing an analogy to the life cycle of HIV, this presentation will help you understand how HIV systematically reduces immunity within the body.

Source: YouTube

Bacterial Pneumonia - Get the Facts

Bacterial pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs due to some form of bacteria. There are different types of bacteria that may lead to the infection.

The lungs are made up of different sections or lobes. There are three lobes on the right and two on the left. Bacterial pneumonia can affect both lungs, one lung, or even just one section of a lung.

The lobes of the lungs are made up of small air sacs called alveoli. Normally, the air sacs fill with air. Oxygen is inhaled and carbon dioxide in exhaled.

When a person develops pneumonia, the air sacs become inflamed, which can cause them to fill with fluid. If the air sacs are filled with fluid instead of air, it can make breathing difficult. In some cases, the lungs may not get enough oxygen.

Read more: Bacterial Pneumonia - Get the Facts

Bacteria that cause pneumonia are spread through coughing. Doctors will carry out a chest X-ray to

assess fluid buildup in the lungs. An annual flu vaccine can help prevent pneumonia.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Gut Bacteria, Antibiotics, and the Rise of Type 1 Diabetes

Breaking research investigates antibiotic use in children and the later development of type 1 diabetes. Could antibiotics be altering the gut biome and impacting future health?

In America, more than 30 million people have a diabetes diagnosis.

Of these cases, around 5 percent are classed as type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes, usually diagnosed in young adults and children, is an autoimmune disorder; it is sometimes referred to as juvenile diabetes.

The individual's immune system attacks and destroys specific cells within the pancreas - islet cells - that create insulin.

With the following decrease in insulin, blood glucose builds up and damages nerves and blood vessels.

Read more: Gut Bacteria, Antibiotics, and the Rise of Type 1 Diabetes

The wide usage of antibiotics may be affecting children's microbiomes and future immune systems.

Source: medicalnewstoday

HIV: Newly Discovered Component Could Lead to More Effective Drugs

Scientists from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and University College London - both in the United Kingdom - have uncovered key components of HIV, which they believe could lead to new approaches for drugs to fight the infection.

HIV weakens a person's immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. Only certain body fluids - blood, semen, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk - from a person who has HIV can transmit HIV.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the United States. Although there is no cure for HIV infection, improved treatments allow people living with HIV to slow the virus' progression and stay relatively healthy for several years.

HIV is a part of a subtype of viruses called retroviruses, which means that the virus is composed of RNA - instead of normal DNA - and has the unique property of transcribing RNA into DNA after entering a cell.

Read more: HIV: Newly Discovered Component Could Lead to More Effective Drugs

Findings from the research could lead to future drugs that can enter human cells and block the pores
from within.

Source: medicalnewstoday

High-Fiber Diet Alters Gut Bacteria to Protect Against Food Allergy

A high-fiber diet rich in vitamin A may alter gut bacteria in a way that could prevent or reverse food allergies. This is the finding of a new study published in the journal Cell Reports.

It is estimated that around 15 million people in the United States have food allergies, and this number is increasing.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1997-2007, the number of children and adolescents in the U.S. with food allergies rose by around 18 percent, though the reasons for this are unclear.

Eight food types account for around 90 percent of all food allergies. These are peanuts, tree nuts, egg, milk, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish.

Allergic reactions to food vary from person to person, but they may include tingling or itching in the mouth, hives, nausea or vomiting, stomach pain, and diarrhea.

Read more: High-Fiber Diet Alters Gut Bacteria to Protect Against Food Allergy

Researchers say a high-fiber diet enriched with vitamin A shows promise for reducing the risk of
food allergy.

Source: medicalnewstoday

What's the Connection Between Multiple Sclerosis and the JC Virus?

The John Cunningham Virus, also known as the JC virus, is a typically harmless virus.

It is found in the blood samples of 70 to 90 percent of people worldwide.

Children with JC virus often show no symptoms. The JC virus can also be found in the body much later in life without complications. It is commonly found in the kidneys, bone marrow, and some body tissues.

Read more:  What's the Connection Between Multiple Sclerosis and the JC Virus?

The risk of PML is higher in people who take certain medications to treat multiple sclerosis.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Boosting Immunity With Fresh Vegetables

Change your lifestyle by adding immune­boosting vegetables into your diet. You all know the benefits of vegetables to your health. What’s more, they reduce your risk of diseases, like cancer and heart diseases.

So load your plate up with the following vegetables to help boost your immune system:

1. Mushrooms

Mushrooms has the ability to enhance the activity of natural killer T cells (NKT). NKTs remove and attack cells that are infected by viruses. They slow cancer or tumor growth, prevent DNA damage and tumors from acquiring a blood supply.

2. Asparagus

Asparagus has a natural diuretic ability that helps your body to flush out toxins. It contains glutathione, an antioxidant that can help lower your risk factor for cancer and heart diseases.

Asparagus is both anti­-inflammatory and cleansing to the body. It’s useful for inflammatory conditions like irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis.

3. Carrots

Carrots are useful in preventing seasonal flu and colds. This is because they are rich in betacarotene that helps in boosting your immune system. It it best to eat raw carrots for the best immune­ system results. 4. Garlic Garlic has been used for years to fend off diseases. Studies have shown that people taking garlic supplements experienced few cold symptoms.

Read more: Boosting Immunity With Fresh Vegetables

Source: exportersindia

Lymphoma

Overview

Lymphoma is cancer that begins in cells of the lymph system. The lymph system is part of the immune system, which helps the body fight infection and disease. Because lymph tissue is found all through the body, lymphoma can begin almost anywhere.

The two main types of lymphoma are Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). These can occur in both children and adults.

Most people with Hodgkin lymphoma have the classic type. With this type, there are large, abnormal lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) in the lymph nodes called Reed-Sternberg cells. Hodgkin lymphoma can usually be cured.

There are many different types of NHL that form from different types of white blood cells (B-cells, T-cells, NK cells). Most types of NHL form from B-cells. NHL may be indolent (slow-growing) or aggressive (fast-growing). The most common types of NHL in adults are diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which is usually aggressive, and follicular lymphoma, which is usually indolent.

Read more: Lymphoma

Source: cancer.gov