Artifact 9
Corey Johnston
4/23/19
BI-245X-01
HIV/AIDS: National Implications
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has been a huge dilemma for the past century in the United States, as it has led to the death of millions of people, and for a long time, accompanied by a lack of hope for a cure. This disease was thought to have originated within the homosexual community. It was also thought that it isolated itself within the homosexual community as it was viewed as a direct punishment for an ignorance to Christian morals and standards. This political stance on the issue led to a lack of government funding and support for many years. During the Reagan administration, there was little done to help with any scientific breakthrough, as he thought that it was up to the scientists to find a cure, being ignorant to the fact that funding research could have sped this process up and saved the lives of many. For many years, homosexuals feared public shame and the social stigma behind this particular group. They feared coming out as gay, all because they would have been placed in such a harsh category. It is true that this disease spread tremendously throughout the homosexual community, but later on, it was thought that this was due to a lack of abstinence, contraception, a large use of drug abuse, as well as group orgies that helped this disease spread. When President Clinton took over, he made it clear that he was willing to offer as much aid as he could to help these individuals suffering from this disease. During his Presidency, research was booming and it was found that this disease came from foreign cultural traditions of eating chimps carrying a similar disease that was able to cross into a human form. All across the globe were instances of this disease, and it was later found out that this disease was a sexually transmitted disease, and a blood borne disease, that could spread though sex, sharing of needles, as well as contact of bodily fluids. This was very scary, as it showed that it could pass from male to female heterosexually, and this allowed the disease to spread more rampantly. Many of the episodes that patients faced are contained within the film, Dallas Buyers Club, epitomizing the effects that this disease took, specifically on the homosexual community, and how they had to fight for a way to find a cure. Without the help on a global scale, this disease would be perhaps the largest threat in the nation today by a long shot.
The factors that helped this disease spread in the U.S. was first and foremost a lack of care from politicians, and their views on the homosexual community as infidels. What I mean by this is that the government dismayed any effort to prevent the spread of this disease because they had little care and compassion for the homosexual community. The lack of funding and research helped this disease spread throughout the U.S. as it allowed more time for the disease to spread from person to person. If this disease was thought to be a larger threat at first glance, then it could have been contained at an early stage in history.
The factors that limited the further spread of this disease in the U.S. were mainly due to the development of the triple cocktail. This cocktail consisted of antiretroviral medications that halted HIV from developing further into AIDS. Also, public education of the disease played a huge part in the limitations of this disease. More importantly however was the national intent to stop the spread of this disease. During and after President Clinton, research was conducted to find a cure for this disease and ways that it could spread. All of these breakthroughs allowed people to know how to protect themselves from getting this disease. Also, in order to give blood, you must be HIV negative so that this disease does not spread through blood transfusions as it did in the past.
The overall impacts of HIV in the U.S. are astounding. I think most importantly, it has caused the government, specifically, politicians to take medicine more seriously. These individuals must partner with the World Health Organization and CDC to help stop future disease outbreaks. Also, in society today, the stigma amongst the homosexual community has deteriorated a lot and more and more individuals are able to express themselves freely. It has, however, brought about a fear of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases. This fear can be good as it requires people’s attention, but it can also cause people to hide from getting treatment or expressing themselves to their partner, thereby helping the spread of such diseases. The fight to find a cure has, however, been on the rise over the past decade, and there have been many current breakthroughs.
There has been a ton of progress made in the U.S. To help prevent HIV from taking hold of and spreading throughout your body, Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has helped with this. People who are at extreme risk for getting HIV take this medication on a daily basis to prevent themselves from getting HIV. According to the CDC, it reduces the risk by 90%. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is the means of taking antiretroviral medicines (ART) after being potentially exposed to HIV. These medications are used to prevent one from getting the disease altogether after he or she believes they were exposed. There are also many challenges still to face. The main issue in the U.S. is that this disease is taken up largely by the black community, specifically in the South. Here, the stigma and the fear of societies views prevent many from getting treated or even tested, as well as the financial costs of these things all pace burdens of poor black people in the US. African Americans account for 43% of HIV diagnoses, and Latinos account for 26%.
The current status of HIV prevention, according to the CDC is a multitude of things. The first is the ART. This treatment improves the health of people with HIV, and also reduces the risk of spread by 96%. The goal here is to keep HIV in the blood below detectable levels. The second is through PrEP. This allows people to reduce their risk of contracting this disease by 90%. The third is through diagnostics. Antigen/antibody tests allow researchers to routinely diagnose the acute form, which is the form in which this disease is most likely to spread.
With all of the research and findings in HIV prevention, the threat still comes from people with the disease. What I mean by this is that many people who have this disease do not receive any treatment for it. This not only helps the spread of the disease, but it allows the disease to stick around for longer periods of time. Also, the minority groups need equal access to preventative measures. This involves government funding. These individuals have poor access to health care and are in poor socioeconomic status. Lastly, with any serious threat, the view of complacency causes the threat of a recurrent issue. Many people believe that this disease is no longer of serious concern and this could be very detrimental down the road. What I have learned is that viruses do not discriminate, and as long as this holds true, HIV will continue to pose a threat to society for as long as it is around.
Help Received
CDC, sources on canvas, class discussions, NLM
Corey Johnston