HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV/AIDS is a relatively new disease when compared to others like the black death or smallpox, but unlike black death or smallpox there is no cure for HIV/AIDS making it even deadlier even though it may not appear as menacing. HIV/AIDS spread due to many different societal/cultural factors and they allowed it to become and epidemic when it could have been avoided. Political figures such as Ronald Reagan refused to discuss any topic regarding HIV/AIDS which fostered a sense of ignorance toward the disease and made it appear as not as big of a deal as it was. Reagan would not discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS because at the time it was associated with homosexuality and homosexuality was “taboo”. In fact during the 70’s and 80’s homosexuals were greatly discriminated against, so Reagan refusing to discuss HIV/AIDS may have made that discrimination worse. There was also fear that HIV/AIDS could be transmitted a variety of different ways which were completely false, for example contact with a toilet seat. To make it worse there was a stigma and sense of shame associated with the virus, for example, it was so bad that people were afraid to go get tested because they did not want people to know/think they have HIV/AIDS. One of the greatest factors to contribute to it could be the scientific ignorance that occurred, even though the scientific community warned about HIV/AIDS many people ignored it because they believed it could not affect their lives.

Some factors that limited the ability of HIV/AIDS to spread further in the US were that education of the disease increased, condom usage increased, technology in medicine advanced, and the social stigma steadily decreased. Even though HIV/AIDS has been brought somewhat under control it still has had a major effect on US society/culture. It created even more of a stigma about homosexuality in the beginning and it terrorized the homosexual community. HIV/AIDS is still a threat in every country since there is no cure, only medicines to prolong one’s life. The medicines that have been created are classified as antiretroviral therapy or ART. ART is 3 different drugs that extend someone’s life that is affected by HIV/AIDS. Another breakthrough is PrEP “Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) is when people at very high risk for HIV take HIV medicines daily to lower their chances of getting infected”. Also PEP, which is taking ART immediately after an individual believes they may have been exposed to HIV/AIDS. Although all of the aforementioned medical advancements have been utilized, problems still exist like how southerners are more at risk because they are behind the curve when it comes to HIV/AIDS education.

The current status of HIV in the US is HIV diagnoses has recently declined, increased awareness of HIV status, declining death rates, reduced racial and ethnic disparities, and major cost savings. To overcome HIV in the US we must increase testing and diagnosis, HIV care and treatment, access to condoms, PrEP availability and uptake, and risk reduction support.

Help Received: https://www.cdc.gov/HIV/ and film in class

Cholera is a deadly infection of the intestines by the bacterium known as Vibrio cholerae. It has created a fear of dirty water for centuries and still claims victims. Even though it is extremely frightening it can be prevented fairly easily if one possesses the knowledge. Until fairly recently in history the cause of Cholera was thought to be caused by “miasmas”, but in reality it is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae which resides in contaminated water. Throughout history people did not understand that Cholera was caused by contaminated water, so varying factors increased the susceptibility of individuals to catch it. Some of those factors included colonization, trade, and urbanization. One thing that all of the before mentioned factors shared in common is that they all brought upon the invention of major industrial, crowded, polluted, and dirty cities. The pollution and human excrement would enter the water supply of major cities and would not thoroughly be filtered out allowing Cholera to spread at a much faster rate than it previously could. While it could spread much faster than it previously could there was a major factor that limited it in spreading. The factor that limited Cholera to spread even further is that it was limited to contaminated water, meaning that water is it’s only vector. Once it was realized that Cholera spread through the water supply sanitation efforts and public health infrastructure increased dramatically decreasing the rate at which Cholera infected individuals. Even though public health infrastructure and sanitation efforts increased there was a problem. The problem was the ElTor cholera came about and this version of cholera is much “hardier” than the normal version, it also creates mild or no symptoms at all so individuals who contract it are more likely to travel and spread it. Thankfully, scientists like John Snow, Henry Whitehead, and Filippo Pacini/Robert Koch identified that Cholera is caused by a contagion, not a miasma, that is waterborne and can be prevented through sanitation of water supplies.

Unfortunately certain factors have led to the continuation of Cholera in modern day societies. An example of a Cholera endemic in the 21st century can be seen in Haiti. Cholera has taken hold in Haiti because of many reasons including, natural disasters that have ravaged their country and have impoverished them further. Due to the extreme poverty and lack of education Cholera has ran rampant through their water supplies sickening countless amounts of people. Due to increased measures to help Haiti, Cholera has decreased, but is still existent. As of “February 2017, nearly 2,000 new cases of cholera had been reported in the country, amounting to hundreds a week”. Some preventive measures that have been implemented include, increasing the knowledge of how Cholera is spread and how to prevent it, increasing sanitation efforts, and supplying Haiti with more medical staff that are prepared to deal with the sickness. Although many things have been done to aid Haiti, Cholera will not disappear unless the economic crisis and public health infrastructure is not resolved/repaired. Haiti is not the only nation that is currently being ravaged by Cholera, Yemen is also having to deal with it. Yemen is different than Haiti in regards to Cholera because in Yemen it has much to do with the ongoing conflict(s). The conflicts in Yemen have damaged it’s infrastructure and impoverished it even further allowing Cholera to spread just how it has in other countries with the same issue.

Help Received: The powerpoint, https://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html

Tuberculosis is a respiratory disease spread from person to person through the air that we breath. Tuberculosis, in itself, is a very contagious disease and spreads through populations rapidly if precautions are not taken. An example of Tuberculosis ripping through society can be seen in the 19th century, particularly in people who immigrated to the United States. The issue that arose in most U.S. immigrant groups because of Tuberculosis involved multiple factors that amplified the infectiousness of Tuberculosis. Some of those factors included malnutrition, crowding, and poverty. Most of the people that immigrated to the U.S. during the 19th century were looking for better opportunities, so most of them did not have much money. The jobs they found once they arrived in the U.S. were low paying and most of the time labor intensive, so the combination of low income and high energy consumption created widespread malnutrition throughout the immigrant population. While one is malnourished their immune system can not function as it normally would, so Tuberculosis took advantage of this and spread rapidly. The immigrants were not only poor and malnourished, they also were crowded in their living spaces because they could not afford larger tenements; they had to pool money together just so they could pay for their tenements. A modern day example of Tuberculosis ravaging a society is the situation in Swaziland. In Swaziland the same situation applies as it did with immigrants in the 19th century, but their is something different with the situation in Swaziland. Whats different is that there is a sort of “social stigma” about acknowledging if you have Tuberculosis. It can lead to isolation in their society, also to acknowledge you have Tuberculosis in their society is  to essentially give up the labor that you do, which is detrimental because if you want to live and survive you have to work. HIV is also rampant, this is important when discussing Tuberculosis because Tuberculosis weakens the immune system, essentially is has a similar affect as HIV. If one was to be infected with Tuberculosis and HIV the situation would be dire due to the extreme suppression of the immune system that would occur. To make the situation worse resistant and extremely resistant Tuberculosis known as MDR (multi-drug resistant) and XDR (extensively drug resistant) are a risk if you do not medicate properly if you have Tuberculosis. It is extremely important to medicate properly if one has Tuberculosis because if one does not medicate properly MDR can form and eventually XDR will form. MDR is extremely difficult to cure and XDR almost impossible. Not only are MDR and XDR more difficult to cure, if they are able to be cured it requires even more medication for an extended amount of time.

The World Health Organization has set out to end Tuberculosis using these three principles:

• “Expanding the scope and reach of interventions for TB care and prevention, with a focus on high-impact, integrated and patient-centered approaches.”
• “Eliciting full benefits of health and development policies and systems, through engaging a much wider set of collaborators across government, communities and the private sector.”
• “Pursuing new scientific knowledge and innovations that can dramatically change TB prevention and care.”

It is important that we see to these three principles because without intervention in impoverished nations like Swaziland nothing will change and people will still die because of Tuberculosis.

Help Received: https://www.who.int/tb/strategy/end-tb/en/ https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/default.htm powerpoint/ silent killer video