Discovering the history of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
Would you like to know more about the history of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria? We have managed to collect the most interesting and shocking facts! Open and read it all right now!
HIV/AIDS Awareness
Everyone should be able to identify the first signs of AIDS. HIV infection affects people's cells and immune system. Bad environment as well as drug addiction, prostitution and alcoholism has led to an increase in the rate of HIV/AIDS.
Before getting to the AIDS stage, it usually take a while from the moment the patient was infected with the HIV. The first symptoms of HIV infection appear as an ordinary cold: fever, lymph nodes pain, diarrhea, and weakness.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to identify HIV on your own. Only a test for HIV can give the most reliable result about the presence or absence of the virus. The opinion that HIV is the most dangerous infection in the world is true. It is not possible to cure the disease, but with each passing year, there are more and more effective remedies.
The development of a vaccine against HIV is a serious issue that worries the leading minds of of the world. Currently, the existing medicine helps to maintain the immunity of a person with a positive HIV-status at a normal level, thus preventing it from degenerating to AIDS. The first signs of HIV and AIDS need to be quickly detected in order to start treatment on time.
What is HIV/AIDS?
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that causes problems with the immune system, and affects its ability to fight infections. HIV infection is a long-term infectious disease that develops as a result of human immunodeficiency virus infection and is characterized by a progressive defeat of the human immune system. This then leads to secondary infections, tumors, and other pathologies.
AIDS is an abbreviation that means “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome”. AIDS is the last stage of the HIV infection.
HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
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Currently, Nigeria has 3.4 million people with HIV/ AIDS. According to the director of the National AIDS Control Agency, John Idoko, Nigeria is the second largest country in the world with such a with so many people affected by this terrible disease.
He emphasized that only one of three Nigerian patients are receiving treatment and only 18 percent of HIV-positive women undergo prophylaxis against the transmission of the virus to a child. More than 40% of affected Nigerians do not even know they have the disease. Senate chairman David Mark emphasized the need of public education. He says it is necessary to make people more aware of the disease and its consequences.
According to him, many people are afraid to take the test for the virus presence due to the negative reaction and stigma from society. Those who have fallen ill are afraid of a discriminatory attitude towards them at work. They should know that "having an infection does not mean that the person is immoral or not fit to live among others in the society".
Jonathan Goodluck, the former president of Nigeria, signed a new anti-discrimination law that protects the rights and dignity of people who are living with HIV. According to the law "Against HIV/AIDS Discrimination", from 2014, it prohibited the restriction of people's rights based on their HIV status.
Employers, individuals, and organizations no longer have the right to require a person to pass the HIV test as a condition for hiring or receiving services. It is expected that the new law will provide a more favorable environment for people living with HIV, so that they will be able to lead a normal life. Remember that more than three million Nigerians are infected with HIV.
History of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
The age of infected adults varies from 15 to 49. In some states, the percentage of sick people is bigger than the higher of healthy ones. Who brought HIV/AIDS to Nigerian land? The first two cases in Nigeria were found in 1985. The situations that helped to spread the infection include prostitution, immoral sexual practices, blood transfusion, and trafficking of women.
General history of disease
The first AIDS patients were registered in the United States in 1981. The pathogens of the disease, which led to severe impairment of the immune system, were discovered in 1983 by scientists from France and the United States, Gallo and Montagnier, who, independently from each other, found it in the blood of patients, who died as a result of AIDS.
HIV belongs to the retrovirus family of lentiviruses. This virus family causes diseases that develop slowly and proceed continuously. The HIV genetic material, like other retroviruses, is represented by RNA (ribonucleic acid), which is a template for the production of pro-viral DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
Ways of Transition
When it enters the body, HIV rapidly penetrates blood cells - lymphocytes, which have receptors that have an affinity for HIV, called "CD4 + - T lymphocytes". These receptors also have some other blood cells (monocytes and macrophages), cells of the central nervous system, intestine, cervix, and others.
Due to the affinity of the surface proteins of the virus and the receptors of the cell, HIV penetrates into the cytoplasm of it. Then, thanks to the enzyme of reverse transcriptase, the viral RNA passes through the formation of a pro-viral DNA.
The proviral DNA is "embedded" in the genetic material (DNA) of the host cell. The virus becomes a part of the cell and remains there until the death of the cell. New copies of the virus come from the affected cell. They then spread throughout the body, embedding in other cells, affecting them and leading to reproduce new copies.
There are often "mistakes" that are called mutations. In order to avoid the development of resistance to remedies in the treatment of HIV infection, it is necessary to use a combination of several medical pills simultaneously.
The resistance of the virus in the environment
In the external environment, when the lymphoid cells are infected with HIV, the viral activity disappears within a few days. After drying, a cell-free liquid (with the addition of human plasma viruses) dies at a temperature of 23-27 ° C in 7 days.
In a medium liquid at a temperature of 23-27 ° C, the virus retains activity for 15 days, at 36-37 ° С - for 11 days. In the blood, intended for transfusion, the virus can live for years, and in the frozen serum, its activity remains up to 10 years. HIV quickly dies with the use of disinfectants, ultraviolet irradiation. When it is heated above 56 ° C, it loses activity after 30 minutes.
Thus, modern medicine allows people to maintain their body throughout their life and makes them quite comfortable. There are a lot of examples of HIV-infected people living a full life. Fear of losing the fight against infection can paralyze a person. HIV is not the end, but the beginning of a slightly different life. Regularly check your HIV status, and then the issue of AIDS will disappear in our society.
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