'The Effects of HIV on the Body\r'

'human immunodeficiency virus is a fascinating complaint be former of the fact that you do not actually make it from the disease itself; you die from an another(prenominal), potentially harmless, disease, which your body tail endnot protect against due to its wasted resistive system. In order to understand this better, it is in-chief(postnominal) to understand how HIV affects the body. HIV weakens the body’s immune system by attacking T4 lymphocytes, a type of white blood stall. These T4 helper cells atomic number 18 called this because they pose a receptor molecule on their spring up called, CD4.\r\nThe T4 cells don’t create antibody only they atomic number 18 responsible for chemically communicating, using chemokine, with other white blood cells in order to â€Å" dismiss an attack” on a virus. The HIV cells hold on two viral proteins that are directly elusive in the process of infecting someone, these proteins are called gp41 and gp120. The †Å"CD4 on the surface of the T cell allows for the docking of gp120; once docked, the gp120 changes its design so that it can bind to the chemokine receptor (called CCR5), and spinal fusion and entry of HIV take place afterward binding. Sherman p. 178)” It is not known exactly how the viral proteins squander T4 cells only when it is believed to â€Å"involve a depression in the ability to expand their numbers. (Sherman p. 178)” Once the T4 cells reach four hundred to 800 cells/mm^3, as opposed to the healthy 1,000 or more T4 cells/mm^3, the first opportunistic infections can arise. This refers to infections that would normally not cause a disease, or at least postcode life threatening, but given the bodies weakened immune system begins to cause serious health problems for the individual.\r\nAfter this top things lead dangerous, but can still be moody around, however if a persons T4 count reaches 200, they officially have help. Once someone has gotten AIDS, in that respect is little to nothing a doctor can do because their immune system is so damaged that they can save fight off a shivery. At this point the person’s immune system is so damaged that they could very easily die from something wish pneumonia or meningitis. As the infected decline merely they become more and more susceptible to disease and even something like herpes, which is almost always not fatal, can cause death.\r\nOnce a person reaches the 100 T4 cells/mm^3 mark thither is no telling what could kill them, it could even be something as simple as a cold or influenza. The good news is that, although thither are no cures for AIDS, on that point are some options for lordly HIV before it reaches the AIDS state. The first AIDS intercession, which is still used today, is an antitumor compound called azidothymidine (zidovudine). zidovudine was developed in 1964 by a correspond of chemists-pharmacologists named George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion who had created se veral(prenominal) other antitumor drugs.\r\nAZT deeds by delaying â€Å"the onset of AIDS by inhibiting viral multiplication…AZT jam’s the cell’s copier and, in do doing, blocks the tax deduction of new virus particles. (Sherman p. 184)” There are several other drugs called nucleoside analogs that also block the synthesis of viral nucleic acids, and are generally used along with AZT to make the famous â€Å"drug cocktail. ” Another treatment option is a combination of protease inhibitors and puff transcriptase inhibitors.\r\nThe protease inhibitors work by preventing the viral enzyme, protease, from cutting viral proteins into shorter pieces. If short viral proteins cannot be produced then a complete virus cannot be assembled. The reverse transcriptase inhibitors work by obstruct viral replication. This combination of drugs is able to significantly boil down virus production, up to 90-99%. The only problem with these treatments is that they are expensive and need to be taken daily.\r\nAlthough there is no cure for HIV/AIDS there is constant research being done on the possibility of creating some sort of vaccine that would be able to prevent HIV and, at least, slack the development of new HIV cell in those who are already infected. So far there have been some advancements but nothing has been created that would be effective or stable enough. That being said, the move efforts of the medical field and breakthroughs in treatment, we are abject closer and closer to the possibility of having some word form of vaccine and maybe someday a cure.\r\n'