Communicable Diseases: The Epidemiological Potential of HIV

Introduction

The problem of HIV as a severe communicable disease that significantly affects the population of the United States could hardly be overlooked. As it is stated on the HIV.gov website, an estimated 1 million people in the country are currently infected with HIV. Also, one out of every seven infected people is not aware of his or her condition. Thus, it is apparent that this communicable disease represents an evident threat to the American public health sector. This study aims to investigate HIV from the perspective of epidemiology, addressing various issues related to the selected disease, including its causes, symptoms, modes of transmission, complications, treatment, the impact of the determinants of health, the role of community health nurse, and several others.

The Disease’s Description

Causes

It is essential to understand the relationship between HIV and AIDS, as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is causing a severe condition that is referred to as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018). The causal mechanism of the disease is the following: the virus destroys white blood cells (CD4 T cells), which have a critical significance for the proper functioning of the immune system (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018). Therefore, when the concentration of white blood cells lowers, the immune system becomes weaker, and thus AIDS is developed.

Symptoms

Symptoms of the selected communicable disease are numerous, and they largely depend on the particular stage of the condition’s development, which could be the following: primary infection (acute HIV), latent clinical infection (chronic HIV), symptomatic HIV infection stage, and AIDS is the final stage (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018). Fever, headache, joint pain, muscle aches, rash, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands are the most common symptoms that appear in the initial stage of the disease (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018). Fatigue, diarrhea, weight loss, mouth infections, and shingles, as well as opportunistic infections and cancers, are added to the symptoms list as the condition progresses (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018).

Modes of Transmission

There are three principal categories of the ways in which the disease is transmitted: sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, and pregnancy. The first mode includes the majority of various types of sexual interaction. Particularly, vaginal, oral, and anal sex could all serve as a mode of transmission. The second type of the disease’s spreading is represented by sharing such items of personal hygiene as toothbrushes, sharing needles and syringes, and direct transfusions of blood. Finally, during the period of pregnancy, HIV is easily transmitted from mother to child as they are directly connected.

Since it was identified previously that HIV is primarily damaging the human’s immune system, it is apparent that various complications could be caused by this damage. The most evident complication is that an infected person develops a higher risk of acquiring other illnesses and conditions such as tuberculosis, which is a leading reason for mortality among the HIV-infected population (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018). Cytomegalovirus, candidiasis, cryptococcal meningitis, toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis are opportunistic diseases that are not normally acquired by people not infected with HIV, but they are easily developed when an individual has AIDS (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018). It is also important to mention such opportunistic cancers as Kaposi’s sarcoma and lymphoma as they are also not typical for HIV-negative people (“HIV/AIDS,” 2018).

Treatment

AIDS is a condition that could not be cured completely. Nevertheless, the progress of contemporary medicine made it possible for HIV-infected individuals to live a relatively normal life and fight the disease’s symptoms, especially if the condition is diagnosed at early stages and treated appropriately. Among various approaches to treating AIDS, antiretroviral therapy (ART) is considered to be the most efficient method (“How do you treat HIV?” 2018). There are six types of antiretroviral drugs, and the best option is to combine medications from different categories in order to achieve a cumulative positive effect. The side effects of these drugs could be present, but in the majority of cases, they disappear as soon as the patient is adjusted to them (“How do you treat HIV?” 2018).

Mortality, Morbidity, Incidence, and Prevalence

Statistically, there is a slight negative tendency regarding the incidence rates of HIV. It is reported that in 2014, 37,600 people in the United States were diagnosed with HIV, and in 2016, the number was 39,782 (“U. S. Statis