How to I.D. HIV

This is my first action project for my Disease class. The unit called “Body” was about the different kinds of body systems in the human body and diseases that affect us. For this action project I found a person that I know who has a disease and made a patient profile for them. Then I created a body outline and highlighted the specific parts of the body that are affected by the disease. My favorite part of making this action project was doing the research because disease is an interesting topic to me. For example I don’t normally enjoy researching information in my STEAM classes because it’s hard to remember information in that way, but since this action project was interesting the research came easily. Even though I had fun, the biggest problem I had while making this project was doing the body outline.The problem I had was that it was hard for me to stay still while I was being traced which made me end up having to do multiple outlines, but then I realized that it might be that my partner might be the problem. I switched out my partner with someone who had done this project before and the rest went smoothly from there.

My friend Timothy is a teenager who is well known in school and has a loving family. About a year ago he was infected with HIV. He was used to having a lot of friends and being lucky so he couldn’t imagine anything happening to his life. Before he knew he had HIV, he had already started to experience some of the symptoms of having it. He started coughing a lot and he had multiple high fevers. He already had an idea of what he had so he went to get tested and to see if he had HIV. When he found out he was infected he got really scared because he had gotten it through doing drugs with dirty needles. He didn’t want to tell his parents because he knew that he would get in trouble. When I asked how his parents reacted when they found out he had it he told me,"My parents were extremely mad because I actually told them that I got it from having sex."

After taking doses of a drug called Zidovudine to help lessen the symptoms of HIV, he is able to move on from being infected to his old routine of hanging out with friends and family. The dose he was supposed to take was 300 mg orally every 12 hours or 200 mg orally every 8 hours. Zidovudine is not the only way you can fight HIV/AIDS though. There are numerous other drugs and methods that can help reverse the infection. The best way to prevent it though is through protection during intercourse like condoms. Of course another way to help prevent it is by making sure when taking drugs the needle is always a clean new needle. Those are the best ways to prevent any risk factors.

HIV/AIDS

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is a disease that can ruin your immune system by causing multiple symptoms at the same time. AIDS is a symptom from another disease called HIV human immunodeficiency virus. HIV is a disease that also weakens your immune system, but the difference between AIDS and HIV, is that HIV is normally a cause for people infected with it to become infected with numerous other diseases like AIDS. Both of these diseases can be caused in three different ways. The first and most well known way is through sexual intercourse. The second way is through blood to blood contact The final and least known way is through being born with it after the parents had it. Both HIV and AIDS are infectious diseases but they could also be genetic diseases as well.

For my friend his symptoms started in the Respiratory System. At first it was just coughing, but next was hard breathing. His main problem was the coughing because at first he was trying to hide the fact that he was sick, and it was really tough for him to do.

Next was the integumentary system where he got Molluscum contagiosum. Molluscum contagiosum is a symptom that appears on the skin as bumps. For my friend they appeared on his arm, but they could appear anywhere on the body.

It is even possible for AIDS to affect the nervous system. It can cause HIV-associated dementia or AIDS dementia complex which seriously hurt your cognitive skills. They could also impair the memory.

MJF(2017)"HIV"

MJF(2017)"HIV"

MJF(2017)"HIV"

Works Cited

"24 Effects of HIV on the Body." Healthline. Healthline, 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.

idovudine Dosage Guide with Precautions." Guide with Precautions - Drugs.com. Drugs.com, 6 Aug. 16. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.

"The Effects of HIV/AIDS on Different Systems of the Body." LIVESTRONG.COM. Leaf Group, 24 June 2015. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.