Immunology HIV Concept Paper - Essay Example

Immunology HIV Concept Paper The articles cover the stage of HIV infection in a rural community in Kenya. Theprogram was initiated by the Kenya Ministry of health. The aim of the study was to determine whether integrated prevention campaign (IPC) as compared to voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services was able to note individuals in the early stage of HIV infection. As a result, a large number of adults were used in the experiment to determine the stage of HIV infection. The paper was based on reducing testing rate evident in the sub-Saharan region of Africa.

As noted in the article, less than fifty percent of individuals living with the virus in the region are aware of their status. There are devastating consequences of lack of awareness of the virus in the region. As noted, about 25 percent of individuals that started ART in various social statuses had a CD4 count less than 100 cells/ul (Haskew et al. 1). The number has been associated with a late stage of HIV infection. The CD4 count is used to understand the extent and stage of the disease. Moreover, the advancement of the disease has been associated with challenges of treating the condition in the community.

As such, most of the individuals are found to have an advanced stage of the disease. In fact, the majority that had difficulties in responding to treatment were said to be in clinical stage 3 or 4 of infection (Haskew et al. 2). The stages have been linked with the severity of the disease as well as the challenges of patient responding to treatment. Such patients are also said to have a higher mortality rate as compared to one in initial stages (1&2) of infection. There were various things that were discovered in the experiment.

The analysis was done on 1752 patients. The result from these patients indicated that more than half did not show CD4 count while a quarter of the patients record did not indicate WHO clinical stage on the first appointment form (Haskew et al. 3). Moreover, the analysis showed that 108 patients were from the IPC program while 1644 were from the VCT services (Haskew et al. 3). There was also additional information from the multivariable analysis. In the analysis, those patient that were found to be HIV positive through VCT services had more than twice chances of presenting to first clinical visit in the Worlds Health Organization(WHO) clinical stages 3 or 4 (Haskew et al. 3). This was as compared to those that were found to be HIV positive in the IPC.

At the same time, the affected individuals that were tested through VCT services had more than twice higher odds of presenting to first clinical visit with CD$ of less or equal to 350 cells/ul (Haskew et al. 3). This was as compared to those that were tested positive in IPC. There was also some variation in the mean CD4 count at a first clinical visit. The number of individuals testing positive through VCT was somehow lesser as compared to those that tested positive through IPC. On the other hand, the gender and marriage status played a significant role in determining clinic visit.

The male that were divorced or widowed were independently linked to stage 3 or 4 as per visit (Haskew et al. 4). The individuals with more than fifty years were linked with showing late to first clinical visit with CD4 of less or equal to 350 cells/ul (Haskew et al. 4). Works Cited Haskew, John, Turner, Kenrick, Ro, Gunnar, Ho, Andrew, Kamanga, James and Shariff, Shahnaaz. “Stage of HIV presentation at initial clinic visit following a community-based HIV testing campaign in rural Kenya.” BMC Public Health 15.16 (2015): 1-7. Print