Microbiological Issues of HIV and AIDS - Essay Example

? Microbiology work Unit Introduction According to Murray & Baron (2003), microbiology is concerned with the effective identification of living organisms which can cause diseases and colonize the body, something that has become the biggest threat to human health and general well being of human health. Additionally, Laboratory works with various specialists in public health and infectious diseases on the surveillance of organisms within both the hospitals and the community. Microbiologists examine the samples of patients for the presence of viruses, parasites, fungi, and bacteria, which cause a variety of diseases. They also contribute to patient’s treatment as well as the control of infection in the community and hospitals. However, Microbiology is rapidly changing. In the late 1970s, HIV and AIDS were unknown, but by the year 2000, approximately 22 million HIV related deaths had occurred globally. Ebola and Legionnaires viruses were also unknown, but a year later, they were making headlines. Microbiologists decided to go to the laboratory to find the virus behind AIDS and other diseases. The laboratory categorized the samples and dealt with each sections of the virus depending on the site and nature of collection. In this regard, this paper aims at explaining microbiology work in HIV, identifying the problems or issues that face scientists today as well as identify science influence or contribution to today’s culture in terms of technology, advances, and infectious disease controls (Gustavo, 2001). HIV/AIDS is said to have spread rapidly. There are roughly 33.4 million people living with the virus, 2 million deaths from and 2.7 new infections of AIDS. Microbiologists discovered that HIV virus causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). The virus is said to infect cells which are critical to the immune system, and as a result, destroy the ability of the system to fight infections. Therefore, it was found out that people who have AIDS do not have the ability to fight infections by other bacteria and viruses, which cause diseases in healthy people. Because of this, AIDS patients die from such infections that the scientists regard as harmless. Some of them develop cancers in their systems (Basic information about HIV and AIDS, 1999). The Microbiologists first discovered the agent which causes AIDS in 1983. In about 24 years, there were abnormal infection clusters that were found in homosexual men and approximately a million of Americans have contracted HIV. This epidemic has now afflicted both female and males in all ethnic groups. Spencer and Ragout (2004) claim that, scientists acknowledge that the epidemic is growing rapidly among women and minority population. There are over 20 million deaths and the epidemic is spreading in all geographic regions. However, there is hope in finding the cure for AIDS because, Microbiologists are doing all they can to discover it. They have managed to stabilize it because of the ARVs that they initially discovered for its control which has helped in avoiding deaths. To add to this, they claim that when a person becomes infected with the HIV virus, there is a substantial lag time, for example, a decade before the person fully develops the AIDS symptoms, although the anti-HIV drugs can help delay the symptoms. However, afterwards, infected individuals start experiencing symptoms of Flu and are said to go for many years without the symptoms being detected (Basic information about HIV and AIDS, 1999). During this phase, the virus is said to continue replicating within the body, in addition to transmitting to other individuals if there is a direct contact with body fluids such as blood and semen. This time there is a steady but slow depletion of the cells, known as CD4 positive T cells which are infected by HIV. A Microbiologist found out that a normal person usually has 1000 CD4 Tcells in a blood milliliter, which HIV infects, and once the cells fall to 200 cells the person infected enters another phase which is now called AIDS. Nevertheless, there are other scientists working on the HIV/AIDS problem in the department of Microbiology to continue understanding the details of how HIV virus reproduces as well as cause disease. They also aim at identifying other potential targets for developing and identifying other potential new targets for drug therapies. Therefore, their goal is to deepen our knowledge on the virus as well as its interactions with the immune system and the host cell in order to come up with new vaccines and antiviral drugs (Gustavo, 2001). Science has greatly influenced or contributed to today’s culture in terms of technology advancement, and infectious disease controls. It has reversed the ageing effects as well as reprogrammed genes in order to prevent diseases as well as produce energy. The advancing pace in technology means that the progress rate will be 30 times fast in the next 50 years due to science and, therefore, this opens up other prospects in other fields. To add to this, science has helped us better understand our genes which leads to more personalized medicines as well as longer healthier lives (Murray & Baron, 2003). Communication technology is also getting cheaper, internet connection speeds are faster, and we get more sustainable environment ways of living everyday. For instance, Science is said to focus on the quality of life in a number of areas, like health, joy of living, vulnerability, and sustainability. Therefore, as the population grows and its desires and needs expand, the problem of civilization’s sustaining and continuing advancement at the same time improving the quality of lives, becomes more immediate. For example, was it not for science, HIV virus would not have been discovered, as well as the drugs to control it and as a result, help the infected people live longer and healthier lives (Gustavo, 2001). The new and old threats to public and personal health demands more readily and effective treatments, and therefore, science is doing a lot when it comes discovering the bacteria and viruses that are causing diseases which are threats to human life and as a result discovers or searches for new methods of prevention and protection. Additionally, the provision of clean energy has become a priority and therefore, scientists have identified sunshine as a tantalizing source of friendly power in the environment, and therefore, bathing the universe with more energy every hour converts it to something more useful when stored. However, there are a number of issues that scientists face today; for example, computer intelligence would have enabled the prescriptions for treatment and other automated diagnosis. Spencer & Ragout (2004) claims that once the intelligence of non-biological matches with subtlety and range of the intelligence of a human being, it soars it because of the increased information technology and the ability of machines to share knowledge instantly. Additionally, there is a problem in the effects of reprogramming of genes and the effects of ageing to prevent diseases as well as produce clean energy. The scientists are faced with a challenge of helping the individuals better understand their genes which will lead to more personalized medicines as well as help people live longer and healthier lives. The technology is also getting cheaper and faster, and therefore, finding environmental way of sustaining lives poses a great challenge to the scientists. Conclusion In summary, the Microbiologists are concerned with the effective identification of living organisms, which can cause diseases and colonize the body, something that has become the biggest threat to human health and general well being of human health. However, Microbiology is rapidly changing. In the late 1970s, HIV and AIDS were unknown, but by the year 2000, approximately 22 million of HIV deaths related had occurred globally. This is because of the work of Microbiology, which has come up with antiviral drugs and vaccine, and as a result, has prevented more infected patients from dying due to the virus. References Basic information about HIV and AIDS from the CDC, (1999) Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/bscience.htm Gustavo.J (2001), Information about HIV, AIDS, and related research programs from the National Institutes of Health Retrieved from: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/hivaids/Pages/Default.aspx - Murray.P &Baron.E (2003), Manual of Clinical Microbiology. Washington,D.C : ASM Press Spencer.F & Ragout.S (2004) Public Health Microbiology: Methods and Protocols. Washington,D.C : ASM Press Read More