Trends on death rates for HIV Disease - Research Paper Example

Trends on Death Rates for HIV Disease Brief Description of the HIV Disease AIDS was first reported June 5, 1981 when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded a cluster of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (now still classified as PCP but known to be caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii) in five homosexual men in Los Angeles (Gottlieb, 2006, p. 980). Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is defined as a set of symptoms and infections resulting from the damage to the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (Weiss, May 1993, p. 1273). With the alarming number of people affected with AIDS, a specialized drug was developed to contain the syndrome, known as antiretroviral drugs.

Antiretroviral drugs inhibit the reproduction of retroviruses-viruses composed of RNA rather than DNA. The best known of this group is HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, the causative agent of AIDS. Antiretroviral agents are virustatic agents which block steps in the replication of the virus. The drugs are not curative; however continued use of the drugs, particularly in multi-drug regimens, significantly slows disease progression (Optimum Health, Inc., 2011). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in conjunction with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) regularly monitors the developments of the disease and publish crucial information pertinent to HIV through the HIV Surveillance Report: Diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2009 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2011).

On the other hand, the NCHS compiles the information and creates tables of trends for death rates for HIV disease by sex, race, Hispanic origin and age from 1987 to 2007, as of the latest report (CDC, 2007). Statistics of HIV in the United States The CDC websites revealed that pertinent statistics that attest to the current status of people afflicted with the illness, as quoted below: More than one million people are living with HIV in the United States. One in five (21%) of those people living with HIV is unaware of their infection… Likewise, more than 18,000 people with AIDS still die each year in the US… Through 2007, more than 576,000 people with AIDS in the US have died since the epidemic began” (CDC: HIV in the US par. 1). Due to the alarming patterns, CDC and NCHS have included HIV among the list of trends in health statistics to determine the population at risk where the results indicate that the group that exhibited high risk for the illness was composed of gays, bisexuals, and African Americans of both male and female genders (CDC: HIV in the US pas. 4 & 13). Rationale for Choosing the Trend One’s (who is “one”) personal contention for selecting death rates for HIV disease as the trend among those enumerated by the NCHS is the social stigma that still persists if people have contracted the disease.

Due to this, reporting of acquisition and being infected with the illness is hampered and thereby, the proper interventions are not immediately accorded. According to Hunt, despite medical and technological interventions to prevent and address HIV such as chemotherpeutic interventiosn, use of