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AIDS / HIV awareness

7th Grade 2009-2010
By: Shelby County Schools John Aitken, Superintendent

Notice

This curriculum will be taught on the dates determined by the Department of Curriculum & Accountability. These dates will be determined annually. Only teachers who have attended Family Life Workshops or training conducted or sponsored by the Shelby County Department of Curriculum & Accountability may teach this curriculum.

Family Life Curriculum Adopted 1991 Revised Summer, 1997 Updated Fall, 2001 Revised Summer, 2009

Image of AIDS virus.

AIDS:

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

HIV exiting a cell.

HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus

History of disease

An epidemic is usually defined as a disease that is spread to many individuals at one time
In the history of the world there have been many epidemics that have devastated the population. Examples are the Bubonic Plague, Influenza, small pox, and others that have decimated the population. Memphis was nearly extinguished as a city in the late 1880s by a series of epidemics of Yellow Fever. It was not until Memphis established a Dept. of Health that the epidemics ended. The Dept. of Health established proper sanitation protocols and thus ended the epidemics, and as a result, Memphis flourished and revived.

History of disease

One famous disease that was so world wide that it was labeled as pandemic, was the Black Plague in the 13th century.

The people of that day didnt know that disease. People transmitted the disease to each other and as a result over 25% of the population died.

One superstition held that if you circled with roses in your pocket that you would be cured. Originally, a childrens game, Ring Around the Roses, came from individuals who were mocking that superstition. It wasnt until sanitation improved that the disease was silenced.

History of disease

Another epidemic of world proportion was the Spanish Influenza which occurred at the end of WWI.

This time a virus was the culprit. The spread was individual to individual by contact.

Over 30% of the worlds population died from this.

History of disease

Many diseases are held in check today by inoculation (immunizations) or oral (immunization medicine in the mouth) medications.
Examples of this are smallpox and polio vaccinations. Smallpox has virtually disappeared in the world as a result

AIDS

AIDS is a disease that has become pandemic (world-wide) AIDS is the end stages of the a disease that is caused by HIV.

AIDS is an acronym standing for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is not genetic or congenital nor is it passed by casual contact. Immune refers to the body system that the disease attacks. Deficiency describes the effect this disease has on the immune system. Immune deficiency means that the body is unable to defend itself from outside disease.

Syndrome refers to a set or series of signs or symptoms that are considered characteristic of this disease.

HIV

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

The letters stand for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

The HIV virus can only be acquired from another human who is infected with this virus. It can only be acquired from another human by a very narrow range of activities or behaviors. Once an individual is infected by participating in one of these activities or behaviors, that person can infect anyone, but only by sharing in these activities or behaviors. An individual infected with HIV is said to be HIV positive or seropositive.

HIV

An individual may be infected for years with HIV and yet show no outward signs of infection.

No one can tell if an individual is infected with HIV by just looking at another individual. Only by extensive blood tests can a diagnosis be arrived at.

An overwhelming number of individuals who are tested positive with HIV progress to AIDS.

More Facts

HIV progresses with little or no symptoms except that there is usually an illness much like the flu or mononucleosis.

After about a week, the symptoms will disappear.

In many cases, AIDS can take up to 10 years until the symptoms indicative of AIDS will appear. During that time, the individual may infect others.

AIDS is considered an opportunistic disease.

This means that these diseases may not harm the majority of the population because their immune system successfully guards against these diseases.

The marvelously constructed human body has a plethora of safeguards, both chemical and biological, that protect it.

Statistics

Every day, over 6800 people contract HIV and over 5700 die from AIDS. 33.2 million people are living with HIV. AIDS kills one child every minute.

Roughly one million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the United States.
Since the start of the AIDS epidemic, 1.5 million Americans have been infected with HIV and more than 524,000 have died of AIDS. At least 40,000 people are infected each year.

Our defense

Before the development of vaccines, the only way to gain antibody protection against a disease was to have the disease.
If you managed to live through it, antibodies manufactured by your body would usually prevent future infection with the same disease. This process is how a cure for smallpox was developed. Today, we are able to develop vaccines for most commonly occurring illnesses.

Our Defense

The body has two main lines of defense against organisms which cause communicable diseases.

The first of these is an intact body covering and physical and chemical devices which prevent the entry of organisms into the body system.

As long as the skin is intact, bacteria and viruses cannot enter the body system. Internal systems such as: hairs lining the nose, mouth and throat; and mucous membranes lining most body cavities (saliva in the mouth, tears in the eyes, and acid in the stomach) effectively ward off disease-causing organisms by biological and chemical means before they imperil the human body.

Our defense

Once disease-causing organisms penetrate these outer defenses, the body has another line of defense: the immune system.

The antigens they secrete are important in this identification, and the immune system immediately begins the production of antibodies which render the invading organisms ineffective. This is why individuals who receive transplants must rely on medications that dampen the immune system or the body would reject the transplant.

Our Defense

Lymphocytes or white blood cells protect the body against diseases in the immune system.

These cells are called T-Cells and B- Cells.

The B-Cells produce antibodies (proteins used to fight off invaders) while the T- Cells control the action of the B-Cell.

T-Cells and B- Cells

The T-4 cell begins the process.
Another type of T-Cell, the killer T-Cell, all body cells that have been disease at hand. destroys harmed by the

Another T-Cell stops the killer T-Cell once the process has been completed.
A fourth T-Cell imprints the message and sets up records so that the immune system remembers how to defend against a disease that has been successfully annihilated.

T cells and B - cells

HIV infects and becomes active only in T-4 cells so that the normal process of antibody production is disturbed. Interestingly, once the HIV invades the T-4 cells, the T-4 cells form more HIV until the cell dies because all of its material is used in the replication of HIV. The new HIV now infects other T-4 cells, constantly increasing the numbers of HIV in the body.

T-Cells and B-Cells

AS a result of HIV acquisition of the T-4 cells, less T-4 cells are able to activate the B-Cells.

Because of the less amount of B-cells, when an opportunistic disease invades, antibody production is compromised and the body can no longer fight off common organisms.
The T-Cell count in healthy individuals is between 1400- 1500. Once the cell count drops below 300, the individual is considered to be on the threshold of AIDS.

Medications

Medications such as AZT or ddl are usually prescribed. Both of these drugs help stop the deterioration of T-4 cells, but they do not stop it. There are many new medications that the FDA has approved for the use of AIDS patients, but individuals have difficulty tolerating.

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Further Information on AIDS
A diagnosis of AIDS is not made unless an infection like PCP pneumonia or Kaposis sarcoma occurs. In many patients, who have full blown Aids, T-4 counts may go below 10 thus increasing the likelihood that the individual will be subjected to many opportunistic diseases.

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Further information
There are many diseases that HIV and AIDS individuals are susceptible to including: systemic herpes (sores over the entire body, especially the mouth, hands and feet), thrush, blindness, tuberculosis, fungal infections, histoplasmosis, but healthy individuals are able to ward off the devastating results because of the sound immune system.

Current research is investigating many avenues of possible cure &/or stabilization of the disease. Meanwhile, the disease has become pandemic in nature endangering continents and the populations that live there.

Prevention (How to NOT get HIV or AIDS)

Two

healthy behaviors must be practiced to ensure that HIV is not transmitted:

1. NEVER use IV drugs 2. ABSTAIN from sexual intercourse until marriage to a partner who is also HIV free.

Resources

www.healthypeople.gov
www.YouthAids.org http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/index.html

http://research.amnh.org/exhibitions/epidemic/hepb.html
http://www.avert.org/photos.htm