AIDS in Africa How To Write a Research Paper
As there is no known cure for AIDS, the search
for a vaccine against the etiological agent, HIV, has become part of the
struggle against the disease. The need for a vaccine against HIV grows ever more
urgent. Over 20 million people have died due to AIDS in the last 20 years.
Indeed, in 2002, AIDS became the primary cause of mortality due to an infectious
agent in Africa (UNAIDS, 2004). Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has
been highly beneficial to many HIV-infected individuals since its introduction
in 1996 when the protease inhibitor-based HAART initially became available. Many
HIV-infected individuals have experienced remarkable improvements in their
general health and quality of life, which has led to the plummeting of
HIV-associated morbidity and mortality (Palella et al., 1998). Still, for some
patients - and in many clinical cohorts this may be more than fifty percent of
patients - HAART achieves far less than optimal results. This is due to a
variety of reasons such as medication intolerance/side effects, prior
ineffective antiretroviral therapy and infection with a drug-resistant strain of
HIV. However, non-adherence and non-persistence with antiretroviral therapy is
the major reason most individuals fail to get any benefit from and develop
resistance to HAART (Becker et al., 2001). The reasons for non-adherence and
non-persistence with HAART are varied and overlapping. Major psychosocial
issues, such as poor access to medical care, inadequate social supports,
psychiatric disease and drug abuse, contribute to non-adherence. However, the
complexity of these HAART regimens, whether due to pill number, dosing
frequency, meal restrictions or other issues, undeniably have a weighty impact
along with side effects that create intentional non-adherence (Nieuwkerk et al.,
2001; Kleeberger et al., 2001; Heath et al., 2002). HAART allows the
stabilisation of the patient’s symptoms and viremia, but they do not cure the
patient of HIV, nor of the symptoms of AIDS, and high levels of HIV-1, often
HAART resistant, return once treatment is stopped (Martinez-Picardo et al.,
2000). Moreover, it would take more than the lifetime of an individual to be
cleared from HIV infection using HAART (Blankson et al., 2002). Antivirals are
also too expensive for developing countries, which have the highest rates of
HIV-infection. Only a vaccine will be able to halt the pandemic. This
would possibly cost less, thus being affordable for developing countries, and
would not require daily treatments. However, after over 20 years of research,
HIV-1 remains a difficult target for a vaccine.
The source of this article is
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this
article is licensed under the
GFDL
Real Ways to Get Rich on the Internet!
Post nasal drip, lose weight, diabetes, Alzheimer's, more
How to Cope with Life's Problems
how to clean athletic shoes, get rid of roaches