Aids in Africa term paper, free sample

ageism essay paper

There is often the assumption that modernization has a negative impact on life because of the utilitarian emphasis on the work ethic and efficiency, ideologies which have dominated modernization. The age consciousness which was nurturedat the turn of the century due to the introduction of the modern system of education and welfare strengthened the sense of age stratification, resulting in age segregation and 'ageism'. Japan's trajectory differs from this modernizing process in Western European and North American societies. Japanese modernization took place over a short period of time and was a centrally-planned change. The Meiji Restoration was a particularly salient point in the shift from a feudal to an industrial society, as was the enactment of the New Constitution and the legal and institutional reforms which occurred after World War Two.

aids in africa term paper

In Africa, the Green Monkey (Cercopithecus authors) may have been a first link to human AIDS infection. That primate carries a virus (Simian T-lymphotropic virus, or STLVIII) that is similar to the HTLV-III AIDS virus. Although STLVIII does not cause illness in the Green monkey, scientists at the New England Primate Center in Southborough, Massachusetts noticed that STLV-III was fatal to rhesus macaque monkeys. Virologists Max Essex and Phyllis Kanki, both of Harvard University, found one-half to two-thirds of Green Monkeys in the African AIDS belt to be infected with the simian equivalent of HTLV-III.

aids research paper

Of the more than 29,000 U.S. cases, 73 percent have been homosexual or bisexual men (including homosexual intravenous drug abusers), 17 percent intravenous drug users (nonhomosexual), 4 percent heterosexuals and 3 percent persons who received blood or blood products (a third of whom have been people with hemophilia or other blood disorders). While it is true that male homosexuals and bisexuals account for about 75 percent of AIDS cases, percentages of distribution of the disease are changing. There have been about 450 cases in children. However, "the syndrome is apparently not transmitted through casual household contact and hence not among school children.

aids in africa essay

Dr. Robert Gallo, a noted authority on AIDS in the United States, reported "Analysis of the origin and spread of HTLV-III leads to a conclusion that cannot be sufficiently emphasized: AIDS is not a disease of homosexuals or drug addicts or indeed of any particular risk group." He continued, "The virus is spread by intimate contact, and the form of contact seems to be less important than the contact itself. Rapid spread of the virus depends on the accumulation of a pool of infected people that is large enough for a few exposures to result in infection. The pool need not consist of homosexuals or drug addicts. In Africa, the pool is made up of heterosexuals, and others have demonstrated heterosexual transmission in the U.S."

aids in africa essays

Gallo is saying that as more persons become infected, the greater the risk may be to those who are not. "Heterosexual transmission, at least in Haiti and Africa, is becoming increasingly prevalent . . . and the virus may have been around as long ago as 1962." Mid-1987 data suggests that approximately 7 percent of AIDS cases now exist in the heterosexual population. By 1991 (in the United States), according to the most conservative estimates, 270,000 people will have been stricken, 179,000 will have died--and new cases involving heterosexuals will have multiplied 10-fold to 23,000 (and that is a low estimate). Almost 4,000 babies will have contracted AIDS.

aids hiv paper research

During anal intercourse with an AIDS-infected partner, the AIDS virus can easily pass from the rectum into the urethra or vice versa, where the virus can easily penetrate any injury in the fragile lining and enter into the blood stream. The practice of frequent anal intercourse and "fisting" (insertion of the hand into a sex partner's rectum), both of which may cause bleeding in the rectum, can transmit the infection. Any sexual behavior in which blood/body fluid exchange is possible can, potentially, be responsible for transfection of another individual: anal intercourse, oral-genital sex, oral-anal sex, or other acts through which body fluids may be transferred.

aids research papers

The AIDS virus has also been found in breast milk and vaginal secretions making both breast feeding and heterosexual intercourse potential transmission behaviors. As of March 1987, several U.S. cities have reported, in random samples of prostitutes, an AIDS-infection rate rising over 30%. Newly published studies on male and female AIDS patients and their partners indicate that the disease is bi-directional, that is, transmissible equally easily by both men and women. In central Africa, incidence among prostitutes is much higher than in the United States; e.g., "27% in Zaire carry AIDS virus antibodies, 59% in Kenya, and 88% in Rwanda," but this is likely to change as the percentage of infected American prostitutes increases.

free research papers on aids

A study by the Centers for Disease Control found a case of a woman who tested seropositive for AIDS after only one sexual encounter with her husband who, through transfusion, had contracted the disease. As previously mentioned, use of condoms has been advocated as a means to reduce the spread of the disease, but condoms must be used carefully; during withdrawal, hold the base of the condom tightly around the penis so that the condom cannot slip off and no semen can escape. Further, condoms must be latex rubber--because of the size of the HIV virion, animal skin condoms appear likely to allow the retrovirus passage through the condom membrane.

hiv aids research paper

Research conducted by Dr. Robert Redfield shows 50% of the spouses of infected partners contract AIDS, regardless of whether the spouse was male or female. The transmission of AIDS is typical of other sexually transmitted diseases: deep-kissing, sexual intercourse and, particularly, sexual practices involving the rectal mucosa, are dangerous and may lead to disease transmission. Blood transfusions, organ transplantation, and artificial insemination can also spread AIDS, albeit, the risk from blood transfusion appears slight. The reader is advised, however, that in some cases donors with AIDS may never show seropositive HIV antibodies, and autologous blood transfusions are the only means of absolutely insuring no risk.

research papers on aids

The potential spread of AIDS can be grasped by observing the ways in which other sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and genital herpes, move through the country. "There are a minimum of 6 million S.T.D.'s recorded annually," says Dr. German Maisonet, medical director of the Los Angeles Minority AIDS Project, "which means that about every five seconds an American is involved in a high-risk sexual practice minus a condom." Other behaviors of suspicion include tatooing, and blood-to-blood contact--such as a wrist-towrist blood-brother/sister exchange. "Children may not have sexual relations with one another, the commonest way to pass on AIDS, but they fight, have nose bleeds and play at being "blood brothers" by mixing their blood."

 
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