Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS
For more than 30 years we can hear about HIV and AIDS. But what is HIV/AIDS precisely? Where is this dangerous illness spread the most, and what is situation in Poland?
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| A diagram showing the structure of HIV virus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HIV_Virion-en.png) |
AIDS was first recognized in 1981 and its cause - HIV virus was identified in the early part of the decade.
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| Source: see at the bottom |
Since that moment the things are going from bad to worse. Nowadays HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic. As of 2010 approximately 34 million people have HIV worldwide. There were about 1.8 million deaths from AIDS in 2010, down from 3.1 million in 2001.Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected. In 2010, an estimated 68% (22.9 million) of all HIV cases and 66% of all deaths (1.2 million) occurred in this region. This means that about 5% of the adult populations is infected. South Africa has the largest population of people with HIV of any country in the world at 5.9 million.
Tabe showing the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS by
regions:
regions:
| World region | Estimated prevalence of HIV infection (adults and children) | Estimated adult and child deaths during 2010 | Adult prevalence (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | 31.6 million – 35.2 million | 1.6 to 1.9 million | 0.8% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 21.6 million – 24.1 million | 1.2 million | 5.0% |
| South and South-East Asia | 3.6 million – 4.5 million | 250,000 | 0.3% |
| Eastern Europe and Central Asia | 1.3 million – 1.7 million | 90,000 | 0.9% |
| Latin America | 1.2 million – 1.7 million | 67,000 | 0.4% |
| North America | 1.0 million – 1.9 million | 20,000 | 0.6% |
| East Asia | 580,000 – 1.1 million | 56,000 | 0.1% |
| Western and Central Europe | 770,000 – 930,000 | 9,900 | 0.2% |
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_HIV/AIDS)
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| Estimated prevalence of HIV among young adults (15–49) per country at the end of 2005 (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/HIV_Epidem.png) |
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQQiCPWSYA)
And what about Poland? According to Polski Zakład Higieny data, from 1985 to the end of August 2006 10 292 HIV infection, 1,798 AIDS cases and 825 deaths due to AIDS had been registered in Poland (probably underestimate the number of deaths due to deficiencies in reporting). According to the general simulation methodology the actual number of people living with HIV in Poland it is estimated for more than 35 thousand. Every year 600-660 new infections are detected. Distribution according to the probable routes of infection: 53% of injection drug use, 18% heterosexual contact, 13% of homosexual contacts between men, 3.4% of children born to mothers infected with HIV, 11% - no data.
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| Figure epidemiology of HIV infection in Poland, illnesses and deaths from AIDS (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/HIV_and_AIDS_in_Poland_1986-2006-2.svg) |
As you can see in Poland HIV/AIDS is not a huge problem in comparison to Africa. But it doesn't mean that we should not be careful because the number of infected is growing. What is more close to the Polish borders there are countries that have much more problems with HIV/AIDS - especially Ukraine, Russia or Estonia but also Western Europe countries like France or Spain.
Suggest question:
1. Do you think that HIV/AIDS can ever be cured?
Suggest question:
1. Do you think that HIV/AIDS can ever be cured?
2. Why do you think Africa became the hardest-hit region by HIV/AIDS?
3. Do you think that HIV/AIDS can seriously spread in Poland?
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_HIV/AIDS
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/basic/
http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Millennium_Development_Goals_Report_2010_graph_comparing_number_of_people_living_with_and_
newly_infected_with_HIV%2C_and_number_of_AIDS_deaths_worldwide%2C_in_1990_and_2008.png
I think that HIV/AIDS can't ever be cured. It is a type of incurable, dangerous illness. We can only do our best to protect ourselves when we are ill. We can provide complete protection against infection by liminating any bahaviors which allow this infection. There are a lot of myths and stereotypical ways of thinking connected with this topic. Sometimes we just don't think rationally and believe every word we have heard. For example: HIV infections affect only homosexuals and people who are addicted to drugs. Nowadays, our knowledge about it is bigger and better and we know that it isn't a true. There are a lot of websites and programs on TV which talk about it. So we can read some articles, ask specialists before we say something really stupid.
ReplyDeleteAfrika became the hardest-hit region by HIV/AIDS, because of the standard of living and many other infections. I think that the protections is worse, knowledge about HIV/AIDS is lower and there is almost no availability to protective measures.
I think that HIV/AIDS can't seriously spread in Poland, but we should take care of it. A lot of people come to our country every year and we travel a lot. Mixed couples aren't something suprising nowadays. Sometimes we don't know if she/he comes from the area most infected by this virus. Ukraine, Russia and Estonia have more problems with it, but they are so close to us. We can't say that we are safe and this topic doesn't concern us.
I'm more optimistic about the cure. I think that for a certain time period scientists may discover it. There are so many plants and flowers, especially in tropical forests, which may have the right specificities to distroy the virus. But it ain't going to happen today or tomorrow. But maybe sometime.
ReplyDeleteAnd why Africa is the region where the AIDS infections are the most frequent? I think this is obvious. The standard of life and sanitation are very very low. Plus Africans don't use protection during sexual intercourses. And thats the most common way to get infected.
What about Poland? I don't really believe AIDS will seriously spread in our country because Poles have big problem awarness, well most of them. Anyway, we are conscious of the problem (much more than the African are) so we try to be more cautios.
I think, that HIV and AIDS can be cured in the future, because we have more and more knowledge and better medical equipment, thanks which almost all of illnesses can be cured.
ReplyDeleteAfrica is the hardest hit region by HIV and AIDS- it’s clear, because Africa’s states are too poor to have medicaments or suitable hospitals for ill people. Moreover, they have often civil wars and the climate, for example a drought, causes problems with clean water, which is necessary to a proper hygiene.
HIV and AIDS aren’t so popular in Poland and in the future we will not have serious problems with them, because the main ground of spreading they is a sanitation – in Poland we have no problems with it.
AIDS is called the XXI century disease, but I am also positive if it comes to finding the cure. Some time ago people died because of a simple flu and now the medicine is evolving so fast that I guess it's just a matter of time to discover a cure.
ReplyDeleteWhat we can do know is to raise public awareness of the problem and teach people how not to get infected with this virus.
I guess it all is changing now, some years ago AIDS was a taboo and was thought as a 'gay disease' - nowadays people comment it in public and encourage people to get tested.
We have to have hope that someday a cure will be find!
The prevention about AIDS in Poland is still low. I know that for free people can go in Warsaw and make a test for this illness. It is a great idea, that people do not have to pay for it and those tests are anonymus. It is still something embarassing for people to be ill espacially to have AIDS. Much better should be also the educational prevention at schools. AIDS is a problem, and young people should clearly know how we can infect and where. Someone have to say it directlly to them. It is embarassing for them. Why? It is human. Parents should talk about it, they should prevent their children before bad consequences. However the biggest problem with AIDS is in Africa. This continent isn’t really clear and people does not comply with hygiene in there. This warming continent favor to develop many virus and bacteria. I don’t really know if in the future will be a medicine which fight for an AIDS but it is sure that people would have been more safety and calm.
ReplyDelete53% routes of infections is of injection drug use. It shows that in Poland we should educate especially people, who inject drugs. So.. maby we should educate more about consequences of drugs and less about HIV and Aids.
ReplyDeleteAdditionaly in my opinion it is not to many lesson at school about threats of life. Maybe the majority of people infected with Hiv had no idea that in this way they can become infected.
I Africa it is a problem because they don't have money to test this disease and to lern people about this. Educate is the first step to prevent the development of virus
I believe HIV will be curable. For those who says that it won’t be they ought to look back in the past and think about all those “incurable” diseases like tuberculosis. People used to thought that it is incurable. Today you can find penicillin even at vet.
ReplyDeleteStandard of living in Africa is terrible. People who lives there don’t have money for water or food, so it is not surprising that they lack basic knowledge about HIV. Even if they would be aware of that they cannot afford birth-control like condoms which give some protection against HIV.
I do not really believe that HIV can spread in Poland but we can never be too much careful. It’s essential to make juveniles aware of the danger of sex without protection or taking drugs with already used needle.
To conclude, HIV is disease of our times and we have to make sure that all of us know that moment of inattention can cost a life.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think, that HIV is a curable, We must interested in that problem, Most of countries downplays that kind of problem, but a lot of Non Government Organizations inform public opinion about the scale of the problem. The biggest is in the Africa it isn't surprise, that countries is the poorest on the world, money determinate it.
ReplyDeleteHiV and AIDS probably in the future will come to the Poland, this is a modern disease, near our border on the east we have a Ukraine, they have a problems with it, work migration is popular, we must carful for it.
I think, that HIV is a curable, We must interested in that problem, Most of countries downplays that kind of problem, but a lot of Non Government Organizations inform public opinion about the scale of the problem. The biggest is in the Africa it isn't surprise, that countries is the poorest on the world, money determinate it.
ReplyDeleteAIDS is a very dangerous disease because is incurable also people don’t die of AIDS but because of other diseases on which people get sick in reason of immunocompromised. AIDS is caused by a HIV virus. Many people can be carrier of this virus but don’t be sick on AIDS. Those people can infect others without their knowledge. It is important to do test for the presence of HIV. I think that should be conducted an information campaign on HIV and AIDS problem, it can reduce morbidity.
ReplyDeleteAIDS is really a terrible disease. It slowly weakens the body. It is one of many diseases for which there is currently no cure. I hope that with the progress of medicine the treatment for HIV / AIDS will be found soon.
ReplyDeleteThe largest number of people infected with HIV is in African countries. It is caused by poor development of these countries, the low level of medicine and low awareness of the people.
Fortunately, in Poland it is not such a big problem. Unfortunately, the number of HIV infections is increasing, even in our country. It is important to be aware of ways of infection so that people can protect their health.
Yes, HIV/AIDS will be curable, already scientists say faintly about vaccines against HIV. But we still need couple of years to fight efficiently with this desesase. Nowadays hygiene and prevention must be enough. And that is reason why in Africa HIV/AIDS is most spreaded. People in poor countries have no access to contraception, professional medical care, they are not aware about risk arising from dangerous sexual behaviors, which are something normal there.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to spread HIV/AIDS in Poland? In spite of appearances our medical care is not perfect. Tuberculosis, lices in school show us, that we have lot to improve and we are not absolutely save.
I believe that AIDS will be curable, however I wouldn't say it will dissapear during our life-time. It's spread too widely, especially in a "Third World" countries. So even if the remedy is invented one day, it'll take a lot of time to provide it for everyone endangered by infection.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the matter of education, that this disease spread so easily in poor countries. People don't know about the routes of infection and even if they do, they can't afford the prevention. That's why it's rather impossible that it may spread in Poland, as our situation is different.
In my opinion, medicine today is growing very fast. In this time formed new medical equipment, new medicine, vaccines. Therefore, I hope that in the future diseases like HIV/AIDS will be curable. Finally, nothing is impossible. I think that Africa Became the hardest-hit region by the HIV / AIDS because on this region's personal hygiene, access to water and to measures necessary for their health, and acces to health services is very low. People in African countries often don't know about the fact that they should take care of personal hygiene, avoid contact with the sick, protect themselves from disease. I think that AIDS won't spread too seriously in Poland. The schools are carried out and organize activities for children about the dangers of this type of disease, special programs teach personal hygiene and teach that we must care for us.
ReplyDeleteWith cure for AIDS/HIV problem is that, it is a viral disease. Nowadays it is even hard to determine whether viruses are living organism or not. I'm afraid that cure AIDS will be imposible even in future.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion main problem with AIDS in Africa is in education and accessibility of condoms to protect against HIV. Goverments in most Africans counties don't have money for education for people, and people don't have money for contraception. Moreover most people especially in south Africa don't even care about some birth control.
I think in Poland AIDS isn't yet huge problem, and in my opinion it will stay like this for long time, we have easy access to contraception, and we should only work at sexual education.
I'm definitely not a type of person, who could be called an optimist, but I must say that I really believe in human progress (especially in science) and I think that sooner or later we will also learn how to deal with HIV/AIDS. As it comes to Africa, you don't need to be a big philisopher to deduce that bad standards of living, lack of hygiene, special education and contraception may link somehow with their problem with AIDS. When we speak about Poland, I don't think it will spread quickly in our country, mainly because we have all these things, which I was mentioning before, but it's possible that I don't know what I'm taking about.
ReplyDeleteEach year the number of HIV / AIDS is not decreasing. People know how to catch a deadly disease, and it seems that they do not care about.
ReplyDeleteso far incurable disease is, so should be more to your health.
Doctors still are working on developing a cure for HIV. we already know where it comes from, how to protect against it. In my opinion, it is certain that one day discover a cure for HIV. It may take many years, but technology and medicine are still developing. An example would be the last use the virus HIV to fight against leukemia in a girl, which saved her life.
Africa is the region most affected by this epidemic, because there is no rules prevail. There isn't also hygienic. Our population claims that this is due to practicing sex with animals. One thing is certain, in Africa it isn't the norm to use condoms, which allows the virus to spread.
HIV can be spread in Poland if we do not follow a few simple rules. Increasing the number of zarożonych can also be caused by more people using drugs.
today, more and more schools are introduced programs that educate people from a young age about sexually transmitted diseases and safe sex. It is to prevent disease and increase the number of pregnancies at a young age.
AIDS/HIV actually was at least in one case cured. Patient with leukemia underwent full bone marrow transplant after splenectomy (removal of spleen) and full body irradiation while on thymus medication. It was extreme case, very expensive... but was a succes. There are many promising studies in medical literature dedicated to Virology and infectious disseases/pandemics. But cured only means we will know how to make someone free of HIV/AIDS, without guarantee of future contractions. Eradication of pathogen was full succes only one time in history. We eradicated smallpox. I have serious doubts about eradicating HIV
ReplyDeleteI think that in Poland we manage and via rudinamentary screening blood in blood banks we can find quite a lot of potential carriers. But it is hard to know for sure, many people still dont know even the basics. I actually met recently person, who thought that it can't be contracted in other way then homosexual male intercourse. It was imposible for me to believe. He did not know how to respond to question 'then why there are HIV invected women?'.
Africa is hard region to fight virus, because pretty much anything can carry it arround. There is waste, insects, rodents, high temperature... almost ideal constant climate for virus. Besides, many autochtonic africans are mistrusting doctors, afraid of performing experiments of them. There is also quite brutal politics involved. But in this case, I don't even have information that I am willing to trust.
I think AIDS can be cured. Medicine, biotechnology and many like these are moving so fast (I hope faster than AIDS) that I think the HIV will be defenceless in future. Now we can buy "pills" which are stopping AIDS.
ReplyDeleteWhere is poverty and the people are unaware what the AIDS is there is a AIDS problem I think. Africa is good example.
I think now AIDS can't spread in Poland because we know the risk so we use protection to be safe. AIDS can spread only in "heroins clubs" where nothing except heroin hasn't got matter.
I think HIV, AIDS will be curred in future, because medicine is still developing, new drugs are created.
ReplyDeleteAfrica became the hardest-hit region HIV because in this region there is no proper education and HIV preventions. It also depends on the fact that there is a different culture than ours. IN Poland HIV shouldn't spread. In our country is
well-developed prevention.
I think that HIV/AIDS can not be ever cured. It is truth that medicine is still developing, but I am not convinced that this disease can be in near future cured.
ReplyDeleteAfrica became the hardest-hit region by HIV/AIDS because poor living conditions, a small number of doctors per one person, a low level of knowledge about personal cleanliness and the use of contraceptives, which could protect form infection.
I do not think that in Poland HIV/AIDS can seriously spread becuse about this disease today are not afraid to speak. More and more we hear about the dangers and how to protect against it.
ReplyDeleteSub-Saharan Africa: South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda has the highest HIV-infection rate in the world. Half of all pregnant women in hospital test positive for HIV. It is about 40% HIV-positive people on this continent. There is many theories about HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. The most common theories nowadays is theory about different sexual customs in Africa. People in Africa tend to have more sexual partners then people elsewhere.
I think HIV/AIDS will be cured but not so fast, it is to big business for pharmacy...In Poland we should be prepare for more cases because of bigger migration but it is not so dangerous for us our population is no so big, we should know and be educated how to protect against it.
I think that AIDS will never be cured completely. The only effective way would be to kill all sick and infected people in a relatively short period. Such a awful genocide would solve the problem but it definitely is not a solution we are looking for. I believe scientists will invent special treatments and vaccines which help to win with the epidemy. But even if, there still will be many poor people in Africa who won't be able to be cured or won't want to be cured for some strange reasons. And unfortunately, the virus will survive. It is impossible to force everybody or to provide everybody with proper medicaments.
ReplyDeleteLately there was first registered complete cure form the HIV virus in the history (child from Mississippi). People who think that there will never be a cure for AIDS or HIV are very limited and short-sighted. Almost hundred years ago scientists were saying that 'everything is already discovered, nothing here for us to do'. And now what? We have the biggest technical and medical improvement in the history of our planet. I do believe that this terrible illness and virus in future will no longer be a danger for our population just like every other uncureable illness before that now is cured after one injection.
ReplyDeleteI think that some day we will learn how to cure people with AIDS syndrome. Even now we can largely downsize progress of disease. With respective curing carriage of HIV can never became AIDS. Of course this fact not vacate people from prophylaxis. Still there are lot myths about HIV/AIDS, people do not know the ways of infection. That's why we must educate people about prophylaxis of HIV. AIDS/HIV can be important threat for polish people - in our country sexual education hardly exist, and often young people (and not only they) do not know how to protect themselves from HIV virus.
ReplyDeleteI think that AIDS is so general in Africa because of its poverty and lack of sexual education. Poor Afrikaans can not afford medicines, referral. One of the reasons of so many numbers of infection is prostitution - women which can't find job, seeking any way to get money.
It's so hard to speak about such complicated thing like AIDS or HIV!
ReplyDelete1. Do you think that HIV/AIDS can ever be cured? - Totally no idea. I hope so and I believe in medicine.
2. Why do you think Africa became the hardest-hit region by HIV/AIDS? - Well, the standard of life and sanitation are very low, Africans don't use protection during sexual intercourses, they don't care about personal hygiene. That's the reasons.
3. Do you think that HIV/AIDS can seriously spread in Poland? Unfortunately yes. Especially if young people are not going to protect during sex, using drugs from unknown sources and neglecting personal hygiene. And if the schools will not talk about the danger of this disease. This is very important!
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