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The origin of AIDS is traced back to the Congo Basin (or Democratic Republic of Congo today) in the 1920s. The disease made its way to the United States in the 1980s. One of the cities that was hit the hardest by this epidemic was San Francisco, killing thousands. They first rushed to discuss the preventative measures that could be taken to slow the disease. Then they discovered the way the disease attacked the body. The then created pills to slow the disease that where showing promise.
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1) "Owing to the insidious nature of this virus and the fact that it
attacks the nucleus of one of the key cells in the immune response system poses a number of problems to development of a vaccine-which at this point may be as far as 10 years away." The discovery on how the disease attacks the body was essential in medical research as preventative measures were not working and a cure had to be found. -
2) "AZT and other drugs have already doubled the life
expectancy of the most vulnerable group of people who are already sick with AIDS. Aerosol pentamidine, for example, prevents pneumocystis pneumonia in 90% of infected people. Nearly 100 new AIDS drugs are being currently tested, some of which — such as GLQ-223, DDI, and DDC — show extreme promise." These are just a few of the drugs that are used into helping to slow the disease and improve life expectancy while finding a cure. -
4) "We hypothesized that the decrease in CVL in San Francisco from 2004-2008, corresponding with increased rates of HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage and effectiveness, and population-level virologic suppression, would be associated with a reduction in new HIV infections." This shows that the combination of these items recommended by medical professionals is what lead to the decrease in HIV infections.
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"The use of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) to control HIV infection has led to a dramatic reduction in HIV-related mortality, extending life expectancy among persons with HIV/AIDS to ages at which cancer incidence rapidly rises..." (3)Researches have learned that this particular way to control HIV, (which is taking multiple pills a day) is decreasing the mortality rate of HIV but it's also increasing the rate of cancer and cancer mortality rates in people that are taking this medication.
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1)Gorman, Donald. “Research and Documentation Committee.” Mobilization Against AIDS,1985, 19.
2)---Boneburg, Paul. “Fighting for an Aids Strategy of Hope.” Mobilization Against AIDS ,1989, 20. -
3) Hessol, Nancy A., Danning Ma, Susan Scheer, Ling C. Hsu, and Sandra K. Schwarcz. “Changing Temporal Trends in Non-AIDS Cancer Mortality among People Diagnosed with AIDS: San Francisco, California, 1996–2013.” Cancer Epidemiology. Elsevier, November 23, 2017. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877782117301959.
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4) Das, Moupali, Priscilla Lee Chu, Glenn-Milo Santos, Susan Scheer, Eric Vittinghoff, Willi McFarland, and Grant N Colfax. “Decreases in Community Viral Load Are Accompanied by Reductions in New HIV Infections in San Francisco.” PloS one 5, no. 6 (2010): e11068–e11068.