Ritika R - ECOL409 Padlet by https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk en-us 2023-03-20 16:59:52 UTC 2023-05-04 06:53:49 UTC hello@padlet.com Week 1 Assignment ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2523975315 Common Name: HIV or AIDS
Scientific Name: Human immunodeficiency virus 
The genus is classified as a lentivirus, and there are two species of HIV that are known (HIV-1 & HIV-2).

]]> 2023-03-20 17:13:26 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2523975315 Week 2 Assignment ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2532566179 A) The earliest known HIV infection was found in a blood sample in 1959 from a man in the Belgian Congo ( known as Kinshasa back then). 

B) The infectious agent in AIDS : for HIV-1 is a retrovirus. HIV-2 is another type of virus that is distantly related to HIV-1.

C) HIV is zoonotic. A zoonotic disease is an infection that is spread between species: animals to humans or vice versa. HIV-1 & HIV-2 are the result of virus transfer from primates in Africa to humans. 

Sources: 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3234451/#

https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/animal/zoo/index.html#:~:text=IDEPC%20Comment%20Form-,Zoonotic%20Diseases%3A,or%20from%20humans%20to%20animals).

https://www.ecohealthalliance.org/2017/12/world-aids-day#:~:text=To%20date%2C%20the%20earliest%20known,was%20then%20the%20Belgian%20Congo.



]]> 2023-03-27 06:16:43 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2532566179 Week 3 Assignment ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2541816684 A) HIV has basically spread to all regions of the world. Africa has the most people living with HIV, but Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America has seen the spread of HIV.

B) 1981: first case identified. 
Here's a link charting the timeline of HIV spread from the 1990s to 2019. This chart includes new infections and deaths. And another chart, illustrating the proposed time when HIV spread to different parts of the world. 

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-and-new-cases-of-hiv

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Global-evolution-and-chronology-of-events-of-spread-of-the-HIV-1-group-M-subtypes_fig4_361060907

C) In total, 84.2 million people have been infected with HIV. 40.1 million people have died from HIV infection. At the end of 2021, 38.4 million people were living with HIV. 

D) map of the entire world detection:

https://reliefweb.int/map/world/world-percentage-patients-known-hiv-status-country-2012-8-nov-2013

US map photo is at top of post!


]]> 2023-04-03 05:59:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2541816684 Week 4 ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2548142401 A) HIV is pretty virulent. The virus enters a cell named CD4 and replicates its genome. This replication causes the cell to die and release virus particles that can infect other cells. HIV ends up killing the immune system cells of the body. This can be deadly as the host body cannot fight off disease/ infection. When the number of CD4 cells of a patient are below 200, then that person is said to have AIDS. However, advances in technology have allowed HIV+ patients to live normal lives and not succumb to the virus.
B) A research article I found suggests that HIV-1 virulence has increased since the start of the epidemic based upon CD4+ T cell trends. This paper suggests that there is increasing rates of disease progression and increased transmission risk. Authors note that this may be due to evolution of the virus to the human population but note that it is also possible for confounding variables to affect the results. 
C) Virulence as defined by the class lectures as "the harm done by a pathogen to the host following an infection" as well as "a relative term describing severity of disease". ]]> 2023-04-09 21:59:30 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2548142401 Week 4 ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2548144759 A) HIV is pretty virulent. The virus enters a cell named CD4 and replicates its genome. This replication causes the cell to die and release virus particles that can infect other cells. HIV ends up killing the immune system cells of the body. This can be deadly as the host body cannot fight off disease/ infection. When the number of CD4 cells of a patient are below 200, then that person is said to have AIDS. However, advances in technology have allowed HIV+ patients to live normal lives and not succumb to the virus. 
B) A research article I found suggests that HIV-1 virulence has increased since the start of the epidemic based upon CD4+ T cell trends. This paper suggests that there is increasing rates of disease progression and increased transmission risk. Authors note that this may be due to evolution of the virus to the human population but note that it is also possible for confounding variables to affect the results. 
C) Virulence as defined by the class lectures as "the harm done by a pathogen to the host following an infection" as well as "a relative term describing severity of disease". ]]> 2023-04-09 22:08:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2548144759 Week 5 Assignment ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2556065626 A) The CDC released "universal precautions" such as wearing proper protective attire and safe needle disposal. By 1982, the FDA licensed a commercial blood test(ELISA) to detect HIV. In 1986, the US Surgeon General released the "General's Report on AIDS" and in 1987 , the CDC released "America Responds to AIDS". Both documents aimed to educate the population and encourage preventive measures. In 1983, UCSF and SFO public health department worked together to create Ward 5B, one of the first inpatient AIDS units. Some healthcare workers avoided HIV/AIDS patients due to fear or homophobia. 
B) While there is no cure to HIV, there are medical treatments to help control the disease. HIV treatment were created  to reduce the amount of viral load in a patients body. ART (antiretroviral therapy) is recommended to anyone suffering from HIV. Some of the developed HIV medications block the enzymes required for HIV replication, these include NRTIs (Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors), NNRTIs (Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors), integrase inhibitors and protease inhibitors. Others mess with the virus's ability to infect CD4 cells, these include fusion inhibitors, CCR5 antagonists & post attachment inhibitors and attachment inhibitors. Along with this treatment, better HIV screening methods and campaigns for safer sex were utilized to combat the disease. 
C) New technologies are still being studied to better diagnose and treat HIV. Nanotechnology, microfluidics, next-generation sequencing and machine learning are all currently being researched to better fight the epidemic. Gene therapy is also being studied as HIV treatment. With gene therapy a one-time injection may be a sufficient treatment. This would be a breakthrough as most HIV patients need to take multiple pills. 

]]> 2023-04-16 23:44:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2556065626 Week 6 Assignment ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2565041528 A) While the CDC and health systems reacted to HIV, the US government was largely silent. President Reagan publicly mentioned AIDS for the first time in 1985 (4 years after the start of the epidemic). News outlets were also reluctant to cover the HIV crisis. When asked about AIDS during a press conference, Regan's press secretary avoided the question and instead made a queer joke. The federal government was also not too keen in research funding. The first funding for HIV needed to be coupled with 2 other conditions in a Public Health Emergency Trust Fund. Regan also cut budgets to the CDC and NIH. Thus state and local leaders were forced to take matters into their own hands. 

B) Here are some of the initiatives implemented:
- In 1985, men that had sex with men were banned from donating blood. Restrictions were lowered in 2015 and furthered loosened in 2020 after blood shortages from COVID-19. 
-In 1987, the US placed travel bans on people with HIV (ban was lifted in 2010 by Obama) 
- The US gov was against funding needle exchange programs (because of war on drugs). However this was shown to reduce HIV transmission. 

C) Leadership could have reacted earlier instead of ignoring the problem. Newspapers could have reported it earlier too. The government could have taken the role of calming hysteria and discouraging homophobia, instead of fueling it. They also could have listened better to health professionals and provided funding to the appropriate organizations. All these actions could have prevented more Americans from getting HIV and possibly reduced global spread as well.]]> 2023-04-24 02:40:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2565041528 Week 7 ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2577826741 A) Other than the expected homophobia and stigmatization of certain groups, AIDs also had social effects. People with AIDs have higher unemployment rates, education levels and lower overall mental and physical health compared to the general population. These struggles often mean AIDs patients are at a lower socioeconomic status which can further affect family and other relationships. In a global scale, economic growth and development are impacted in countries with high AIDs rate. 
B) Yes, society behaviors did change. Due to fear, homophobia rose. Also friends and family members of patients with HIV tended to keep distance and act differently once a person was diagnosed (stigma has decreased now). People with HIV unfortunately weren't welcome in most places (ex: Ryan White being banned from attending school). There was also movements from activist groups for better funding and education.
C) Yes, society "learned" from the physical effects of the disease. Since untreated AIDS can cause death, people are more keen on prevention. There has been advocacy on safe sex practices and efforts to educate people about needle sharing. ]]> 2023-05-04 06:40:08 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2577826741 Final Padlet Reflection ritikar1 https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2577842745 A) The most revealing aspect about HIV in my research was the government's response. The government remained silent about the epidemic and even went as far as cutting funding for research. This really shocked me and numerous articles I read cited the impact on spread due to these actions.
B) The possibilities in the future for HIV treatment really surprised me. While current treatment is lifelong intake of various medications that reduce viral load, current research hints at cures. Such as gene therapy and gene editing (though this has already been done with CRISPR/CAS9 in China). There is also nanotechnology and microfluids being researched. 
C) I'm not too sure, I feel like the padlet questions were a good guideline and allowed thorough research on the disease of choice. However, for me specifically it was hard to find articles discussing initial responses and events in the 1980s initial AIDS spread. Most articles were written in a reflective tone of AIDS progress throughout the years. 
]]> 2023-05-04 06:53:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ritikar1/4gqed0hi6bj9qzqk/wish/2577842745