The Epidemiology of People with HIV/AIDS (Essay Sample)

The Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS
Name
Institution
The Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS
Introduction
The Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome HIV/AIDS is a dynamic disease in the United States and the world whereby the trends of infections change over time. The virus initially started to be diagnosed among the gay populations until later when the situation changed, and “regular” people were also diagnosed with it. The attitude towards it has also evolved over time, and more serious survival measures are in place.
The Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS
The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) first showed up in the San Francisco and Los Angeles among young gay men. It was first seen in the young homosexual women in 1981 after which different on-gay people showed symptoms of severe immune deficiency. Among them were patients of hemophilia and those who received blood transfusions. It was called Gay Related Immunodeficiency Syndrome (GRIDS) (Osmond, 2003). The first case of HIV in the United States that was confirmed clinically was with a young black man who exhibited the syndrome of the virus in 1968. The highest number of HIV-related deaths was witnessed in 1995 whereby the number was at 50,877 in the United States alone.
The Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome HIV/AIDS became a condition of demographic diversity, no longer affecting the gay and white populations and men alone. Only 8% of women were reported to having the virus in 1995. The number rose to 21% in 1996 and has continued to rise since (Osmond, 2003). By the end of 2003, 1,185,000 United States residents had the virus whereby about 27% did not know they were infected (CDC, 2006). The disease control measures that the US put between 1991 and 1998 decreased the cases of HIV transmission by 47%. Between 1981 and 1995, the races that were most affected by the virus were the Hispanic-white populations of the United States (Moore, 2011). However, the statistics changed when the non-Hispanic-black populations made up 50% of the HIV-related cases between 2001 and 2004 (CDC, 2006).
Numerous measures exist to contain the HIV menace. However, the minority races such are still the most affected. The difference in the survival of the victims depends on their accessibility to health care and late diagnosis. Programs such as HAART are up to reduce the transmission of the virus, and they have succeeded (Gov, 2012). Accurate surveillance methods such as the gathering of laboratory information from clinics are also in place to determine the trends in the virus infections and people’s behaviors (B.H. Women, 2012).
Conclusion
The HIV virus is more under control today than it was twenty-five years ago in the United States. Despite that, Popu...