Jordan SchneiderSocial Issues 2˚

Research Benchmark 1

I. IDENTIFICATION:1. HIV stands for Human Immunode!ciency Virus and AIDS stands for Acquired

Immunode!ciency Syndrome. AIDS was !rst clinically observed between late 1980 and early 1981 in injection drug users and gay men. In 1983 two separate research groups, one lead by Robert Gallo and the other by Luc Montagnier, declared that AIDS was caused by some sort of retrovirus. Montagnier’s group isolated a virus in an AIDS patient naming it lymphadenopathy-Associated virus (LAV), Gallo’s group named the strand they isolated Human T-lymphotropic Virus III (HTLV-III). In 2008 Montagnier received half of the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for “e discovery of the Human Immunode!ciency Virus”.5

2. HIV is a lentivirus (a family of virus’ that causes AIDS) which attacks the immune sysytem4. AIDS is a more advanced form of HIV and occurs when the immune system is crippled so severely by HIV that it allows for other life-threatening conditions to enter and occupy the body.4

3. HIV has a high genetic variability brought on by its fast replication (about 1010 virons per day). is leads to many strains of HIV virus in a single person.2

4. It is widely accepted that HIV is a mutated form of Simian Immunode!ciency Virus (SIV) which transferred to humans in Africa approximately 100 years ago.1

5. HIV can only effect and be carried by humans as it is the Human Immunode!ciency Virus, however, there are other lentivirus’ such as Simian Immunode!ciency Virus which can also lead to AIDS.2

II. DEMOGRAPHICS:

1. HIV and AIDS are ubiquitous, however, AIDS was !rst clinically observed in San Francisco and New York in the early 1980s.1

2. HIV, which is considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), affects 0.6% of the world’s population and has killed in excess of 25 million people.6

3. Nobody is immune to HIV, however, people who share a certain pair of mutated genes are highly resistant to the AIDS virus. ese genetic mutations have been traced back the medieval times and is attributed to a mutation protecting people from Small Pox and the Bubonic Plague; these mutations are more common among people Northern European and Central Asian descent.3

III. IMPACT:

1. According to the WHO were approximately 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS.6 HIV/AIDS caused 3.1% of all deaths in 20086 and is considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization. 2001 the United Nations declared  in a general assembly that HIV/AIDs is a global catastrophe which requires global commitment to !ght.

2. HIV/AIDS has made indiscriminate sex extremely dangerous, it has become a shadow over modern society as it has no cure and can shorten one's lifespan to a shocking degree.1

1. Pisani, E. (2011, September 3). HIV. New Scientist, 211(2828), i-8.2. Rambaut, A., Posada, D., Crandall, K.A., & Holmes, E.C. (2004, January). e Causes and

Consequences of HIV Evolution. Nature, 5, 52-613. Dotinga, R. (2005, July 01). Genetic HIV Resistance Deciphered. Retrieved from

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2005/01/66198?currentPage=all4. Stein, J. M. (1975). e random house college dictionary. (Revised ed., Vol. 1). New York, NY: Random

House Reference5. e Nobel Foundation. (2012, February 28). e Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008. Retrieved

from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/index.html6. World Health Organization. (2011, June).  World Health Organization Fact Sheets.  Retrieved from

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/index.html