AIDS-related Paradox
What’s probably the worst, social consequence of AIDS has always looked like a bitter irony to me; you could even say it’s funny, if we weren’t talking about such a terrible disease. In a nutshell, ignorant bastards (and, sadly, there are plenty of them out there), whenever they meet a person known to have been infected with HIV, start to take the same precautions you’d need to bear in mind when having to do with leprosy. Stupid as it may sound, they believe AIDS to be the sort of infectious disease that spreads through the air. Not to mention how scared they look even when they only consider the possibility of shaking hands or drinking from the same glass. What makes me smile is that the only people who should try to avoid contact with the others are immunocompromised individuals, because, of course, they are progressively losing all their defences against even the least dangerous illness. That’s the same reason why no one dies of AIDS or HIV-infection, strictly speaking: they are killed by an increasing number of different diseases which can easily spread in an organism that is shunting down all his defences. And the more under pressure the (few) remaining defences the person are, the easier new infections spread. Until there’s nothing left against them and the organism succumbs.
A mucosal candidiasis can be a nuisance for a normal individuals, but it turns into an endless nightmare if you body can’t stop its development. That’s why fluconazole becomes as familiar as AZT to people suffering from AIDS, being used even for prophylaxis against candidiasis.
Although the patient is being administered a considerable amount of antiviral medications, these aren’t sufficient to prevent or tackle cytomegalovirus infections: so, ganciclovir is employed to treat CMV-related pneumonia and intravitreal injections of fomivirsen help with retinitis. Cidofovir, on the other hand, is another antiviral drug, which is chosen every time a polyomavirus-related progressive, multifocal, leukoencephalopathy syndrome is detected.
Nothing, though, is more characteristic than AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma, which would otherwise be a really uncommon tumour. The reason why it’s so common is still unknown and, perhaps, this could help better understand the mechanisms involved in the HIV infectious cycle and AIDS itself. Paclitaxel is the best treatment for this particular neoplasm to date.
There are other, general, phenomena that mark the critical phase of AIDS: fever, weight loss, lymphadenopathies and catastrophic diarrhea. For the last issue, somatostatin is often used.
Last but not least, there’s another, predictable and sometimes lethal, common complication which is faced once the patient is aware of his situation: depression. The mechanisms involved are yet to be fully understand, and this is certainly not the sole effect of AIDS on the central nervous system. Actually neurologic disorders can be the first manifestation of the viral infection..
Drugs with mild, anticholinergic properties, such as buspirone or trazodone, are the most used antidepressants in this context.
To sum up, healthy people are an incredibly more dangerous threat to infected ones than vice versa. Far and away.
In the early days of the AIDS epidemic people were dying of diseases that usually affect cats or sheep. It was horrifying. I watched a great true-life based movie on the beginning of the epidemic and how social prejudices prevented timely action that could have saved millions. It's called "And the band played on". Based on a book. Available on Amazon.
Good Post
I liked your post. I actually stumbled upon this page by accident-- I was confirming my intuition that nalidixic acid was the precursor to the fluoroquinolones....Good stuff!!