Create a 5 page essay paper that discusses AIDS: Effects on the Immune System.The immune system that helps to protect a person’s body consists of white blood cells and antibodies that go after forei

Create a 5 page essay paper that discusses AIDS: Effects on the Immune System.

The immune system that helps to protect a person’s body consists of white blood cells and antibodies that go after foreign organisms that enter the body that could cause other diseases or illnesses. these white blood cells are CD4 lymphocytes (Gilden & Kort, 2009). These white blood cells are also the primary targets for HIV. Once the HIV virus has attached itself to these cells, it enters to cells and inserts its own genetic material. One by one, the white blood cells become copies of the HIV virus cells. Other cells in the body, such as the white blood cells that were able to avoid being copied as HIV, die off from the attack on the body. As these new virus cells break from their host cells, they look for more cells to attack, eventually nearly shutting down the entire immune system. AIDS can be transmitted in many ways, with the most common way of being sexual. A person can only be infected if the blood, semen, or vaginal secretions from an infected person enters the body of someone who is not infected. Someone who already has contracted a sexually transmitted disease has an increased chance at developing HIV or AIDS if they have sex with someone who also has the disease or another form of the sexually transmitted disease. A person can develop AIDS through blood infusions if the blood they have received is infected. However, for many years hospitals have screened and tested the blood before it is put into another body. Needle sharing or being struck accidentally with a needle that has been used in the infected blood can also pass on the disease. needle sharing is often associated with drug use, while being accidentally stuck with a needle is more associated with healthcare professionals, though this likelihood decreases each year. Organ or tissue transplants are other methods in which a person can develop AIDS, but these are extremely rare cases.