Medeles 1

Mario Medeles

Ms Smith

English 11 Period 2

11/7/16

First Aid for AIDS

HIV/AIDS has plagued the world for the past century, becoming one of the most deadly diseases

in the world. Yet, not enough attention is given to it. The CDC and world governments choose to focus on

other diseases and issues even though it is the epidemic of this century. HIV/AIDS is stereotypically a

disease spread amongst gays. Contrary to popular belief it is found amongst children, women, and

heterosexual men. To solve this epidemic, there needs to be a combination of education, medical

advancement, government policies, and spread of social awareness.

The issue with HIV/AIDS is the lack of education of it in our society. A study conducted in

Botswana showed that 80% of children had a concept of what AIDS is, 78% knew what condoms were,

and 45% knew about HIV. Though the children knew about the disease and condoms, there were

misconceptions; children believed that condoms actually caused the disease. The countries hit hardest by

AIDS are the ones that do not have a decent education system. First world countries do not have as big a

problem with AIDS as third world countries like Africa. The average level of education correlates almost

perfectly with the rate of infection of HIV/AIDS. People who are educated have a much lower chance of

getting AIDS. Sex is a natural part of being human, but with an epidemic like this precautions must be

taken. If everyone in the world were properly educated on HIV/AIDS the rate of infection would drop

severely. Sadly, dropping the rate of infection does nothing to help those already coping with the disease.

The reason HIV/AIDS is so deadly is its ability to shut down the human immune system and a

person more susceptible to other diseases. Due to the immune system being shut down there is nothing to

fight against other diseases making them substantially more lethal. Currently there is no official cure for

HIV/AIDS, however there is treatment. Antiretroviral Therapy, or ART, is the use of several antiretroviral

medicines to slow the spread of the virus in an already infected body. ART does not stop or remove the
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disease, but it adds as much as five years to someones life. There are efforts to eradicate the disease

around the world, such as the development of a new gene-editing method known as Cas9 or CRISPR

(Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). What distinguishes CRISPR is its

effectiveness and inexpensiveness. A test done with lab rats showed that CRISPR has the potential to

entirely remove up to 50% of the HIV/AIDS virus from those fully infected by it. Though effective it is

still not a true cure for the disease, CRISPR requires development to be able to eradicate the HIV/AIDS

virus. In short, there needs to be more government funds put toward medical research, more specifically

for AIDS.

The world is in a political era. If an issue arises in the world, governments must address it. The

people alone cannot solve global issues. Governments must provide support, regulations, and laws to face

the problem at hand. Recently the Obama Administration released a 4 year plan to address AIDS in the

United States. It involves spreading awareness of the disease and giving support to communities. It seems

great, but more needs to be done. The technology is there, devoted scientists are ready, the only thing

lacking is funds. In the span of a few decades, with the proper attention, the HIV/AIDS virus could be

eliminated. Not only should the U.S be putting effort, but the likes of the U.N, W.H.O, and other super-

power countries should have their attention shifted to HIV/AIDS.

The world is so focused on the war on terror and racial tensions that issues like AIDS have been

overshadowed. People need to be reminded that there is an epidemic to be addressed. Those issues may

be important but there is simply too much attention given to them. Go back to 1981; AIDS had just been

discovered, the world was shaken by the potential of this disease. In only a matter of decades the world

has forgotten about HIV/AIDS. It takes a loved one to be stricken by the disease for people to be

reminded that it still exists. This cannot be allowed to happen, more than enough lives have been

devastated by HIV/AIDS.

It has historically been proven that through global efforts anything can be accomplished. Though

HIV/AIDS is deadly through global effort it can be eradicated. There may be other diseases that should be

cured, but the resources are not at hand. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a current issue that is ready to be
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dealt with. Medical advancement is happening at a phenomenal rate, the methods are being developed.

With the support of the government and the education of people, this horrendous disease can be

eliminated.

Annotated Bibliography

Plattner, Ilse Elisabeth. "Children's Conceptions Of AIDS, HIV And Condoms: A Study From Botswana."

AIDS Care 25.11 (2013): 1418-1425. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

A study conducted in Botswana on 75 children between four and seven years old. The children

had to draw something related to HIV/AIDS and then were asked to tell a story in regards to HIV/AIDS

and condoms. Most of the children had this misconception that condoms actually caused AIDS. It is
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shocking to see that children of such a young age could have this misconception. Improper education at a

young age is what makes the matter worse.

Khalili, Kamel, et al. "Genome Editing Strategies: Potential Tools For Eradicating HIV-1/AIDS." Journal

Of Neurovirology 21.3 (2015): 310-321. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

Scientists around the world are making breakthroughs in genetic engineering, they have

developed ways of editing certain parts of a cell's DNA to fix any issues with the cell and even improve it.

Methods such as Cas9/CRISPR, ZFN, and TALEN are already being experimented with, the reason it is

relevant to AIDS is that AIDS attacks the DNA of a cell. By being able to have perfected methods to edit

DNA you can potentially cure HIV/AIDS.

"Executive Order 13703-Implementing The National HIV/AIDS Strategy For The United States

For 20152020." Daily Compilation Of Presidential Documents (2015): 1-5. History Reference Center.

Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

Gray, Glenda E., et al. "Which New Health Technologies Do We Need To Achieve An End To

HIV/AIDS?." Plos Biology 14.3 (2016): 1-14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

Kaczmarczyk, Lech, et al. "Manipulating The Prion Protein Gene Sequence And Expression

Levels With CRISPR/Cas9." Plos ONE 11.4 (2016): 1-20. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.