Chapter 2: HIV/AIDS Update: Prevention, Transmission, and Treatment, 2nd Edition (Mandatory) 3 CE Hours
By: Robyn B. Caldwell, DNP, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC Course overview The purpose of this course is to enhance healthcare providers’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS infection, including prevention, transmission, and treatment. An estimated 1.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS infection in the U.S. CDC. HIV/AIDS infection is a persistent public health problem in the U.S. and worldwide. In 2018, an estimated 36,400 new HIV infections were diagnosed. HIV Learning objectives After completing this course, the learner will be able to: Analyze the historical progression of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Examine the incidence, prevalence, and associated risks related to HIV/AIDs. Recognize the pathophysiology, screening procedures, modes of transmission and diagnostic methods for HIV/AIDS infection. Recognize populations most at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS. Introduction Approximately 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the U.S. However, about one in 8 (15%) are unaware of their status. In the U.S. in 2023, an estimated 40% of new infections were transmitted by those who were unaware of their status. Early detection reduces HIV complications and decreases the risk of transmission (Huynh & Kahwaji, 2023).
is disproportionately present in certain racial and ethnic minorities and in gay and bisexual men (HIV.gov, 2020b). It is imperative that all healthcare professionals work to prevent HIV transmission and facilitate treatment among those infected. This course provides nurses with information about HIV/AIDS incidence, prevalence, transmission, prevention, and treatments. Examine current treatment options for HIV/AIDS infection. Analyze the various opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS, including their pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, and management strategies. Evaluate preventive strategies and educational campaigns aimed at HIV infection for the public sector and healthcare workers.
HIV testing must be considered at every clinical visit across all specialties. Guiding individuals to adopt risk-free or low- risk behaviors is the best protection against HIV. Providers must strengthen comprehensive educational programs in the workplace and in their communities while working diligently to end the HIV stigma.
EVOLUTION OF THE HIV EPIDEMIC
that the virus first infected humans through butchering and consuming meat from infected monkeys and chimps. The virus is believed to enter the bloodstream of humans via cuts or wounds during hunting and butchering, and it moves into the body by eating the infected meat. Under most circumstances, the body’s immune system would have combatted the SIV. However, in some cases, the virus was able to adapt itself within its human host, where it mutated and became HIV (Avert, 2019c). Kinshasa, the site of the first recorded case of HIV confirmed by a blood test, has an extensive transportation network of roads, rivers, and railways. There was a highly migrant population and a growing sex trade that facilitated the transmission of the virus among humans. The virus spread quickly beyond Kinshasa and, ultimately, worldwide (Avert, 2019c). Although sporadic cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were documented before 1970, scientific data indicate that the current epidemic started in the mid- to late 1970s. By the time researchers and other healthcare professionals began to realize the seriousness of the infection, HIV had already spread to North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. In fact, it is estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 people may have been initially infected (Avert, 2019a).
Experts believe the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) originated in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo as early as the 1920s when HIV crossed species from chimpanzees to humans (Avert, 2019a). The first case of HIV verified from a blood sample was documented in 1959. The male patient lived in what is now Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Earlier cases involved deaths from common opportunistic infections, which are now known to be AIDS-defining. Still, the 1959 case was the earliest known instance where a blood sample confirmed HIV infection (Avert, 2019c). As HIV infection became more prevalent, researchers were under considerable pressure to determine the virus’s origin and how humans acquired it. They noted that HIV attacks the immune system in a way that is similar to how the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) attacks the immune systems of monkeys and apes. Research shows that HIV is related to SIV. HIV-1 is closely related to a strain of SIV found in chimpanzees, and HIV-2 is closely related to a strain of SIV found in monkeys. The two SIV strains combined to form a third virus—SIVcpz—that could be passed on to other chimps as well as humans (Avert, 2019c). In 1999, researchers found that SIVcpz was nearly identical to HIV in humans. Now the researchers were challenged with determining how the virus crossed species from chimps to humans. After extensive study, scientists concluded
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Book Code: MMD0926
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