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19 Feb 2022 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Posted at 11:36h in Daily current-affairs by khyati khare 0 Comments

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Recently, an American woman with leukemia has become the first woman (third such case in the world) to be cured of HIV through a donor-derived stem cell transplant. This donor was naturally resistant to the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) virus.
Leukemia is a blood cancer caused by an increase in the number of white blood cells in the body.
It is a group of symptoms or syndromes caused by HIV but not necessarily that a person infected with HIV will definitely get AIDS.

HIV attacks CD-4, a type of white blood cell (T-cell) in the body’s immune system.
T-cells are cells that move around the body to detect abnormalities and infections in cells.
After entering the body, the number of HIV virus increases rapidly and it begins to destroy CD-4 cells, thus seriously harming the human immune system.
Once this virus has entered the body it can never be removed.
There is a significant reduction in the CD-4 cells of a person infected with HIV. It is known that the number of these cells in the body of a healthy person is between 500-1600, but in people infected with HIV, the number of CD-4 cells can go below 200.

According to the India HIV Estimation 2019 report, the trend of estimated adult (15 to 49 years) HIV prevalence in India has been declining since the peak of the epidemic in 2000 and has remained stable in recent years.
The prevalence of HIV among adult males was estimated at 0.24% and among adult females at 0.20% in the year 2019.
In the year 2019, 23.48 lakh Indians were infected with HIV and their number was highest in Maharashtra followed by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Stem cells are specialized cells that can replicate themselves and transform into different types of cells that the body needs. They have two unique qualities that enable them to do so.:
They can repeatedly divide to form new cells.
After dividing, they can transform into other types of cells to form the body.
There are many types of stem cells and they are found in different parts of the body at different times.
Cancer and its treatment can damage hematopoietic stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells are stem cells that transform into blood cells.

Research: It helps to understand the basic biology of how living things work and what happens to different types of cells during disease.
Therapy- to replace lost or damaged cells that the body cannot naturally replace.

Stem cell transplant is a medical method that replaces one’s stem cells with healthy cells. Replacement cells can be taken either from the person’s own body or from another person.
Bone marrow transplant is also called stem cell transplant or hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
Transplants can be used to treat certain types of cancer, such as leukemia, myeloma, and lymphoma, and other blood and immune system diseases that affect the bone marrow.