Teratogens+-+AIDS

=**Teratogens - AIDS** =

__**Introduction: What is AIDS?**__
A teratogen is an agent that interferes with the normal development of a fetus or embryo. In Greek the word Teratogen means "monster forming". An example of a teratogen is AIDS, also known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is the final stage of a disease called Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Most people hear about these two diseases linked together, since AIDS is caused from HIV.
 * //HIV//: Human immunodeficiency virus is an infection that attacks the immune system. Our immune system fights off bacteria and infections in the body, so HIV eventually makes it so that the body cannot fight against infections any longer. This way, people can contract not only small viruses and infections but life-threatening illnesses much more easily. HIV can be contracted when bodily fluids are exchanged, mostly through sexual contact, blood, and from mother to child through nursing or before the baby is born. What is really scary about HIV is that symptoms for the virus might now show symptoms for about ten years, but can still transmit the virus to someone else.
 * Symptoms of HIV usually come from a different infection in the body and include:
 * Diarrhea
 * Fatigue
 * Fever
 * Frequent vaginal yeast infections
 * Headache
 * Muscle stiffness/aching
 * Rashes
 * Sore throat
 * Swollen lymph glands
 * //AIDS//: AIDS is the final stage of HIV; most people get to this final stage if they let HIV go untreated. AIDS can be transmitted to other people the same way as HIV. Flu-like symptoms are very common with AIDS, as are some of the symptoms associated with HIV.

**__HIV/AIDS Fast Facts/Videos__**
media type="youtube" key="RI7p7zlfEi8" height="315" width="420" <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">//This video is mini-documentary about a woman named Veronica and her daughter, HIV-positive, and her son, HIV-negative. Veronica discusses the effects of HIV/AIDS on her children and how they deal with everyday life. Although this video does not fully explain HIV/AIDS as a teratogen, it does show how the disease affects the lives of young children when they contract it.//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among people ages 25-44 in the United States.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The World Health Organization estimates that more than 25 million people worldwide have died from AIDS since it first was prominent.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In 2008, there were about 33.4 million people around the world who had HIV/AIDS, including 2.1 million children under the age of 15.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">An HIV-positive mother who is not being treated for her condition has a 25% chance of passing it onto her baby.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**__HIV/AIDS as a Teratogen__**

 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">HIV/AIDS can be transmitted to a fetus or newborn baby from their mother in a variety of ways. The most common are during birth and breast-feeding.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">9 out of 10 children that are infected with HIV became infected through their mother during her pregnancy, labor, or during breastfeeding.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A fetus infected with HIV and/or AIDS is terrible, but the effects of the mother taking her AZT medicine makes the situation even worse.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">AZT, which is a medicine that helps to slow HIV has the following effects on developing infants:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">misshapen heads
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">extra fingers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">triangular faces
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">albinism
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">misplaced ears
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">cavities in the chest
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">webbed fingers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">anemia
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">chromosomal damage
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">These deformities can sometimes result in the mother having to abort the fetus.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">AIDS can sometimes cause the mother to abort the baby. Doctors try to reduce the virus levels in the mother's blood and remove the child by caesarian can reduce the risk of the baby becoming infected. ([])

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__**Cure?**__
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">There is not cure for AIDS but there are medications that help your immune system function more efficiently. These medications also help to slow down the effects of the disease. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Types of Mediactions are: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">([])
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTI): These medications interrupt the medication from duplicating which may delay the spread of the virus.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Protease Inhibitors (PI): These drugs interrupt the duplication at a later step in the virus life cycle.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Fusion Inhibitors: Prevents the virus from fusing with the inside of a cell, which keeps it from duplicating.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Highly Active Antiretrovial Therapy (HAART): A mixture of different types of drugs which slow the rate of which the virus replicates itself.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Nnon-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTI): Block the infection of new cells by the virus.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">To learn more about HIV/AIDS that you haven't read here, then [|follow this link.] To learn more about HIV/AIDS specifically as a teratogen, then [|follow this link.]

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__Sources:__
> (2011). HIV/AIDS. //Mayo Clinic.// Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hiv-aids/DS00005.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">(2010). Aids. //The New York Times.// Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/aids/overview.html.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">(2011). Children, HIV and AIDS. //AVERT: AVERTing HIV and AIDS.// Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.avert.org/children.htm.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Pregnancy and Childbirth. //AIDS.gov.// Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/prevention/reduce-your-risk/pregnancy-and-childbirth/.