Kwanza Definition: AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. The condition of the body in which its defence system is compromised so that it is not able to protect itself from infection.

So how does HIV cause this condition. Now in a normal body there are things called white blood cells (there are several types of these lakini I don't feel like going into the details for now) which are like the askaris of the body. They arrest any bad guys that try to get into the body. You are in a crowded matatu and some guy with TB keeps coughing and releasing the TB Bacteria into the air which you breath in but you don't develop TB. As soon as the TB bacteria gets in your throat or in your lungs where it would begin to multiply and cause problems these Askaris come and arrest it, beat it up and take it to Kamiti (Lymph Nodes) where they destroy it. Every day these blood Askaris take care of bad guys that come through all sorts of routes lungs, stomach (umekula Nyama imeoza kidogo), skin (Umesalimiana na mikono hujui zilikuwa wapi) etc. You get exposed to infectious agents every minute of every day but when you have healthy White blood cells (good askaris) you don't notice it and you go about life kama kawaida posting on Wazua, organising mbuzi parties, looking for airports to land your pine tree etc.

HIV (Human Imunodefficiency Virus) is a little useless virus that actually does not cause any disease on its own. What it does however is that it targets the Askari white blood cells that keep bad guys away from your body. The virus attaches itself to some of the white blood cells so that they are not able to perform the function of fighting off infection. So as explained above the next time you are in a matatu and someone coughs TB in your face. The TB bacteria goes straight into the lungs and since hakuna mtu inaziuliza it sets up house and starts reproducing. Unapata TB. Meanwhile some fungus nazo zinaanza kumea kwa matumbo na unaanza kuhara. Bacteria zingine nazo zinaanza kuvamia your skin and you have all these vidondas. There are always infectious material everywhere you go and as soon as you don't have defence ni kama zinaitana zote. Pneumonia ndiyo hiyo, Herpes Zoster, Fungal infections zote zinakuvamia. Sasa Hapo ndipo tunasema una UKIMWI (Ukosefu wa Kinga Mwilini a.k.a AIDS.

@kusadikika...

Interesting.So how do ARVs work?

ARVs,apart from modifying the natural history of HIV infection.It is used to reduce infections after exposure-occupationa,nonoccupational and Mother-child.

As far as my knowledge tells me, HIV is unable to outside of body fluids, even for a second, hence they kick the bucket immediately a mosquito ingests blood.

@masukuma
===This trend of googling everything is producing people who cannot critically think because of hitting the copy+paste *magical button*====

Some facts on this dreaded pandemic caused by a rather simple virus called HIV, which i prefer to call the master of disguise. For the last 26 years scientists have battled this virus which remains elusive as a result of many factors but what stands out most is its ability to induce a vicious cycle of generating its substrates which it re-infects again and again until the immune system is exhausted and when it cannot fight anymore. At that point the immune system is overwhelmed AIDS defining ailments set in and no going back. That is why knowing your HIV status is a good thing.

The battle to combat HIV has been long and it is going to take many more years to contain this pandemic which is the worst ever of our times. However,all is not lost and we are making good progress in as far as creating a situation where you can live with the virus just as long as God wanted you to live. Through zinc finger nuclease gene-editing technology it possible to harvest un-infected CD4-positive T-cells from a patient and knock out the co-receptor (CCR5) that HIV prefers to use early in infection to enter the cell,then grow the cells in culture to a certain level and put them back to the same patient. Equally important is the fact that the body cannot reject what it is its own so no expensive medication unlike other transplants. This research work is informed by groups of people who have a genetic advantage and HIV bounces of even when it has the opportunity to establish a productive infection.

In Kenya though this technology is quite expensive it can only apply to the patient with subtype A but not subtype D,since the later uses a different coreceptor very early in infection. In addition to being very aggressive. Infection with subtype D is responsible for the faster progression to death in some patients. Have you ever wondered why some people die of HIV so fast and others exhibit mental disturbances (HIV associated Dementia),it is this subtype D which is responsible. Its also important to note that it has a highway-corridor which extends from Mombasa deep into Congo. So,as we spend days and nights searching for the ever elusive vaccine for HIV,beware of this deadly pandemic. Male circumcision reduces the chances of contracting the virus by upto 66%; this may explain why the ratio of infected men:women in communities that face the knife is lower than those that do not. Although other factors for instance progestin and progesterol which are women specific hormones have much more role in induction of the state of chronic immune activation which is an independent predictor of progression to AIDS.

I have to emphasize that not all encounters with causes a productive infection but no one should take chances. For the moment what we need most is putting all the human beings...i mean all human beings requiring ARVs on HAART,i understand in Kenya about 60% of those requiring these medications cannot access them.

There is also some very good news. Some people from Kenya have a truncated protein (CCR5) and can never get infection. The frequency is very low and the truncation (deletion of 6 critical amino acids) while for caucasians have (deletion of 32bp) with the later having been studied conclusively. With this sort of truncation most of the HIV strains that seed infection early in infection bounce of for homozygotes and are less efficient for heterozygotes. The study is still in its early stages..... more details later.

On this project i am collaborating with IT gurus who think, drink & eat ALGORITHMS. Make no mistake, one of them has written an algorithm that converts water into food. We need real thinkers not *google copy-cats*, originality breeds inventions.

hi broski...u seem rather well versed on this topic...KTN did a story abt HIV...seems like white folk(wazungu) dont contract as easily as us black folk..why is this? is this true?

@BGL...from your many posts, you seem to work in a hospital...ama you raised the topic to educate the masses?

@Wazua
I suggested sometime back for a thinkers room,the above post would be the resultant of such a forum. It would be a forum where we discuss critical issues on a very informed level that affect/benefit all of us..I can give you guidelines just ask.