Three types of cancer are associated with HIV/AIDS. They are known as the ‘HIV-associated cancers’ or ‘AIDS-defining malignancies’. They include cervical cancer, aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Kaposi sarcoma. According to research, an infected person has 12 times chance of being diagnosed non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 500 to be diagnosed with Kaposi sarcoma while cervical cancer has a probability of 3 times being diagnosed, among women (Stacey et al. 2017).

Stages of HIV Infection

Initial Symptoms

Immunological damage

Initial Infection and asymptomatic period

Symptoms of Full Blown Stage of AIDS

During flown blown stage of AIDS, the body system is severely damaged to a point where the patient’s body can no longer fight invention of parasitic infections, bacterial, fungal and viral. Any of the infections are dangerous to the people living with AIDS especially during this stage and eventually leads to the victim’s succumbing to them (Earnshaw, Lang, Lippitt, Jin & Chaudoir 2015). The victim may also develop other symptoms such as dementia, night sweats and chronic diarrhoea.

Patient Diagnosis diagnosing a Patient with Fever and Swollen Lymph Nodes

Asymptomatic HIV infection

Incubation Period of HIV

10-12 years

Which Class of Anti-AIDS Drugs is Used to Prevent the Virus from Integrating into the Host Genome so that it can Live Indefinitely in a Dominant State Inside the Host?

Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor

Which Class of Drug Interferes with the Maturation of the Virus by Preventing a Long Nonfunctional Polypeptide from being Cut into Three Separate Functional Proteins?

Protease Inhibitor

What is the Approximate Annual Cost of Triple Combination Therapy for HIV Infection?

$15,000

Will Triple Combination Therapies be Useful in Treating HIV Infection in Developing Countries?

Triple combination therapies are useful in treating HIV, especially in third world countries. This because it increases life expectancy as well as minimizing the chances of HIV/AIDS infection.

What is the Major Limitation in the use of Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors ( NRTIs) for AIDS Treatment?

NRTIS have minimal impact on the body unless they are combined with other drugs.

References

Earnshaw, V. A., Lang, S. M., Lippitt, M., Jin, H., & Chaudoir, S. R. (2015). HIV stigma and physical health symptoms: Do social support, adaptive coping, and identity centrality act as resilience resources?. AIDS and Behavior, 19(1), 41-49.

Stacey, D., Légaré, F., Lewis, K., Barry, M. J., Bennett, C. L., Eden, K. B., … & Trevena, L. (2017). Decision aids for people facing health treatment or screening decisions. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (4).