IMMUNITY vs HIV and AIDS

                                          MEET OUR IMMUNE CELLS..

An adult human being has about 1 - 1.5 gallon of blood in his body. And as we know the three main components of blood are :

1. Erythrocytes ( RED BLOOD CELLS)

2. Leucocytes ( WHITE BLOOD CELLS)

3. Blood platelets 

White blood cells are the cells of the IMMUNE SYSTEM that helps in defending our body against diseases.

There are basically two types of WBC's in our body -

1. Granulocytes ( Appear to have stained granules )  

2. Agranulocytes ( Absence of granules )

Granulocytes are phagocytic in nature , there are three types of granulocytes in our body -

1. Neutrophils - defends us against bacterial and fungal infections 
2. Eosinophils - primarily deals with parasitic infections and plays a dominant role as inflammatory cells in allergic conditions.
3. Basophils - chiefly responsible for short - term inflammatory responses like allergies

Agranulocytes are also called mononuclear leukocytes, there are two types of agranulocytes

1. Lymphocytes - there are 3 main subdivisions in lymphocytes , which are as follows

• B- lymphocytes - produce antibody
• 
  T- lymphocytes - active immune response by secreting chemicals
• Natural killer (NK cells ) - These are involved in killing viruses and infected and tumour cells.

     2. Monocytes ( largest WBC)- They transform into macrophages and dendritic cells , which are involved in killing up debris and dead cells as well as killing foreign organisms like bacteria and fungi. 

• 
  Macrophages : involved in killing process
• Dendritic cells : creates memory cells 
  

                                     

 

                                                     HIV AND AIDS ..

The full form of HIV is Human Immunodeficiency Virus whereas the full form AIDS is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ( here syndrome means collection of diseases and disorders ) . First , we should know what is the difference between HIV and AIDS..

AIDS can be referred as the last stage of getting infected by HIV virus in which our body almost loses all its ability to fight the foreign invaders and becomes very weak . When a person has HIV in his body then other opportunistic  infections take advantage of it and weakens our body . 

Normal functioning of immune cells in our body ..

Just above , we saw that HELPER T CELLS helps to active our immune system. Basically, these cells secrete certain chemicals that do two broad tasks, 

1. To inform other white blood cells to come at the site of infection and do their work
2. To increase the rate of division of other white blood cells in order to increase their effect.

What happens when HIV enters our body ..

When HIV enters our body, it attacks the HELPER T CELLS and no other white blood cell. The virus moves inside the T cells and hijacks its nucleus . Then through m-RNA it gives the instruction to the nucleus of the cell to make multiple copies of the virus , these then move out of the T cell and the T cell finally gets destroyed . 

This advantage of the absence of T cells is taken by other opportunistic bacterial or fungal diseases. 

As a result of which  even a small headache can lead to meningitis or a simple cold can lead to pneumonia or shortness of breathing.

One point to be noted here is that, if a person is infected with HIV , also has AIDS and he/she dies then,  the HIV will be the contributory cause and the particular opportunistic infection will be the primary cause .                                                                                                       

                                                                 

                                                                

                                                             pneumonia  affects the lungs 

How does a person gets infected with HIV ?

1. Transfusion of infected blood.
2. Sharing of needle with an infected person.
3. Having sexual intercourse with an infected person.
4. An unborn child can get infected from the mother if she is infected by HIV.
5. Infected mother's milk can infect an infant.

Signs and symptoms ..

1. swollen lymph glands  2. night sweat   3. weight loss 

As such no vaccine has yet been developed to treat this syndrome but some ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS are there which can slow down the effect of HIV in the body.

ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS CAN BE -                                                          antiretroviral drugs..

1. Fusion/ entry inhibitors 
2. Reverse Transcriptase inhibitors 
3. Protease inhibitors 
4. Integrase inhibitors

Also, we all know that prevention is better than cure .. so some of the preventive measures are as follows -                                        

Preventions ..

1. For blood transfusion , always use blood screened by HIV.
2. Use of disposable needles.
3. Avoid multisex partnership.
4. Condoms or Femidoms should be used while having sex.

                                                            Thank you