Question

The standard protocol when diagnosing a patient with HIV or AIDS involves contacting the patient’s previous sexual partners to notify them of their exposure to the disease. This allows the patient’s sexual partners the opportunity to be tested.

How does this standard practice affect the gathering of incidence and prevalence rates for HIV/AIDS? Do you agree or disagree with the protocol and why? If changes were made to the protocol to assist in data gathering, what changes would you suggest and why?

Answer 1

ANSWER :

Human Immuno Virus (HIV) is the virus which causes AIDS. It damages the immune system of the person and slowly begins to release its symptoms in the person. Once HIV or AIDS is attacked to the person the final stage is death, as there is no treatment for HIV AIDS. When a patient is diagnosed with HIV it is important to contact with the persons whom the patient has involved previously with multiple sexual partners. But it is not easier to contact the person whom the person has involved, one of the major drawback of this is there might be a chances of miscommunication between the persons or personal conflicts, afraid of the situation, family issues and so on may become hurdles for diagnosing a person with HIV. According to the standard protocols conducting tests of CD4 counts, blood samples, complete blood picture, lipid profiles, renal function tests make easier to diagnose a patient suffering with HIV infection.

Identifying the persons where the infected person is having relation will be beneficial to diagnose them and finalizing whether they are infected with the disease or not. The collection of population rates and its prevalence will affect the standard practice of protocols as mentioned in the above. It is not easier to confirm the diagnosis at the initial points, where HIV releases its symptoms within months but not immediately after the attack of infection. If changes were to the protocol I would change the data gathering process by initial screening of the persons, prior health educations and appropriate data collections of people.