Hiv / Aids ( Hiv )

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HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an enveloped retrovirus. It affects the immune system and the body loses its ability to fight diseases. It is mainly transferred by sexual contact. However, it can also be transmitted by contact with body fluid like blood, breast milk and so on (CDC, 2016). A patient is said to have AIDS when he/her suffer from many opportunistic infections (CDC, 2016).
HIV is one of the global public health issues that have taken millions of lives till date. According to the CDC (2016), HIV has taken about 1.2 million people lives globally. The prevalence of HIV infected people is very high. There were approximately 36.9 million people who were living with HIV, with about 2.0 million people are newly infected with HIV in 2014 globally (CDC, 2016).
In the United States more than 1.2 million people have HIV infection and many are unaware about their infection. About 50,000 new HIV cases are diagnosed each year. Some groups are affected more than others (CDC, 2016).
Previously, HIV was considered a disease associated with young persons. However, in present day, it is recognized as the disease that affects people of all ages. The risk factors of HIV are same for the younger as well as the older population.
Literature Review
Overview of HIV
HIV is believed to be a mutation of the virus found in chimpanzees that cause immunodeficiency in Africa. It is supposed that the virus infected, human during hunting chimpanzee for meat and came in contacts with their blood (CDC, 2016). In the United States the first case of HIV was reported in June 1981 in homosexuals (Qian, Taylor, Fawal & Vermund, 2006).
HIV affects the immune system, especially a type of T cells (CD4 cells). Over time, HIV destroys the overal...

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... is seen that HIV prevalence among married people is less than unmarried. A study conducted in 6,090 male and females showed that 10.5% marriage had HIV compared with 15.7% among unmarried people (Shisana, Zungu-Dirwayi, Toefy, Simbayi, Malik, & Zuma. (2004). It can be hypothesized that legalization of gay marriage can decrease the prevalence of HIV in MSM. It can be said that marriage decreases multiple sexual partner; legalizing gay marriage contributes in decreasing discrimination, social isolation and abuse which will decrease substance abuse and risky sexual behavior and thus overcome the challenges in preventing HIV in MSM.
There is further need of research showing the impacts of gay marriage on HIV/STDs. The research should evaluate the benefits and harmful effects of gay marriage. The study should be longitudinal study, which contains different age of MSM.

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