Abstract
The first cases of AIDS occurred about 1981. There are not fully appropriate therapeutic interventions for treating this medical condition. People who are diagnosed HIV-positive or with AIDS suffer a poor quality of life and receive medication that produces severe adverse reactions. We have analyzed a significant number of papers published in several countries on these topics, and we have found various inconsistencies: - HIV risk behaviors: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, the Estimated Per-Act Probability of Acquiring HIV from an Infected Source, by Exposure Act (heterosexual) is about one in one thousand for women and about one in two thousand for men. Nevertheless, in an investigation conducted through the University of San Francisco, California, on 442 discordant heterosexual couples no seroconversions were observed throughout the ten years the research lasted. (1985-1995). No other study of similar characteristics has been conducted ever since. - Diagnostics methods: In Argentina, we employ the ELISA screening method, subsequently confirmed by a Western Blot test, but in the United Stated this last is discouraged since 2014. - Medication: Many of the drugs that are used to treat HIV are DNA chain terminators which interfere with the normal functioning and replication of normal cells. As a result, damage in the immune system and the mitochondrial DNA are reported very frequently. We ask the scientific community what we should inform the patients about all these. We urge the experts´ opinion on the ethical management aspects. Since the diagnostic tests employed may result in false positives and the fact that the medication is highly toxic, we recommend that patients with HIV positive diagnosis fully re-test their condition at least once a year to minimize eventual diagnostic errors, suspending specific medications in case of discrepancies on the testing results.
Highlights
Thirty-five years have elapsed since the first cases of Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) were reported (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC, 1982) and thirty-three since it was proposed that Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) is the causal agent of the disease (Montagnier et al, 1984; Haseltine and Wong-Staal, 1988)
Diagnostic Methods In Argentina, the process of testing subjects to detect the presence of HIV in the blood consists of two steps: a first step, or “screening test”, using Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) and a second step using the Western Blot technique
To cite just an example of the imprecision of the inserts of Western Blot kits in these days, this excerpt can be read in the Genelabs Diagnostic HIV Blot 2.2, published by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2016): “...test algorithms recommended by the US CDC (2001) and WHO (2004) are yet to be updated and NAT are yet to be included as methods for resolving INDETERMINATE Western Blot results
Summary
Thirty-five years have elapsed since the first cases of Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) were reported (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC, 1982) and thirty-three since it was proposed that Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) is the causal agent of the disease (Montagnier et al, 1984; Haseltine and Wong-Staal, 1988). People with an HIV-positive diagnosis are subject to disadvantageous health, economic and social conditions that severely limit their chances of development and their quality of life. The medication given to these patients produces severe adverse reactions, which generate more limitations to their quality of life (Reisler et al, 2003; Venhoff et al, 2007). It is important to emphasize that, for epidemiological, age and geographic reasons, our students and their families may be included in the groups that are considered at risk for acquiring these diseases
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