In this assignment I am going to discuss how HIV and skin cancer two diseases are caused and what the risk factors are. I will then describe the preventive measure and how it stops the disease developing.
BTEC National health and Social Care
Unit: 12
Introduction
In this assignment I am going to discuss how HIV and skin cancer two diseases are caused and what the risk factors are. I will then describe the preventive measure and how it stops the disease developing.
The word HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV It is an infection that attacks and destroys the body’s infection fighting cells, this is called lymphocytes, and this is what causes the disease.
Milton medical centre explains that HIV is caused by a retrovirus, which is a type of virus that releases its genetic code, called RNA, into a healthy cell. The virus also contains an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that converts the virus’ RNA to DNA and allows it to reproduce. This is how the virus attacks the immune system. The body’s immune system fights infection by producing white blood cells, called T-cell lymphocytes, and proteins called antibodies. HIV reproduces inside the T-cells. Eventually, this destroys the cells and releases particles of the virus, which then attack other T-cells and the damage continues. As more and more T-cells are destroyed, the immune system is weakened to the point that the body becomes unable to fight infections. The patient develops other diseases and cancers, called opportunistic infections because they take advantage of the patient’s weakened immune system. When this occurs, the patient is diagnosed with full-blown AIDS.
