Question

Based on what you should know about vaccines and viruses from our discussions in class, discuss your views of mandatory vaccinations for HIV infection. In the discussion, please address the following questions / topics.

1. 1. Risks of contracting wildtype HIV infection
   2. Potential methods of contracting wildtype HIV infection
   3. Effects of HIV infection
   4. Portions of the virus that theoretically could be utilized as vaccine components.
   5. Health risks of the vaccine to the vaccine
   6. Social and personal behaviors leading to the investigation of an HIV vaccine.
   7. Would you volunteer to take the vaccine or volunteer your children to receive the vaccine? Why or why not?

Answer 1

b) Methods for contracting wild type infection

-Blood transfusion

-Mother to child transmission

-Sexual intercourse: vaginal, anal, oral

-Needle stick injuries

-Injection drug abuse

b) Risk of contracting wild type infection

-By blood transfusion :90-95%

-By mother to child :20-40%

-By sexual intercourse :0.1-1%

-By injection drug abuse :0.5 - 1%

-By needle stick injuries :0.3%

c) Effects of infection

Virus enters lymph nodes and other lymphatic tissue, multiply in T cells and destroy them, then spill to blood stream producing primary viridian, a flu like illness. CD4 T cell count drops

Then, by about 1 month, humoral and cell mediated immune responses come to play and viremia decrease. CD4 T cell come to normal level. This is a period of clinical latency, but replication of virus does not stop. This latent period may extend to 10 to 30 years

Next stage is persistent generalised lymphadenopathy

In the next stage, symptomatic HIV infection occurs - unexplained diarrhoea, weight loss, opportunistic infections

Next stage is AIDS- rapid fall in CD4 count, lymph nodes destroyed, opportunistic infections, neoplasia, high viral load, HIV encephalopathy etc

d) Vaccine candidates (portions of virus)

-gp 120 :recombinant protein subunit vaccine

-lipopeptides from gag, nef and pol genes : peptide vaccine

-viral like particle vaccine :contains empty shells of HIV envelope protein that lack viral genome