NR 503 Health Epidemiology & Stats

Occurrence of HIV/AIDS in African American Population of Dallas, Texas Chamberlain College Of Nursing NR 503 Health Epidemiology & Stats June 12, 2016 Occurrence of HIV/AIDS in African American Population of Dallas, Texas As a future Family Nurse Practitioner planning to one-day practice in Dallas county, one infectious disease that is currently worrisome and running rampant in this city is HIV/AIDS. Dallas has unfortunately become one of the top 25 U.S. cites with the highest rates of HIV infection within the last few years. In 2014, it was estimated that over 16,000 people were living with HIV in Dallas County, which indicated an increase of 124% since 2004 and that 32 % of all newly diagnosed persons progressed to a concurrent AIDS diagnosis within 12 months of their initial HIV diagnosis (Texas Department of State Health Services HIV/STD Surveillance Branch, TDSHS, 2015). One specific population that is currently facing a disproportionate amount of infections in Dallas County are African Americans. African Americans between the ages of 25- 54 have the highest occurrences with 58% of all new HIV diagnoses occurring in people under thirty-five years of age (TDSHS, 2015). HIV/ AIDS is a deadly disease and something must be done to stop the rapid transmission of this disease process in the African-American community before it is too late. This paper will take a look at the the background and significance HIV/AIDS has historically had on the African American population, current surveillance methods and perform a descriptive epidemiological analysis. Next a discussion on screening tools, diagnoses, and development of an evidence based plan of action along with outcome measurement tools will be examined. Lastly, a conclusion with an overview of the major points presented and future clinical practice steps will be assessed. Background and Significance Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a life-threatening chronic disease that increases an affected person’s concerns about imminent mortality and managing a complex disease process (Simoni et al., 2011). HIV is a sexually transmitted disease that attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 (T cells) and prevents them from being able to perform their intended function of preventing infection in the body. Left untreated HIV reduces the number of T cells in the body to a point where the infected person’s body is no longer able to fight any type of infection or cancer and any opportunistic infections can take a hold and will eventually kill the person (AIDS, 2015). When the person is unable to fight off these sometime simple opportunistic infections and their T cell count fall below 200 cells/mm3, this indicates the fact that the person has developed Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, AIDS, the last state of HIV infection (AIDS, 2015). HIV is believed to be a mutated form of Simian Immunodeficiency Disease that was transmitted to human from a chimpanzee bite in Central Africa around the 1800s (AIDS, 2015). The disease then spread slowly across Africa until making its way to the U.S. in the mid-to late 1970s (AIDS, 2015). In 1982 public health officials began to refer to the disease as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and in 1983 scientists discovered the virus that caused AIDS, and subsequently named it HIV (Sharp & Hahn, 2011). HIV is found in an infected person’s body fluids such as blood, vaginal fluid, semen and breast milk. The most common route of transmission is through sexual contact. Pregnant mothers can infect their unborn children during the pregnancy period but most often occurs during the birthing process or via breastfeeding. Other modes of transmission include sharing of infected intravenous needles and blood transfusions with contaminated blood products (AIDS, 2015). Signs and symptoms of HIV are different in each and every person and the only way to know HIV status is to have a HIV test performed. During the early stages of HIV infection some experience flu like symptoms such as fever, chills, night sweats, muscle aches, sore throat, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and mouth ulcers or rashes within two to four weeks of the initial