Weekly Blog # 11
The last few weeks of school and they are always the most stressful for a college student. I love all I am learning and this earned wisdom I am able to pay it forward. Sometimes I get a little embarrassed of being 35 and in college but then I figure all the things I chose to do before this also have great value in my life and that makes up for the waiting to accomplish other goals of mine.

I am happy in many ways and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to finish my degree even in the middle of this economy. My children look up to me and I am setting I good example on not giving up on one’s dreams. I am growing as a person and I am being influence by the right crowd. My life has its bumps in the road and together as a family we are crossing them. Every problem would find its solution, in time, just like algebra, or getting an unexpected pregnancy or being diagnosed HIV positive. The person is still there, if the majority of people choose to avoid him or her or choose to critic what they do not understand then it is their loss. Concentrate on what is important to me is my new logo. I have listened to others and respected other’s opinion and consider other’s beliefs a little too much, now I see it as if life is too short for me to be unhappy while pleasing others.

The chance I took on registering for this HIV class was well worth the pain. I had to struggle with four classes and the family but I did it and others has done it too so I will not lose faith. I enjoyed the Male Panel this week, I was so looking forward on Meeting my Blog friend, Calvin Gerald, but he lives far and I guess it was impossible for him to make it. He is of great inspiration for many, including me. My other Blog classmates and I shared stories for all these weeks but I was touched my many of their experiences; I guess one could always learn from others and even apply their advices for the best. Overall, HSC 3593 is one of the most challenging, ambitious, thought-provoking, and intriguing course I ever have to take.

Do You Know…
Pre-Chewed Baby Food Said to Transmit H.I.V.
________________________________________
“BOSTON - Researchers have identified another way that babies can be infected with H.I.V., through food pre-chewed by an infected parent or caretaker” (NYT, 2008).
Although thousands of babies have been “infected in the United States over the last 15 years, pre-chewed food has been documented as the cause of just three cases, federal epidemiologists said” (NYT, 2008).

“But such transmission may not be so rare, Dr. Kenneth L. Dominguez's team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections” (NYT, 2008).

“Pre-chewing food apparently occurs among many groups in this country and elsewhere. So transmission of H.I.V., the AIDS virus, to infants may be an unrecognized problem in developing countries where dental care is lacking, commercially prepared baby foods and blenders are not available and parents and caretakers may need to soften foods, Dr. Dominguez said in an interview” (NYT, 2008).

“His team said there were several reasons for reporting the three cases, dating from 1993, for the first time. One was to make health care providers and caregivers of infected children aware of the potential risk of pre-chewing. Another was to ask doctors and family members to report suspected cases to health officials to quantify the threat” (NYT, 2008).

Human immunodeficiency virus is present in saliva, but usually in “amounts too low to cause transmission. So, presumably, blood, which has larger amounts of the virus, is also needed for transmission” (NYT, 2008).

“Infected chewers with inflammations or open mouth sores can pass the virus to infants through cuts or other common teething conditions, Dr. Dominguez said” (NYT, 2008).
“Although the three cases were among African-Americans born in the United States, pre-chewing is prevalent among many ethnic and racial groups, according to a recent national survey of infant feeding by the C.D.C., Dr. Dominguez said” (NYT, 2008).
Specific findings from the survey have not been released.

"It's likely that some cultural influences are involved, and I am sure that people are doing what their grandmothers and aunties did in practices carried through generations, Dr. Dominguez said” (NYT, 2008).

“Epidemiologists from the centers, working with researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and the University of Miami, intensively investigated all three cases, ruling out other causes of transmission like breast feeding, sexual abuse and needle sticks” (NYT, 2008).

“The first two cases involved boys from Miami infected in the mid-'90s. One boy's infection was detected when he was 39 months old, shortly before his death, after previously testing negative for the virus twice. The mother, who was infected, reported pre-chewing food for the boy” (NYT, 2008).

“The second boy's mother was uninfected but lived with an infected aunt who pre-chewed his food. He survives. In the third case, a girl from Memphis was found to be infected in 2004 at 9 months old after testing negative for the virus three times. Her mother was infected and pre-chewed food for her daughter” (NYT, 2008).
“Genetic studies showed that the viruses isolated from the first and third cases matched those of the mother. The second case's caregiver died before blood samples could be obtained. H.I.V. isolated from the caregiver's infected male sexual partner did not match that from the boy” (NYT, 2008).
“Researchers will try to determine whether other dangerous microbes like hepatitis B virus and Helicobacter pylori might be transmitted through pre-chewed food” (NYT, 2008).

References
Web: Retrieved April 10, 2010, from AEGIS-NYT, by Lawrence K. Altman on February 7, 2008, from http://www.aegis.org/news/nyt/2008/NYT080207.html

My Weekly Blog #10
This week was my husband and I 12 years anniversary. We had dinner in our favorite restaurant, we cruise around like tourist and we watched movies all night. I wish we could spend the rest of our lives together; I want us to be part of the 50% that actually do not get divorce and work through their problems.
I have been trying to see what my grades are as of now and I have no idea for two of my classes. It seems like it was easier before to know if you are passing now not even if you ask for help you can know your grades. I am doing everything I can to get my work in but at the end I am not taking any more online classes unless I know the professor and good recommendations. I have wasted one term just because I could not find the answers to many of my questions...that’s including the textbooks these professors use. Like one of my books that give you practice exercises, on parenthesis they give you the page to where the answer might be found, when you turn to that page is information completely different than what they are asking. I end up finding the answer on another page. We pay hundreds for these books and they are not written correctly.
I feel the closer I get to my bachelors degree the less I understand neither my professors nor what is expected in some of my classes...

DO You Know...?
Babies who were born with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s have defied initial expectations.
With advances in medicine, the babies born with what was once thought of as a sure-fatal virus have danced at their high school proms, walked on stage to receive their diplomas and even experienced the birth of their children.
"It's a battle -- not because the HIV is going to defeat us," said Quintara Lane, a 22-year-old student with long braids. "It's more of what we have to go through to take care of ourselves" (CNN, 2009).
Lane is part of a generation that was born with the virus. Since the “mid-1990s in developed countries, antiretroviral drugs have largely prevented mothers from transmitting HIV/AIDS to their babies” (CNN, 2009).
Over the years, the number of pills required to treat HIV/AIDS has decreased significantly. But, it's not the physical side effects that bother patients.
"I'm only reminded of it when I have to take medication," said a 28-year-old with HIV who asked to be identified only as "Mike." "That's what we do. That's our lives" (CNN, 2009).
Mike contracted HIV after receiving a contaminated blood transfusion as a newborn.
According to the National Institutes of Health, (2010), “80 percent of HIV-infected children do not experience serious AIDS symptoms until school age or adolescence. Twenty percent of HIV-infected children die by 4 years of age. Without treatment, most infants die within the first year of life” (Ehow, 2010).
HIV infection symptoms manifest differently in babies due to immature immunity. Common disease conditions among babies and children with AIDS include “pneumonia, otitis media, chronic diarrhea, encephalopathy, cardiomyopathy, and cytomegalovirus disease (CMV). HIV-positive infants are generally symptom-free during the first few months of life” (Ehow, 2010).

Web: Retrieved April 5, 2010, from Life expectancy for infants born HIV positive by Aunice Y. Reed, (2010), from http://www.ehow.com/facts_6009566_life-infants-born-hiv-positive.html
Web: Retrieved April 5, 2010, from A Generation Born with HIV/AIDS Defies the Odds, updated June 22, 2009, by CNN, Madison Park, from http://www.cnn.com/2009/Health/06/22/hiv.children.generation/index.html

My Simulation Weekly Blog

I had a heptic week. I had lots of homework due, two tests, a few medical appointments for the kids, the car broke down in the middle of the car riders pick up line, and best of all recording my Journal and my summary for the M&M simulation.

I was going crazy with the watch going off, people staring, talking behind my back, my throat got so sore and inflammated, No Kidding I found out that now I am allergic to chocolate, Yes, to chocolate. I just don't think I could stop eating it all together and I still didn't care though, I still finish my simulation with my M&Ms I will not eat them for a while because I grew sick of them. I had to cut the big ones because at the time I bought them they did not have the peanut ones so I switched for the almond ones, bad mistake, I tried swallowing those things but forget it I almost shoke. So most of the week I ended up cutting them into smaller pieces. My family and I took the mission for real, my kids would remind me and they would ask me if I am suppose to act out the symptoms too, and I told them that yes, and that they were sad and I would not wish them to my worst enemy.

I learned a lot, it create awareness to me and my family. I am so touched by this community and all they had to go through physically that it is ashame that most of us make them feel even worst, it shouldn't happen, It is so shameful and inhumane.

Anyways, I'm registered for the Summer and I am looking forward to take Epidemiology with Prof. Douglass, and guess what? I took it online. I don't know what got into me, whether the enjoyment of this class or the fact that I already had to travel 4 times to ucf that scares me. Either way I know I will surely learn something that I will use for the rest of my life and I can not say this out of other courses I have taken.

In other news, and to my surprise, my medical insurance added on their list of coverage; diagnostic tests, therapeutic services and some supplies. But the one that open my eyes was the "annual voluntary HIV screening for beneficiaries at risk of HIV infection per USPSTF guidelines" (Citrus Health Care, 2010). Now after more than 20 years Private Insurance are starting to care a bit more, usually I go to government agencies to be tested now at least many of us could request straight from our Doctor's office, that a very small step forward, I wonder how many Private Insurance actually cover the treatment? That's something I need to research and What about Pres. Obama's new Health Care Plan, would that also take in consideration the HIV community? I really need to check the answer for this because I never know if I ever would need to know the answer for these questions.

DO YOU KNOW...
As of December 2009, 2.5 million children were infected with HIV or AIDS.

Babies infected may not show any symptoms at first, but the progression of AIDS is often faster in babies than in adults.

Doctors need to watch babies closely and have their blood tested often to check for the number of T-Cell.

Kids who have HIV or AIDS tend to learn more slowly than healthy kids.

Kids who have HIV or AIDS tend to start walking and talking later than the average healthy kid.

HIV positive Kids can go to school, make friends, hang out, and they get sick more often than other kids because their immune system is more fragile.

Eating lunch and playing games with HIV positive kids does not bring any risk of infection.

Web: Retrieved April 1, 2010 from The Nemours Foundation, updated December (2009) by Joel Klein, MD from http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/infection/hiv.html