The HIV Pandemic in the Black Community of Missouri Research Paper

The HIV Pandemic in the Black Community of Missouri - Research Paper Example In Missouri, HIV has been a thorn in the flesh for the community. St. Louis, the biggest metropolis in the state has one of the highest rates of HIV cases in the United States. KMOV, St. Louis leading Health Newspaper reported that more than five thousand people in the greater St. Louis area live with HIV with African Americans being the most affected social group. In 2010, 300 new cases of HIV sufficed. According to the State Health Department, over 75 percent of the cases affected African Americans. African American women were most hurt with 86 percent of the new cases victims being women (KMOV, 2011). This paper explores the problem of HIV in Missouri with emphasis on how HIV affects African Americans. The last section of the paper suggests the solution that offers solutions for the problem of HIV. According to Medicine Net, an online-based medical consultant, HIV is a virus that enters a group of specific immune system’s cells and kills them. With time, it makes the body to incapable of defending itself adequately from opportunistic infections. After about five years, the body stops manufacturing white cells. The white cells facilitate the body defense mechanism against diseases. With low white cell count, opportunistic infections certainly affect the body thereby affecting the body’s immune system. After a long period of incubation that can sometimes extend to ten years, the HIV causes AIDS. AIDS has no known symptoms because it works with opportunistic infections. The clinical manifestation of AIDS is a collection of opportunistic diseases. While some of the AIDS manifestations are severe such as TB, others are less severe and comparatively harmless like a common cold. There is no known cure for HIV although continued medical research has reduced the deaths ca used by HIV (Medicine Net Inc, 2012). Lyon & DAngelo (2006),  documents some of the most common causes of HIV.