Evidence 1-Local Family Suffers Through HIV Tragedy

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Alexandra Beasley
5 years ago
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1 Evidence 1-Local Family Suffers Through HIV Tragedy By Maria Gutierrez HIV is a deadly virus that attacks a person s immune system. There are tragic stories around the world of entire families being infected by this virus. One such family lives right here in Bucks County. They are the Burkes. The Burkes are a couple with two children. Everyone in the family except one of the children has been infected by HIV. The disease has completely disrupted their lives. Nikki (on the right) is HIV Patrick Burke, the father of the family, was the first to be infected with HIV. negative. The rest of her He became infected after receiving a blood transfusion using blood from an HIV positive donor. The hospital did not know that the blood they were family is HIV positive giving Patrick had HIV in it. Fortunately, hospitals now have blood tests to check for HIV so this does not happen anymore, but Patrick got the virus before these tests had been invented. Patrick transmitted the HIV virus to his wife, Lauren, who then passed it to her son Dwight through her pregnancy. HIV is not a genetic disease, but mothers can pass it to fetuses because the virus sometimes passes from the mother s body to the body of the fetus while the fetus is in their wombs. Lauren and Patrick s other child, Nikki, who is 4 years old, does not have HIV. HIV has completely upset the family s lives. Lauren quit her job because she is too tired to work. Patrick has little energy beyond what his job requires. Lauren said that she and Patrick cannot even take their children to the playground anymore because they are always too tired. Of course, they also have to face the possibility that they may not live long enough to see Nikki become an adult. A puzzling question is why Nikki is the only one in the family who does not have the disease. Patrick and Lauren believe that they know the answer. Thank goodness, Patrick said, Nikki is not sick. We believe that Nikki has a special gene that the rest of us don t have. Maybe from a mutation. We have heard that there is a special protein called the CCR5 protein that destroys the HIV virus. Nikki must have a gene that gives her cells instructions to make the CCR5 protein. And that protein kills all the viruses that she is exposed to. We are so thankful that she has that gene and that she is going to be OK. Answer the questions about Evidence 1 in your packet. 1

They are hoping that injecting sick people with interferon twice a week for a year will cure them of the virus. What is interferon?

2 Evidence 2: A New Way to Fight Viruses? Hepatitis B is a disease caused by a virus that attacks the liver. It can be fatal. Scientists have been testing a new way of treating people who are sick with the Hepatitis B virus. They are hoping that injecting sick people with interferon twice a week for a year will cure them of the virus. What is interferon? Liver Interferon is a protein that is produced by the body s cells when attacked by bacteria or viruses. The interferon protein moves out of the cell and turns on the body s immune cells. Then immune cells destroy the invader. Ask your teacher to show you the interferon animation. Experiment: People who are sick with Hepatitis B do not produce enough interferon to kill all the Hepatitis B viruses. So scientists think that injecting them with more interferon might turn on more immune cells to kill the Hepatitis B virus. Method: The scientists tested their treatment on 12 patients who were infected with Hepatitis B. They got injections of interferon every two weeks for a year. Results: Before the treatments, all 12 patients had high levels of the Hepatitis B virus. After one year: 3 patients had no Hepatitis B virus in their blood. 5 more patients had very, very low levels of the Hepatitis B virus. 4 patients still had high levels of the Hepatitis B virus. Answer the questions about Evidence 2 in your packet. 2

3 Evidence # 3: Jen s blog 3

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5 Answer the questions about Evidence 3 in your packet. 5

6 Evidence #4: CCR5 Research Answer the questions about Evidence 4 in your packet. 6

7 Evidence #5: DNA Analysis Answer the questions about Evidence 5 in your packet. 7

IMMUNE SYSTEM. Biology 2201

IMMUNE SYSTEM. Biology 2201 IMMUNE SYSTEM Biology 2201 What is a disease? Other than an injury, any change in the body that interferes with the normal functioning of the body. Two Types of Diseases Non-infectious often called functional