Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena

Abstract

The HIV infection hits the immune system, causing a depletion of CD4 cells so important as to lead the afflicted subject to death often due to secondary and opportunistic infections. The medical discoveries have allowed owever over the years to develop therapeutic strategies capable of suppressing the replication of the virus and blocking the inevitable course of AIDS. Currently, this type of patient has a significantly higher life expectancy than in the past, with an important reduction in the clinical manifestations of the infection. While on the one hand there is a clear improvement in the patient's clinical condition, at the same time complex dynamics take over in the management of the psycho-social lash of the patient, primarily related to prejudice and misinformation. It seems clear that the treatment of HIV infection nowadays must pose new challenges and objectives that have their ultimate goal the achievement of a complete state of well-being by the patient. The socio-health strategies to be implemented are divided into two broad categories: patient management and population management. The patient is followed by a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals, monitored through periodic follow ups and has the opportunity to participate in counseling activities, also it’s necessary to guarantee a direct communication route between the patient and the team and that this is managed not only in the hospital setting but also at the local level. The strategies to be applied to the population mainly focus on education on infection prevention and on providing basic knowledge on the pathophysiology of the infection and its treatment: in fact, only in this way can break down prejudices, and the general population, affected and not, can acquire a vision of the disease totally different from the one we know today.