Erectile dysfunction refers to the failure to get and preserve an erection for sexual intercourse. It is a common type of male sexual dysfunction. It is, therefore, known as a disorder to the male reproductive system. On the other hand, HIV/AIDS is also a reproductive disorder that affects both men and women. HIV is the virus that leads to HIV infection while AIDS is the most progressive stage of HIV infection. Transmissions of HIV worldwide are accounted for mostly through sexual contacts. HIV/AIDS and Erectile Dysfunction affect the reproductive system; hence, regarded as disorders of the reproductive system.
Similarities and Differences between HIV/AIDS and Erectile Dysfunction
HIV/AIDS and erectile dysfunction are diseases that both affect the reproductive system (Zimmermann, 2018). HIV can affect the body’s ability to produce progesterone and oestrogen hormones in males and females respectively, which are used for reproduction. Therefore, lacking these hormones can affect fertility and can even lead to early menopause. Similarly, erectile dysfunctions affect the reproductive system, and with the problem, men may not be able to naturally sire children.
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Erectile dysfunction involves psychological, neurological, vascular and hormonal combinations. For example, injuries to the spinal cord might interrupt the neural pathways to the sacral region, which prevent erection (Huether & McCance, 2016). Vascular contributions to the disease include dysfunction of the smooth muscles. This is mostly seen in people suffering from diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. On the other hand, infection of HIV is transmitted when the virus gets into the bloodstream of a person and comes in contact with a suitable host cell, the CD4 T lymphocytes. The infested cells after that get more ineffectual. The host enters the cells via budding, integration, reverse transcription, assembly binding, and fusion mechanisms. The five primary symptoms of HIV infection include opportunistic infections, pulmonary infections, tumors and malignancies, neurological and psychiatric involvement, and gastrointestinal infections. The modes of transmission include sexual contact, parental transmission from mother to child during delivery, and through hemophiliacs.
Unlike HIV/AIDS, erectile dysfunction only affects men and not women. Nonetheless, both men and women can have HIV/AIDS, which affects their reproductive health. AIDS is caused by the HIV virus, while erectile dysfunction is caused by several issues including heart disease, obesity, atherosclerosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, among others. HIV/AIDS is transmitted from a person to another through contacts with contaminated body fluids while erectile dysfunction is not transmitted. Erectile dysfunction can be treated while HIV/AIDS can only be suppressed in the system by the use of antiretroviral drugs. The drugs are meant to lower the spread of the virus to sustain the body, but a cure for the disease has not been discovered yet. Erectile dysfunction, on the other hand, has been treated in many patients, and they can live normally (McPhee, Hammer & Kwok, 2019). HIV affects the entire immune system of a person making them weak and susceptible to various diseases. Erectile dysfunction on the other hand only affects the male sexual organs and does not touch on the immunity of a person.
Effect of Age and Ethnicity on the Diagnosis and Treatment of HIV/AIDS and Erectile Dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction is more prevalent in old men compared to young men. Hence, it is mostly seen in men over the age of forty. Forty-nine percent of men at this age are affected by the disease while sixty-seven percent of men at the age of seventy are affected by erectile dysfunction. The cause of erectile dysfunction in young men is majorly due to anxiety, and in middle-aged men, the reason is mainly stress (Shaeer & Shaeer, 2014). In older men, the case is quite different because erectile dysfunction results from the deterioration of the blood vessels carrying blood to the penis. Also, it is contributed to by the decline of brain or heart arteries. On the other hand, a 2002 survey carried out on white, black, and Hispanic males concerning the quality of their erection exhibited that erectile dysfunction was more dominant in black men at 24.4% than Hispanic males at 19.2% while white men were at 21.9% (The New Life Challenge, 2015).
HIV/AIDS shows prevalence differently through different ethnic races. In the U.S., African Americans have the highest number of HIV infections compared to other races living with HIV. In 2017, a report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the number of infected persons with HIV was high in men compared to women in the African American population (Goodreau et al., 2017). Also, 60% of blacks who got diagnosed were gay or bisexual. Notably, forty-one percent of the African American gays and bisexuals who got diagnosed were aged between 25 to 34. Furthermore, the report showed that after African Americans, the Hispanics followed, and lastly the prevalence was lesser in white population. Similarly, male gays have the highest number of HIV infections. Usually, homophobia, humiliation, fear and discrimination place African Americans at a higher risk for HIV.
This is also contributed to the fact that they have the highest rate of poverty compared to other ethnic groups. This results in less access to healthcare and gaining access to HIV education. As it is, the most common route of HIV transmission is through sexual intercourse. Through this, people are unable to come out and share their issues, hence, their CD4 count goes down, and their immunity worsens. Additionally, this would lead to undesirable results, especially in expectant mothers. It affects their health as well as that of the unborn child. Effects of AIDS on pregnancy include infertility, congenital abnormalities; inter-uterine growth retardation, repeated abortions, stillbirths and embryopathies. Approximately half of the individuals in the U.S. living with detected HIV are 50 years and older. Even though new HIV diagnoses are lowering among persons aged fifty years and above, about one in six HIV diagnoses in 2016 were in this category (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).
Therefore, both erectile dysfunction and HIV/AIDS affect the reproductive health and wellbeing and of individuals. The prevalence can be managed by taking the necessary precautions and following a proper diet. The diseases cannot be easily eradicated but can be managed, and in the case of erectile dysfunction, it can be treated. As for HIVAIDS, there is still a chance of finding a cure with modern technology at hand.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). HIV Among People Aged 50 and Over. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/age/olderamericans/index.html
Goodreau, S., Rosenberg, E., Jenness, S., Luisi, N., Stansfield, S., Millett, G., & Sullivan, P. (2017). Sources of racial disparities in HIV prevalence in men who have sex with men in Atlanta, GA, USA: a modelling study. The Lancet HIV , 4 (7), e311-e320. doi: 10.1016/s2352-3018(17)30067-x
Huether, S., & McCance, K. (2016). Understanding pathophysiology (6th ed.). Missouri: Mosby.
McPhee, S., Hammer, G., & Kwok, Y. (2019). Pathophysiology of disease. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Education LLC.
Shaeer, O., & Shaeer, K. (2014). The Global Online Sexuality Survey (GOSS): Male Homosexuality among Arabic ‐ Speaking Internet Users in the Middle East—2010. The Journal Of Sexual Medicine , 11 (10), 2414-2420. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25060943
The New Life Challenge. (2015). Erectile Dysfunction & Race. Retrieved from https://www.getthenewlife.com/blog/erectile-dysfunction-race/
Zimmermann, K. (2018). Reproductive System: Facts, Functions & Diseases. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/26741-reproductive-system.html
