AIDS AIDS, which stands for acquired immune

AIDS

AIDS, which stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, wasfirst discovered in 1981. However, it was not named untilseveral years later. It is thought that AIDS was present in theUnited States, Europe and Africa for at least ten years beforethe first cases were discovered in 1981. AIDS is a disease whichinvolves the breakdown of the immune system. The virus thatcauses this breakdown is known as HIV which stands for humanimmunodeficiency virus. When this virus enters a body, itinfects the bloods T cells where the virus grows. Slowly thevirus will kill these cells. Since these T cells aid in fightinginfection, as they are killed, the body is no longer able tofight away infection and is extremely susceptible to illness andinfections.1 AIDS is a disease that is becoming more and moreprevalent in society. The World Health Organization and theJoint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS estimate that,world-wide, forty two million people have been infected with HIVsince the onset of the epidemic in 1981. Each day an estimatedsixteen thousand people internationally become infected.2 HIV/AIDS can be transmitted through exchange of bodilyfluid; which includes unprotected sex, a mother’s breast milk,

HIV/AIDS also puts a huge strain on the nationaleconomy of African economies. Through AIDS we areable to see how society need to find a place to deposit blame andit did so on the gay community. There has been evidence that theseprograms can be a success. These seem to beeffective so far but their long term effectiveness is virtuallyunknown. San Francisco"tms bath houses sooncame under a microscope because they were thought of to be a mainsource of transmission. It is not possible to contract AIDS fromsharing drinks, animal/insect bites, touching, hugging ortouching. In random blood testingof pregnant women in Zimbabwe, between a fifth and a half werefound to have infected. You can haveHIV for years without any signs until you eventually have an AIDS related illness and by that time more people haveexponentially become effected by the disease. In Africa AIDS has become a leading cause of death. It was refered to as gay cancer and thegay plague. AIDS isnow very much a straight disease. Shouldone"tms longevity really be measured by how much money they have?Unfortunately that is how society works in this case and that iswhat we should aim for changing. Blood for transmission but advances in bloodscreening has more or less eliminated blood transfusion as a riskfor HIV/AIDS infection. It is necessary to take a global perspective concerning theissue of AIDS. Many doctors havebegun to use cocktail treatments which are a mix of differentmedications.