AIDS

AIDS

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) reported that as of the end of June 2001, there were 793,026 cases of AIDS in the USA. Of these 793,026 people; 79% were men, 21% were women, and 1% were children less than 13 years of age. AIDS(acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a fairly new disease to the US. The earliest cases were diagnosed in 1981. In 1981 the disease was thought to be limited to homosexual and bisexual men. It was called Gay-Related Immune Deficiency(GRID). No one really knows where the virus came from or when humans first became infected.

The virus is so fragile that common hand soap can kill it. The body of a person with AIDS cannot fight disease because the immune system is weak. It has been weakened by a virus called HIV, human immunodeficiency virus. People do not die from the AIDS virus directly, they die from complications of the AIDS virus. I hope all of this information helps you to understand the AIDS virus a little more and maybe a few less people will be infected. Because of the large amounts of AIDS cases in Central Africa, researches think that it originated there. It appears to be harmless to monkeys. Scientists found that 70 percent of the African green monkeys from Central Africa carried a virus similar to the one that causes AIDS in humans. The two most prominent ways of getting the HIV virus are from sexual intercourse and the sharing of unsterilized needles. Researchers say that the best way to prevent yourself from getting the AIDS virus is abstinence or monogamy, and not using any unsterilized needles. Jungle yellow fever and other viruses are known to be spread from monkeys to humans this way. Since monkeys are so always around humans in Central Africa monkeys frequently bite them. AIDS is a state in which the immune system is malfunctioning. HIV is actually quite hard to get. There is no cure the AIDS, however there are some management drugs that help HIV-positive people cope with the disease.