Aids

Aids

A mysterious epidemic spread throughout the country in a matter of years. A virus unknown to mankind, leaving a brutal vestige, killing millions of people. Researchers at first were not aware of the dangers this virus had on the people of the world. The virus known as AIDS, has become the deadliest virus in the world. Many people do not understand or know what the AIDS virus is. Understanding, learning, and talking about AIDS gives people knowledge of what the virus is and does. “AIDS is the most serious communicable disease epidemic in contemporary times, and the effort to reduce its spread is the U.S. government's top health priority“, stated Harlon L. Dalton in his book AIDS And The Law. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Acquired meaning something one can get or obtain. Immune meaning safe or protected. Deficiency meaning a lack or shortage of something, and Syndrome meaning a group of symptoms or problems. In other words, a disease one can contract that attacks the immune system. As Hancock and Carim stated in Aids the Deadly Epidemic, “ AIDS is a multiple disease caused by a particular kind of virus that works in two main ways. The virus undermines, on the one hand, the body’s in-b

efences against alien organisms, rendering it vulnerable to a wide range of infections, and, on the other hand, it attacks cells of the central nervous system and of the brain. Mobilizing Against AIDS: The Unfinished Story of a Virus by Eve Nichols reported, " The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has received notification of AIDS cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three U. When AIDS first spread throughout the United States, a very large percentage of individuals infected were homosexual. No one really knows how many future cases the AIDS epidemic will bring to the world. The only way AIDS can be transmitted from an infected person to one who is not infected is by one, exchange of bodily fluids, or two, sexual intercourse. " (Douglas and Pinsky 13) HIV is the first stage of the AIDS virus. Diana Richardson explained the symptoms of AIDS, in her book Women and AIDS, as profound fatigue, unexplained fever, unexpected weight loss, swollen glands, Thrush, persistent diarrhea, shortness of breath, and pink or purple blotches on the skin. He did not know where to turn or what to do. It will not be easy, but help is available. Inside the immune system are T cells, T helper cells, and B cells which make up the white blood cells. "� There is no conclusive evidence linking the origin of AIDS with Africa.