AIDS AS AN INVADER

AIDS AS AN INVADER

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, also known as AIDS, is a silent invader. The first cases of this disease were reported in the early 1980’s. AIDS is caused by the infection known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is a microscopic organism that can grow and multiply inside living cells. HIV attacks and disables the body’s immune system. The immune system is the system that usually fights off illnesses. “When the immune system breaks down, a person with AIDS will develop life-threatening illnesses.” (Flynn & Lound, 6) The invasion of the AIDS virus in an individual’s body leaves the body open to an invasion by many other different infections, called “opportunistic diseases.” These infections are the main causes of death of AIDS patients. Because there is not yet a cure for AIDS, once the disease invades the body there is no way to get rid of it. AIDS is a life-threatening disease and those infected are often treated as invaders although they are the ones who were invaded. Although AIDS first appeared in the United States in the early 1980’s, HIV “first gained a foothold in humans some fifty or more years ago in Africa.” (Joseph, M. D., 14) At that time many hunters and their

HIV needs only a warm body in order to survive. "� (Grolier) Eighty percent of children born to women with AIDS acquire HIV from their infected mothers. Bibliography Works Cited "AIDS. "� (Grolier) Predictions have been made that within the next ten years a vaccine should be available to protect against HIV infection. "� Joseph went on to say that "most of the mortally ill children I was caring for had a combination of severe malnutrition and one or more infectious diseases. In the United States, AIDS has hit hardest among black and Hispanic women. Hostile Kokomo residents held protests against Ryan. There are many well-known people who have been invaded by AIDS or who have died from it. The Ray family went to court and won the right to return back to public school. Those people infected with HIV and AIDS are often considered to be invaders themselves and are treated as if they are lesser people than everyone around them. Because the poor and those people who are of different races are already discriminated against, when these people are then labeled as having AIDS, they are then considered as being more of an invader as originally thought.