AIDS was first discovered in the United States in 1981. Since then, this epidemic has affected approximately 40 million people worldwide. AIDS is a life threatening illness that is caused by the HIV infection. When the HIV virus enters the body it begins to destroy the immune system impairing its ability to fight off certain infections and diseases. About a month after being infected, a person develops a viral infection. The viral infection is similar to the flu and causes fever, fatigue, weight loss, and swollen glands. These symptoms usually subside, and a person may not develop AIDS for up to 10 years after being infected with HIV. During this time, the HIV virus continues to multiple and destroys cells of the immune system. A person is diagnosed with AIDS when the immune system is so deteriorated by HIV that it can no longer fight off certain infections and diseases known as "opportunistic infections." These infections cause a person to suffer from a variety of illnesses including weight loss, persistent diarrhea, coughing, nausea, swollen glands, and shortness of breath. The infections can last from several days to several months and are often difficult to treat. AIDS patients are also prone to develop certain cancers. These cancers include Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical cancer, and lymphomas. Although each of these cancers are treatable, AIDS patients suffer severe cases of these cancers because of their weakened immune system. It is often difficult to determine if a person will make it through a particular illness or not. In most cases, people do not die from AIDS but from complications from illnesses that define AIDS. When a person is diagnosed with having AIDS, their estimated survival time is 2-3 years.
Since the discovery of AIDS, there have been steady increases each year in the number of people infected and those that die as a result of their infections. Africa has experienced the most devastating effects of the disease. Approximately 26.6 million people living in Southern Africa are infected with HIV, which is ½ of their entire population. It is estimated that this accounts for approximately 70% of all people infected with AIDS around the world. Eastern Europe and Asia are all experiencing an outbreak with the number of those infected increasing every year. In the United States, AIDS has had dramatic effects on young and middle-aged adults.
...ainst a variety of illnesses which can develop into opportunistic infections and cancers. AIDS was first identified in 1981, and since then more than 500,000 American people have been reported as having AIDS. About 2/3 of those people had died through 1995. Approximately 50% of patients develop AIDS within 10 years of becoming HIV infected. After people acquire AIDS they usually die within 2 years of infection.
infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, and four million had developed the disease (Packer). It is estimated that by the year 2000 more than forty million people, ninety percent in developing countries will be infected (Packer).
Different people define success in many different ways. What is considered success by one person may be viewed as failure by another person. Randy Shilts, a homosexual newspaper reporter / author, attempts to make fundamental changes in America’s opinion on AIDS. In Randy Shilts’s essay, "Talking AIDS to Death," he speaks of his experiences as an "AIDS celebrity." At the core of Shilts’s essay is the statement, "Never before have I succeeded so well; never before have I failed so miserably"(221). Shilts can see his accomplishments from two points of view- as a success and as a failure. Despite instant fame, Shilts is not satisfied with the effects his writings has on the general public. Shilts’s "success" and reasons for failure can both be considered when one decides whether or not his efforts were performed in vain.
HIV, also known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. If left untreated, HIV reduces the number of CD4 cells in the body, which makes a person more likely to get infections or infection-related cancers. HIV can also lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), if it is not being treated (aids.gov). There is no effective cure for HIV, however with proper treatment and medical care, HIV can be controlled. In
The impact of AIDS on the region is such that it is now affecting demographics - changing mortality and fertility rates, reducing lifespan, and ultimately affecting population growth. Although Africa is the region of the world hardest hit by AIDS, and although no country has entirely escaped the virus, prevalence rates vary dramatically between regions, countries, and even within countries. In general, the southern region is the most affected, with Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe showing the highest rates, while West Africa has been less affected.
IMMUNE DEFICIENCY? Catching the AIDS virus can be lethal because it affects the immune system, which is the system in the body that fights against diseases. A person with the AIDS virus has lower levels of CD4+ cells. These cells, commonly called "T-helper" cells are an essential part of the immune system. Normal people usually have between 500 to 1,500 CD4+ cells in a milliliter of blood.
HIV is one of the global public health issues that have taken millions of lives till date. According to the CDC (2016), HIV has taken about 1.2 million people lives globally. The prevalence of HIV infected people is very high. There were approximately 36.9 million people who were living with HIV, with about 2.0 million people are newly infected with HIV in 2014 globally (CDC, 2016).
The AIDS virus is the most common disease, and with no cure, an infected person will die. It is estimated that 90 to 95 percent of AIDS infections occur in developing countries where the world’s worst living conditions exist.
HIV is a virus that slowly invades the immune system. The virus attacks special cells that help the body fight off disease, making the person more vulnerable to diseases and infection (What is HIV/AIDS?). If HIV is left untreated, the person will then move to the advanced stage, AIDS. AIDS is the condition where the human body has a deficiency in helper cells (What is AIDS?). This results in the body no longer being able to fight off certain diseases and infections. Those with AIDS, have an estimated 1-3 years to live, depending on the advancement (What is HIV/AIDS?). HIV is transmitted through sexual contact, and blood (What is HIV/AIDS?). Continually, one cannot know that they have HIV, without being tested (What is HIV/AIDS?). There is no cure for HIV/AIDS, but there are treatments for symptoms (What is AIDS?). In poor countries, HIV/AIDS is rampant and extremely difficult to control. Without proper knowledge or protection, HIV and AIDS will continue to destroy lives. Many children will lose their parents, or even themselves, to this terrible
The strain is similar because of the nucleotide sequence in simian immunodeficiency disease. HIV was known/ came about around the 1920’s in Kinshasa, a city in the Dominic Republic of Congo, Africa. In 1959, the disease antibodies were identified in blood, however the first documented case was not till 1981. The most affected patients are those that are gay or bisexual men, particularly those that are young African American gay. In 2015, 39,513 people were diagnosed with HIV infection in the United states. Gay and bisexual men accounted for 26.375 of HIV infections. The largest number of diagnoses are of African American gay and bisexual man; the number is 10,315. 1,242,000 were living with the virus at the end of 2013. On a global scale, there is 36.7 million people living with HIV. About 2.1 million people were newly affected in 2015. Majority of individuals diagnosed with HIV are living within low and middle income countries. The Saharan Africa region is the most affected area of this virus. HIV infects, individuals, households, communities and countries worldwide. HIV can migrate to a deathlier form called AIDS. AIDS has killed more than 39 million people. This virus can only be transmitted through sex, intravenous drug abuse, blood transfusion, organ transplant, tattooing, and accidental medical needle
AIDS is an acronym that stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome and it is caused by the HIV virus. Sadly, there is no cure for this disease up to date. This disease is a very serious condition that affects one’s life on many levels. It affects people emotionally and their relationships with others. Some of the horrific symptoms of aids include rapid weight loss, ongoing fever and night sweats, extreme tiredness, extended length of swelling of the lymph glands in the armpits, groin, or neck, diarrhea that lasts more than a week, sores in the mouth, anus, or genitals, pneumonia, blotches that are red, pink, brown, or purplish colored under the skin or inside the mouth, nose, or eyelids.
The Centers for disease control (CDC) has declared AIDS a global pandemic. No one person or group is safe from contracting this virus; knowledge, and safety is the only way you can protect yourself. However, the first black South African diagnosed with AIDS was in 1987, and currently South Africa is home to over 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS, making it the largest population on earth with people infected. (3)
In 1981, a new fatal, infectious disease was diagnosed--AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome). It began in major cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco. People, mostly homosexual men and intravenous drug users, were dying from very rare lung infections or from a cancer known as Kaposi’s sarcoma. They have not seen people getting these diseases in numerous years. Soon, it also affected hemophiliacs, blood recipients, prostitutes and their customers, and babies born from AIDS-infected women. AIDS was soon recognized as a worldwide health emergency, and as a fatal disease with no known cure, that quickly became an epidemic. When high-profile victims began to contract the virus, such as basketball star Magic Johnson, the feeling spread quickly that anyone, not just particular groups of people, could be at risk. AIDS impairs the human body’s immune system and leaves the victim susceptible to various infections. With new research, scientists think that the disease was first contracted through a certain type of green monkey in Africa, then somehow mutated into a virus that a human could get. AIDS is a complicated illness that may involve several phases. It is caused by a virus that can be passed from person to person. This virus is called HIV, or Human Immuno-deficiency Virus. In order for HIV to become full-blown AIDS, your T-cell count (number of a special type of white-blood cells that fight off diseases) has to drop below 200, or you have to get one of the symptoms of an AIDS-induced infection.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal physical condition that is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus damages the human body’s immune system, so that the body cannot protect itself from bacteria, viruses, and prions that cause diseases. With severely lowered defenses, AIDS patients die from common illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, cold, and tuberculosis. The HIV virus does not directly attack its victim; the disease that patients suffer from after receiving the virus is what hurts and kills them.
The emergence of HIV/AIDS is viewed globally as one of the most serious health and developmental challenges our society faces today. Being a lentivirus, HIV slowly replicates over time, attacking and wearing down the human immune system subsequently leading to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) at which point the affected individual is exposed to life threatening illnesses and eventual death. Despite the fact that a few instances of this disease have been accounted for in all parts of the world, a high rate of the aforementioned living with HIV are situated in either low or medium wage procuring nations. The Sub-Saharan region Africa is recognized as the geographic region most afflicted by the pandemic. In previous years, people living with HIV or at risk of getting infected did not have enough access to prevention, care and treatment neither were they properly sensitized about the disease. These days, awareness and accessibility to all the mentioned (preventive methods, care etc.) has risen dramatically due to several global responses to the epidemic. An estimated half of newly infected people are among those under age 25(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic). It hits hard as it has no visible symptoms and can go a long time without being diagnosed until one is tested or before it is too late to manage.