Over 33 million people around the world have AIDS (“Global Statistics.”). The disease, caused by the virus HIV, attacks the immune system, which is meant to protect your body from illness. Currently, there is no cure for AIDS, and 25 million have lost their lives due to it. AIDS is a serious issue affecting many people around the world today as they struggle with the disease, research for medicines, and attempt to reduce new infections
Many people with AIDS do not show symptoms for a long time, even for over ten years. The cause, HIV, is an STD. Human immunodeficiency virus attacks the T-cells, part of the immune system, and uses it to duplicate itself and spread. When the number of immune cells in one cubic milliliter of blood is less than 200, the infection is referred to as AIDS. The amount of time it takes for the cell count to fall so low varies from person to person, sometimes because of certain drugs or because the immune system is naturally less resistant to the disease (“Learn about HIV/AIDS.”).
AIDS can cause a lot of different complications in the body. Some common signs include dry skin, fatigue, fevers, symptoms of infection like coughing or headaches, and weight loss. OIS, or opportunistic infections, occur when the body gets ill from something else because of a weak immune system. Pneumonia, fungal infections, and cancers also appear more in those with AIDS. People infected with HIV but not yet diagnosed with AIDS can also suffer from symptoms. Because any symptoms could be a result of weak immune cells or just a regular infection, there is no way to know for sure if someone has AIDS without a blood test (“Learn about HIV/AIDS.”).
The disease was first reported in the 80’s, the epidemic beginning in 1985. A large n...
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...inst AIDS, and this epidemic will not disappear. A donation to any AIDS organization will help to reduce some one's pain as they struggle with this disease.
Works Cited
“Basic Facts about HIV/AIDS.” The Foundation for AIDS Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. .
“Global Statistics.” AIDS.gov. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. .
“Learn about HIV/AIDS.” AIDS Healthcare Foundation. AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. .
“Research Accomplishments.” The Foundation for AIDS Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. .
Compounding these exceptionally troubling numbers is a significant population with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Again estimates vary, but the United Nations projects the national prevalence rate to be 4.5 percent of the population. Other estimates place the rate as high as 12 percent in the urban population and 5 percent in rural regions. As a small “win”, the infection rate for HIV/AIDS has recently shifted downward due to significant UNAIDS/WHO efforts (Haiti – Health).
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized as a new disease in 1981 when increasing numbers of young homosexual men succumbed to unusual opportunistic infections and rare malignancies (Gallant49).During this time, many people were contacting this disease because it was not discovered yet and people did not have knowledge about it.Scientists believe HIV came from a particular kind of chimpanzee in Western Africa. Humans contracted this disease when they hunted and ate infected animals. A first clue came in 1986 when a morphologically similar but antigenically distinct virus was found to cause AIDS in patients in western Africa (Goosby24). During this time, scientists had more evidence to support their claim about this disease. Once discovered this disease was identified as a cause of what has since become one of the most devastating infectious diseases to have emerged in recent history (Goosby101). This disease was deadly because it was similar to the Black Death, it was killing majority of the population. Since its first identification almost three decades ago, the pandemic form of HIV-1 has infected at least 60 million people and caused more than 25 million deaths ...
The spread of aids threatens our population daily. Lives lost to it number over 12 million, including 2 mil...
AIDS is slowly becoming the number one killer across the globe. Throughout numerous small countries, AIDS has destroyed lives, taken away mothers, and has left hopeless children as orphans. The problem remains that funding for the diseases’ medical research is limited to none. In the country Brazil, HIV/AIDS has been compared to the bubonic plague, one of the oldest yet, most deadly diseases to spread rapidly across Europe (Fiedler 524). Due to this issue, Brazil’s government has promised that everyone who has been diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS will receive free treatment; however, this treatment does not include help in purchasing HIV medications, that “carry astronomical price tags” (Fiedler 525). Generic drug companies have been able to produce effective HIV medications that are not as costly if compared to the prices given by the huge pharmaceutical companies. In contrast, the U.S. government has now intervened with these generic companies hindering them from making HIV medications, which may not be as efficient if made by the pharmaceutical companies. Not only are these drug companies losing thousands of dollars against generic drug companies, but also tremendous profit that is demanded for marketing these expensive drugs as well. “How many people must die without treatment until the companies are willing to lower their prices, or to surrender their patients so generic makers can enter market? (Fiedler 525).” With this question in mind, what ways can we eliminate the HIV/AIDS epidemic across the world? With research, education, testing, and funding we can prevent the spread of HIV to others and hopefully find a cure.
Spink, Gemma. "AIDS." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. 23 Dec 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .
CDC. (2010). Retrieved 02 10, 2014, from HIV in the United States: At A Glance: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/basics/ataglance.html
A person can come into contact with HIV/AIDS in several ways. The main premise is that HIV is found in human b...
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.
In United States, the HIV epidemic reached its peak in the 1980s when the number of infected reached 130,000 people per year. Infected women ...
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.
There is more than enough data that shows the extent to which AIDS cripples millions of individuals and households around the globe. Also, there are verified methods we can take to address this pandemic. We, as citizens of the world, need to recognize the severity of this problem and take action. Those in power must better distribute resources so that more is spent on saving the families and lives of AIDS stricken patients.
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.
some of the above symptoms but do not meet full criteria for AIDS, they are