Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

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“Deficient” is an immune system that cannot protect you from viruses, the flu, diseases, and the common cold. You cannot tell when someone is terminally ill, just like you cannot tell when someone is truly happy. When people lack the knowledge about AIDS and HIV, they seem to be ignorant about the situation other people are in. HIV and AIDS are not contagious, nor can you get it from hugging, holding hands, or kissing someone. Many people who are infected by this virus do not know they are HIV positive. HIV is transmitted from sexual intercourse, blood on blood contact, and sharing needles. HIV leads to AIDS, not the other way around.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a syndrome caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, characterized by a depressed immune system and the presence of one or more opportunistic diseases. AIDS is the final stage of HIV. You cannot be born with AIDS; AIDS is a disease that must be gained. When HIV is turned into AIDS, the immune system has been increasingly damaged by the virus which puts the immune system at risk for opportunistic infections. When you have AIDS, you are still HIV positive. So if one was to engage in coitus with a person with AIDS, the HIV infection can still be transmitted (Greenberg, Bruess, and Conklin, 2011). “On average, the survival time for African-Americans with AIDS is lower than for other racial or ethnic groups.” (Johnson, K. MD, 2012)
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retro virus that causes AIDS. HIV is a virus that can only be contracted between human to human. HIV weakens your immune system because this virus is destroying cells that fight diseases and infection in your body. A virus can only produce itself by taking over a cell in the body of its h...

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...sis. The South accounts for the majority of Blacks diagnosed with HIV and Blacks living with an HIV diagnosis at the end of 2010. (The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, 2013)

Works Cited

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) HIV Among African Americans. Retrieved http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/racialethnic/aa/facts/index.html Greenberg, J., Breuss, C., Conklin, S. (2009). Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality
(4th ed.) Sudbury,MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers

Hightow-Weidman, Lisa Beth (2009). Missteps, Misunderstandings, and Missed Opportunities:
HIV Testing Among Young African Americans. Journal of the American Sexually Transmitted
Diseases Association, 36(9), 592-593. doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0b013e3181b65c4a

Johnson, K. (2012, July 16). HIV and AIDS in Blacks in African Americans. WebMD.
Retrieved November 26, 2013

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