AIDS is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Aids is caused by a virus called

HIV which stands for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If you get infected with HIV,

your body will try to fight the infection. It will make "antibodies," special molecules to

fight HIV. HIV is not the same thing as AIDS. It is possible for people to have HIV for

many years and not get sick. It is also possible for them to not develop AIDS. A blood

test for HIV looks for these antibodies. If you have them in your blood, it means that you

have HIV infection. AIDS was first reported in the United States in 1981 and has since

become a major worldwide epidemic. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency

virus, or HIV. By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV

progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People

diagnosed with AIDS may get opportunistic infections. These are deadly infections. The

infections are caused by bacteria that rarely affect healthy people.

There are several ways that AIDS can be spread. The most prevalent way it is

spread is through sexual contact with an infected person. The next highest way is from

mother to child. The virus can be spread through breast feeding. It also occurs while the

child is in the womb. Aids is also spread through blood transmission. During the first few

years, the blood was not screened. Numerous hemophiliacs got the disease. In Asian

countries, blood is sold in clinics and on the streets which heavily increases the risk for

getting the disease. Drug users are also at great risk. Many drug users share and use

dirty needles so they are easily contaminated. Dirty medical equipment and tattoo

needles also help spread the infection. People who already have a sexually transmitted

disease are more likely to develop AIDS by having sex with an infected partner. HIV is

rarely spread through contamination during blood transfusions.

Before patients are given drugs, they take a CD4 test. A CD4 test helps doctors

decided the starting point for the patients to start treatment. There are many different
kinda of drugs for treatment. HIV retroviral drug treatment is the main type of

treatment for AIDS. While it is not a full cure to the disease, it helps people from being

very sick for many years. The treatment consists of drugs that have to be taken every

day for the rest of a person’s life. The aim of antiretroviral treatment is to keep the

amount of HIV in the body at a low level. This stops any weakening of the immune

system and allows it to recover from any damage that HIV might have caused already.

There are at least twenty approved drugs for AIDs treatment, but many are not available

in every country. One treatment is ART. ART is Anti Retroviral Therapy. ART maintains the

integrity of the immune system by suppressing the development of infection. It is a

combination of three different drugs. The drugs must be taken every day for the rest of

the patient's life and it requires high physician and patient cooperation. incorrect or

inconsistent use of the drugs leads to higher risks of the drugs not working. In a study,

twelve to fifteen percent of patients never responded to the drugs. After forty eight

weeks, twenty five percent no longer responded. The type of drugs that patients take

depends on certain factors. These factors include the price of the drugs and the possible

side effects. Most treatments only have short-term effects.

The first AIDS case reported in the United States was in 1981. AIDS is now being

seen as an epidemic. Since the epidemic has begun, 18.8 million people have died of the

disease. Currently, there are 34.3 million people in the world living with AIDS. The United

States has the largest number of cases in the well off parts of the world with 850,000

people living with the disease. Seventy two percent of all AIDS deaths happened in

Saharan Africa. In Eastern Europe and Asia, most AIDS and HIV cases occurred among

sex workers. HIV and AIDs severely increases the rate of mother mortality. At the end of

2001, there were over one million reported AIDS cases. Women make up over twenty

three percent of AIDs cases. 85,000 women have died since the beginning of the AIDS
epidemic. Bu the end of 2002, 19.2 million Africans were living with AIDS. In 2006, 39.5

million people were living with AIDS. That number was up 2.6 million from 2004. Young

adults accounted for almost half of the new infections.

AIDs is a disease that affects the immune system. Millions of new AIDs cases are

reported every year. AIDS is an epidemic that is rapidly increasing. If nothing is done to

help control the spread of AIDs, more and more people will die from the disease. People

and the government need to do more to help stop the spread of AIDS and HIV.