Widespreading Effects of AIDS
Widespreading Effects of AIDS
AIDS is short for: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is a serious condition in which the body's defenses against some illnesses are broken down. People with AIDS develop many different kinds of diseases which the body would usually fight off quite easily. AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV, which is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV can be passed on because it would be present in the sexual fluids and blood of infected people. If infected blood or sexual fluid gets into your blood, then you will become infected. If a man with HIV has vaginal intercourse without a condom, infected fluid could pass into the woman¹s blood stream through a tiny cut or sore inside her body. This can be so small that you don¹t know about it. If a couple has anal intercourse the risk of infection is far greater.
HIV can also be passed on by sharing equipment used to inject drugs. Blood can remain on needles and syringes. If you share, and a person infected with HIV used the needle first, the virus can be injected directly into your blood.
Some people think that AIDS is something that other people need to worry about like, gays, drug users, and people who sleep around. These ideas are mistaken. All young people need to take the threat of HIV seriously. The most effective way of fighting this deadly virus is to be educated about the disease and avoid activities which are risky.
During the past decade , more than 400,000 individuals in the United States have been diagnosed with AIDS. Officials from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the number of deaths from AIDS in the U.S. has dropped by a record 47 percent. Officials attributed the reduction to an extremely effective combination drug treatment that allows people infected with HIV to live longer and healthier lives. Unfortunately, no such decline occurred in the number of new Although the U.S. has a great deal of AIDS cases, it doesn¹t even come close to the numbers of cases that are in Africa.
Of the 30 million people worldwide with AIDS, 21 million live in Africa. More than 16 percent of South Africa¹s 40 million people are infected with the HIV virus. The infection level among South Africans between the ages of 20 and 30 already is...