HIV AIDS - Scourge Of The 21st Century
Elizabeth Campbell
We all know that AIDS is a deadly disease, which has spread a lot in the last century. How many of us really know how this particular syndrome affects people and what does it mean?
AIDS means Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. As the name aptly describes, this is a disease that severely affects the proper functioning of the immune system. It brings about a host of other syndromes and paves the way for "opportunistic infections" and neurological dysfunctions.
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus is the one causing AIDS. It launches the disease; once this happened, the disease evolves continuously, until the death of the infected human.
To this date, no cure has been found yet for this disease. Current medications and surgical procedure are aimed to delay the progress of the disease. In 1981, AIDS has been declared as an official disease and recognized like the rest of the diseases. Sadly, number of deaths due to AIDS has increased geometrically. Based on the information released by the World Health Organization, AIDS claimed about 2.9 million lives in 2006 and infected 39.5 million worldwide.
It is heartbreaking to note that the number of people dying and getting infected continuously grow year after year. Again, WHO has estimated that the number goes up by about 4.3 million per year? Worldwide, 1% of people from age 15-45 are afflicted. In Africa the ratio is much higher, at 20% for the same age group and even higher in some regions. These numbers sets forth a frightening picture that should cause all people to be concerned and do something for its cause.
AIDS is the sum total of all the disease that can possibly be linked with HIV infection. HIV will start to weaken the person's immune system and lay the path for the other infections to come in, until the body's immune system can not fight any more. Generally persons infected and untreated will consequently develop the AIDS.
The prevalence of the disease is unfortunate for the younger population as they are primarily the age group that has much sexual activity. Still, this is not a reason for the older generation to be lax as the virus can be transmitted in many other ways besides sexual contact.
It can also be transmitted from the mother to the fetus; thus, a baby can be born carrying the virus. A baby born with this virus stands low survival chances and the possibility that child is dead before he or she gets to know the world and enjoy the gift of life and all the aspects a human should know before dying. The virus is transmitted by contact with the mother's blood, or after the birth process, by breast-feeding.
Despite the worldwide attention it is getting and the application of the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art treatments, HIV continues to evolve and claim millions of lives, which leaves the scientific world stumped. Meanwhile the world is on standby while this 21st century epidemic continues to wreak havoc to the world's population, especially on those innocent children.
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