AIDS :: Free AIDS Essays

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is caused by the HumanImmunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Thevirus was discovered in France in1983 and in the united States in1984. In the United States, it wasinitially identified in 1981. In1986, a second virus, now calledHIV-2, was also discovered inAfrica.(Bookshelves) Femaleprostitutes in Africa probably penetrate it very quickly. AIDS becamea huge crisis of major proportionsin parts of Africa. It is my ownstrongly held opinion, and that ofmost medical and enquiry societyworld wide, that the AIDS epidemicis a serious problem. It has becomethe worst plague this species hasever known. Vastly greater sumsshould be spent on clear-cut fortreatments and vaccines. The UnitedStates government needs to do moreintensive tests and research tohelp curb this virus instead ofwaiting for opposite countries to doso.AIDS is transmitted in one of threeways From intimate inner contactwithout protection, from the mixingof a per sons blood with infectedblood, and from an infectedpregnant woman to her fetus.Infection can occur from bloodtransfusions of infected blood, orsharing unclean needles. (Needlesalready used, in this case, by anHIV unconditional person and notsterilized.) The HIV-2 virus alsocauses AIDS.AIDS was first seen as a diseaselimited gay males in the UnitedStates. This was a conduce that gaymales in this culture before AIDShad an average of 200 to 400 new turn onual contacts per year. Thisfigure was much greater than thenew familiar encounters amongheterosexual (straight) men orwomen. (Strack,5) In addition, itturned out that rectal sex was aparticularly effective way totransmit the disease. Rectal sex isa common practice among gay males.For these reasons, the diseasespread in the gay male populationof the United States more quicklythan in other populations. Itbecame to be thought of as a gaydisease. As the AIDS epidemicbegan to affect increasingly largefractions of those two populations(g ay males and IV medicine abusers),many of the rest of the Americansociety looked on smugly, for bothpopulations tended to be despisedby the mainstream of societyhere. It is extremely important forscientists to find a be cured _or_ healed for AIDS.It is important because mostlyeveryone in the world has sex. Thesafest option regarding AIDS andsex is total abstinence from allsexual contact. For those whoprefer to indulge in sexualcontact, this is often far toogreat a sacrifice.The development of a safe andeffective vaccine to prevent HIVinfection is among the highestpriorities for the AIDS researcheffort. Yet, vaccine researchhistorically has received lessfunding and attention than otherareas of AIDS research. Althoughthis may have been justifiable inthe past, the continued spread ofthe HIV epidemic and recentadvances in our knowledge dictate areassessment of priorities and a