Hiv / Aids A Deadly Disease - 1474 Words

Name Course Tutor Date HIV/AIDS Introduction Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome, which is popularly known as AIDS is a deadly disease as it attacks and adversely destroys body’s immune system. AIDS is brought about by a virus called Human Immune-Deficiency Virus, better known as HIV. This virus is minute, even invisible to a powerful microscope and can remain in the body for years without showing any visible symptoms. AIDS is the final stage of infection of the virus. It takes a period of about 10 years between being infected with HIV developing AIDS. The first case of AIDS infection in America was detected in 1959. Later, AIDS emerged as a fatal widespread disease in the 1980s in almost all countries in the world. This started with†¦show more content†¦By 1990s, the disease had become an epidemic, killing millions of people across the whole continent, with the largest cases being reported in Zambia by 1988. According to Bell (2011), the infection of the HIV virus mainly spreads through a sexual contact or blood to blood contact with an infected person. HIV spreads mainly through sexual intercourse-whether heterosexual or homosexual- where one of the partners is infected, transfusion of blood which is infected by the HIV virus, through the blood and blood products. The sharing of infected syringes or sharp needles can lead to HIV transmission. HIV is passed on by an infected mother towards her unborn child through the placenta. HIV does not spread through biting of mosquitoes, casual embracing, holding or touching an infected person, shaking hands with an infected person, coughing, sharing of public toilets or sharing meals or eating from the same plates. HIV cannot be transmitted through sharing clothes or attending similar schools or even working together. In the early days when the concept of HIV/AIDS was little known, the number of infections was many. People had little knowledge of the disease and the ways in which the disease was transmitted. As such, the commercial sex workers were the highest infected group closely followed by long distance truck drivers who mostly engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse. However, as scientists discovered that the virus is transmitted through sexual