Hiv Aids

The issue of HIV/AIDS has been a developing concern since the early 1980's. It is an issue that has sparked fear in everyone, but "society" has narrowed it down to certain people that can contract the AIDS virus. The stereotypical "AIDS" victim is not an IV drug user or a practicing homosexual; it is anyone, anyone who has unprotected sex, anyone who has had a blood transfusion in the past twenty years, or anyone who was innocently brought into the world by an infected mother. As unfair as it is, HIV/AIDS can attack someone whom society would have never "branded" as a stereotypical AIDS victim. The issue of HIV/AIDS needs to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed now.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the late stage of an infection that is generally acknowledged to be caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is a retrovirus that attacks and destroys certain white blood cells. The targeted destruction weakens the body's immune system and makes the infected person susceptible to infections and diseases that ordinarily would not be life threatening. AIDS was first identified in the United States in 1981. The epidemic has now spread to every part of the United States and to all sectors of society. At the end of 2004, 2,541 people were living with AIDS in Oregon, and an estimated 415,193 people were living with AIDS in the United States. The problem grows dramatically when you see that at the end of 2005 an estimated 40.3 million people were living with HIV/AIDS throughout the world. (Avert.org, 2006)

As stated earlier this disease does not discriminate and there are four ways in which HIV can be spread: through injection with a needle contaminated with HIV; by having sex with a person who is infected with the virus; by receiving a transfusion of contaminated blood; or in the case of an infant with an HIV positive mother--having the virus transmitted through the placenta before birth, or through the mother's milk after birth. It's important to recognize that you don't have AIDS as soon as you are infected with HIV. You can be HIV+ for many years with no signs of disease, or only mild-to-moderate symptoms. But without treatment, HIV will eventually wear down the immune system in most people to the point that they develop more serious problems. The issue of HIV/AIDS is also important because since 1986 there have been impressive advances in understanding of the