United States and Japan

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome, more commonly referred to as AIDS, is an extreme sociological importance, not only because of its risk to public health, but also because the start and cause of the disease is understandable in terms of social behavior, and has persistent effects on the routine of social roles and the environment of interpersonal relationships. By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. AIDS is everywhere in the world, primarily in South Africa, which has the most infected (5.5 million) number of people. Because there is no cure, 25 million people have died already, with 90% of HIV positive people living in the Third World.

AIDS has touched the lives of millions of American families. This deadly disease is unlike any other in modern history. Changes in social behavior can be directly linked to AIDS. Its overall effect on society has been dramatic. AIDS is not the end of the world, it is the most recent test the medical community needs to meet. There are new things to discover including an immunization and cure of HIV/AIDS. However, before that, we have to overcome the longstanding fears of the strange and unfamiliar and rise above the narrow-mindedness that we believe of, "those people". AIDS is becoming more and more aware to the world today and pretty much everyone knows someone or are themselves effected by AIDS.

For me personally, my cousin, Robert was infected with the AIDS virus at the age of 20, the same age that I am now. He died at the age of 36 after a long struggle with the disease. The last five years of his life were extremely hard to watch as he suffered from numerous side effects of the disease such as a lack of appetite, extreme weight loss, numerous hospitalizations, and he even spent a year in a mental institution due to the side effects of his medication. He finally succumbed to cancer that was brought on by AIDS. Because of my personal experience with my cousin, this topic is extremely important to me and I have seen first hand the awful side effects of the disease. A cure is greatly needed to be found, as this disease leaves the victim suffering for many years before they finally die a slow and agonizing death.

It is extremely sad to think about the growing number of young people affected by AIDS everyday and to think just how fast and easy the disease is spread is overwhelming. At a time when many Americans are increasingly optimistic that modern drug therapy might do away with the virus, HIV is taking a heavy toll worldwide. Every minute of every day somewhere in the world, people are being effected by the horrible consequences of AIDS.

Because there is no vaccine for HIV, the only way people can prevent infection with the virus is to avoid behaviors putting them at risk of infection, such as sharing needles and having unprotected sex. Many people infected with HIV have no symptoms. Because of this, there is no way of knowing with certainty whether a sexual partner is infected unless he or she has repeatedly tested negative for the virus and has not engaged in any risky behavior. Abstaining from having sex or using male latex condoms or female condoms may give some protection, during sexual intercourse. The problem with the use of condoms is that many men will not wear them because they feel they won't be "real men" or that it won't feel as good. Looking back, it's amazing that after men and women do find out they are HIV positive, they will don't wear condoms because the men want to feel macho and the women don't dare ask the men in fear of showing disrespect. The issue of ignorance surely comes into play here.

In the United States, there are meeting places for openly gay and bisexual men, and even married men. In the article, Double Lives on the Down Low by Benoit Denizet-Lewis, this issue is talked about in great detail. According to Denizet-Lewis, "To their wives and colleagues, they're straight. To the men they have sex with, they're forging an exuberant new identity. To the gay world, they're kidding themselves. To health officials, they're spreading Aids throughout the community" (2003: 28).

Even though the AIDS disease is not limited to race or gender, it is looked upon very differently in the white and black communities. Today, while there are black men who are openly gay, it seems that most of the people having sex with men still lead secret lives, and are products of a black culture that consider masculinity and fatherhood as a black man's major responsibility. Denizet-Lewis states, "Blacks make up only 12 percent of the population in America, but they account for half of all new reported H.I.V. infections" (2003: 30). In society, people that are white can be openly gay, but if a person is black and gay, it is looked on as though he has let down the whole black community. Being an African American is tough enough, but being an African American and gay seems a cruel and impossible position.

AIDS is not only a problem in the United States. AIDS in Africa has little similarity to the American outbreak. Africans are, "Limited to specific high-risk groups and brought under control through intensive education, vigorous political action, and expensive drug therapy" (2001: 2). The primary reason for this epidemic in Africa is pure ignorance. In the article Death Stalks a Continent by Johanna McGeary, AIDS in South Africa is particularly talked about. According to McGeary, "As AIDS migrated to man in Africa, it mutated into a complex plague with confounding social, economic, and political mechanics that locked together to accelerate the virus' progress" (2001: 2). While Africans know about the disease and its many ways of spreading, and that AIDS is incurable, there are many reasons why they do not change their sexual behavior; one being that they do not think the risk applies to them because of lack of education and knowledge.

AIDS has become the most devastating disease that human kind has ever faced. It is now the leading cause of death in Africa. Women in particular have an additional burden because of AIDS. If a woman knows that her husband has AIDS, and he still wants to have sexual intercourse with her but she does not, the woman has no choice but to succumb to her husband's wishes. If the woman does not agree to have sex and bear a child, the woman is thought of as cheating on her husband or showing disrespect and can often times be banned from the family. The woman does not want to bring an HIV positive child into the world because the baby will die no matter what, but the child will eventually be left without any parents because they too have HIV.