Aids Essay, Research Paper
Aids. One of the world s largest killers and yet we know so little about it. It kills so many people each year, both men and woman. It s sad that we can t stop it.
Aids starts with the HIV virus. This virus can be transmitted through 3 basic ways. Sexual intercourse, blood transfusions, and intravenous drugs. Most people think that they cannot get the virus, even though they have done one or more of the above. In fact, 61% of kids 14-21 have engaged in sexual intercourse. That s over half! Also, a very small percentage of these kids use condoms regularly. And even if the kids DO use condoms, there is still a chance of the HIV virus getting through. It could do this because of misuse of the condom, use of alcohol or drugs which could impair judgment on its use, or the condom itself could be defective.
The transmission of aids can be made in many different ways. The most common way is direct contact of bodily fluids from either a male or a female. This contact contaminates blood that was previously healthy. This virus cannot be contracted through tears and saliva, even though some people think it can. Also, mosquitoes and other insects cannot carry the virus. The other most common way of transmitting aids is through mother to child transfusion. The virus can be transmitted during birth or during breast feeding.
The symptoms are so simple that they re complex. In stage one, which is when your infected, nothing shows up. It is possible that you could be living for years with HIV and not even know it. Blood tests even do not show the virus all the time. It takes at least 3 months to tell. In stage 2, the mild illness stage, the virus grows and starts destroying your white blood cells. When most of the cells are destroyed, the body becomes weaker. This happens because the process of destroying your white blood cells destroys your immune system. When you get to this stage, you might just feel tired or loose weight. But you may also develop a cough, fever, sweating at night, or diarrhea. The sad thing is that your body can no longer stand up against a common cold. A cough is more threatening than a person with a gun. In the final stage, stage 3, the AIDS virus has nearly destroyed the entire immune system. The body can no longer defend itself against even the slightest germs. To be exact, the AIDS virus doesn t actually kill anyone, other types of illnesses and infections actually kill the person.
There are tons of people who are trying their best to find a cure every day. The 3 parts to finding this cure are finding a drug that willkill the HIV virus upon arrival into he body, a vaccine that will prevent the disease altogether, and to educate the people and tell them the dangers of AIDS and the HIV virus. The first step to prevention was taken in 1986 when AZT was made. AZT is a pill that prolongs the life of HIV infected patients. 50% of the people who have taken his pill have had their life span increased by at least a year. The problem is that scientists need to find a medicine that will kill the virus but not the cell in which the virus resides.
And now for the figures. There are 501,310 cases reported of AIDS in the US, and 311,381 deaths. In the world, there have been 4,500,000 cases reported, and 3,000,000 deaths. In America. 1 in 250 people are infected with HIV and 1 in 92 American men ages 25-39 are infected. 1 in 33 African American men ages 27-39 are HIV infected. In May of 1995, 54% of American children surveyed said that they think they might get AIDS. 3,000 woman are infected with HIV each day. 500 woman die from AIDS each day.
If you don t think that AIDS is a serious buisiness, then you are wrong. The statistics alone prove the importance of protectingyourself from this awful fate. It could happen to you
I used several internet resources to make this report.