HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency virus. If this virus is left untreated it can lead to the desase AIDS. This desease is the final stage og HIV infection.
For over 20 years, the HIV/AIDS disease has destroyed lives and devastated countries around the globe. Among all the causes of deaths around the world today, AIDS is the fourth-leading one, caliming over a million of lives a year. Accoarding to the Centers for desase Control and Prevention, around 1 million in the U.S are currently living with HIV. Only 25% of the them are recieving ongoin
g medical treatment.
Unfortunately there is no cure for HIV nor AIDS, however, there are effective antiretroviral treatments that have been available since the mid 1990s. If this medicine gets taken right away, everyday, it can prevent the chance of transmitting the virus to others. It can also dramatically prolong the lives of people with HIV.
Because of the deaths rates caused by HIV/AIDS, scientists have researched where this virus is coming from and what can be done to prevent it. In the beginning of their research, scientists claimed they had come to a conclusion and identified a type of chimpanzee in Central africa as the main source of HIV virus in humans. They believe that humans got transmitted of this virus when they hunted for these types of chimpanzee for meat and came into touch with their infected blood.
Today, accoarding to nationalGeographic, scientists say that the virus did not start its life in chimps. Instead, it was seperate viruses to begin with, jumping from different monkey species into chimps.
When it comes to transmission of HIV , the most common methods among humans are unprotected sex with an infected partner, sharing needles with an infected person and pregnancy and birth.
Also, there are ways to find out if someone is infected by this virus. Once the immune system weakens, a person infected with HIV can develop symptoms such as lack of energy, fevers and sweats, skin rashes or flaky skin, short-term memory loss and mouth, genetical or anal sores from herpes infection.
From a social point of viw, the epedemic began in a cloud of fear, because very few knew how the desease was spread. This led to discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Despite the efforts, people with HIV/AIDS were fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes and denied access to medical care and social services. In response, publiv health officials worked as best as possible to provide the general public with the right information about the desease.
Sources:
National Geographic News– By Stefan Lovgren in June,12,2003
Aids.gov– Last revised: 12/31/2015
Mariam Arfan 