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The Beginning of AIDS

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is commonly known as AIDS. The first reports of people dying from AIDS took place in the early 1800s. 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, or anyone who was innocently brought into the world by an infected mother.
AIDS destroys the immune system of the body, which the patient becomes the victim to the infections and cancers that would normally be fought off without any difficulty. In 1984 it was proved that AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A virus is a deadly yet toxic particle that enters and kills the immune cells, or lymphocytes.



“For many years, 85 to 90 percent of all AIDS patients died within three years.”( Greenhaven Press 16).
There is no way to tell just by looking at someone whether they are infected with HIV. Someone can be infected but have no symptoms and still look perfectly healthy. They might also feel perfectly healthy and not know themselves that they are infected. Taking blood tests clarifies if someone is HIV positive or negative.
The infection of over 30 million people was estimated with AIDS worldwide, with 16,000 new ones added each day. “Approximately a million people are infected in the United States, and 350,000 people have died of AIDS in the United States since the beginning of the outbreak.”(AIDS Infonet). By the year 2000, it was estimated that between 38 and 108 million people in the world will carry the virus (Greenhaven Press 23). Hot spots at risk for an explosion of infection during the next few years include Southeast Asia, India, and Southern Asia, mostly because of a lack of education about the HIV/AIDs spread, by also continuing practice of unsafe sexual acts that promotes transmission, and a shortage of treatment options.
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