Introduction:

This paper is about aids, because there are a lot people who have AIDS. Therefore there are a lot of people who die of AIDS. Only in the Netherlands there are 13.000 people whit the HIV-virus. Also there are 120 children who have AIDS. Worldwide there are 36 million people whit the HIV-virus. Every day there are about 15.000 people who get infected by aids. In South Africa a Quarter of the population is infected with the HIV-virus. So AIDS is a decease by which a lot of people suffer.

What is AIDS

Aids is a disease affecting the immune system. If you have AIDS you are infected with the HIV-virus. HIV means Human immune deficiency virus so it touches your immune system so far that you got sick and than you have AIDS. The term AIDS is standing for Acquired immune deficiency syndrome. If you have AIDS you can¡¦t protect yourself from all kinds of deceases and you get so sick that you will eventually die. Everyone can get AIDS so not only grownups can get it even children. You don't see at people if they have AIDS so you always have to be careful. A lot of people don't know the deference between the terms: HIV, AIDS and zero positives but it is not the same.

HIV is the name of the virus that causes AIDS. If you have the HIV-virus it will destroy your immune system. It destroys the t-cells; those are the cells that protect us against all kind of deceases. Someone who is infected whit the HIV-virus you call HIV-infected or zero positive. You don't get sick immediately if you are infected whit the HIV-virus and you don't have AIDS. If you are infected you can feel a little bit tired and weak.

If the HIV-virus destroyed your immune system so far that it can¡¦t protect you for all kind of deceases you have AIDS. It is hard to say how long it's gonna take when you get AIDS because everyone's immune system is different. Without medicine it is approximately 10 years but with medicine it can take much and much longer.

Zero positive means that you can see in a blood test that you have the HIV-virus in your blood. Your body is making substances against the HIV-virus and that is visible. You call that zero-positive or HIV-positive. Positive means in this case that your body has an obvious reaction on the HIV-virus.

If you think you are infected whit the HIV-virus you can do a test. But you must wait 6 months because the time between you are infected and when the virus gets active is 6 months.
How can you get AIDS

You can get AIDS at four different ways:
- Blood contact with someone who is infected whit the HIV-virus
- Sexual contact with someone who is infected whit the HIV-virus.
- A mother can pass it to her child.
- If you use needles from someone who is infected whit the HIV-virus.

The most acquaintance way of getting aids is blood contact. Mostly you can¡¦t get Aids from a little bit of blood. In the past it has happened that people who got a blood transfusion got blood with the AIDS-virus. People didn't know the virus yet. But now they are testing the blood much better and you don¡¦t get the HIV-virus whit blood transfusions.

You also can get the virus if you don't have safe sex with someone who is infected. Because the virus is in sperm too. If two people are making love whit each other and one is zero positive he or she can infect the other. But you can¡¦t see if someone is infected with the virus so you always have to use a condom. And not only for the prevention of AIDS.

Baby¡¦s can get infected with the HIV-virus too. This is usually passed by the mother. If a HIV-infected woman is pregnant she can infect her child. This can start in the belly. The baby can get the virus also by birth or from breast milk. A lot of infected mothers don¡¦t know that they are infected. They get no medicine, no caesarean section and they give their child breast milk. If a mother is infected the chance that she infects her child is15-25%.

You don't get infected if you use drugs. But people who use drugs and use someone else's needles are risking getting infected. That is because there is mostly some blood on the needles.

Medicine

It is a great pity that there is still no medicine against the HIV-virus. If you are infected the virus stays forever in your body. But there are medicines that can slow down the progress.

The medicine gives the virus a smack. So the virus gives the body temporary rest. So the virus can do the body no harm for a while. It¡¦s a great pity that the virus does not disappear and never comes back. The HIV-virus is very clever and hide¡¦s at places where the medicine can¡¦t come.

Aids is a decease you find all over the world. Most of the people that have the HIV-virus live in Africa and South-America. That is because the poor countries can not effort the expensive medicines. But there¡¦s also not enough money to warn the people about AIDS.

All around the world there are researchers trying to make the medicines against AIDS better. But they are also trying to make a vaccine against AIDS. Using that vaccine you can¡¦t get the HIV-virus because your body is immune for that. If the virus gets into your body your body can defend it. It takes a while until they have the right formula. And if it is so far then it will be too expensive for the people who need it the most, the poor people.

Buddies

Buddies volunteer to help people with AIDS or HIV-infected people. A buddy is a pale who helps making appointments for the hospital or with the doctor. He also does shopping if the patient can¡¦t do that on his own. Buddies are also there to do nice things or to have good conversation with the patient. A buddy is there to support the patient in everything he does.

World AIDS day

Every year on December the first there is a world AIDS day. On that day the entire people whit AIDS/HIV, organisations en doctors want to ask attention for the decease. On that day there are all kinds of actions to collect money. The money they collect is used to warn people and to help people in the poor countries.

One of those actions is selling artbags. For an artbag you pay 5 euro and you safe one child from getting aids. If you have an artbag you can show that you want to help wit the battle against AIDS. In the artbag is also a picture postcard if you send that you can be a member of the AIDS-fond.

Sources

www.aids.com
www.aids.nl
www.aidsfonds.nl/jongeren/
www.hetklokhuis.nl/lees/dossiers/
Aids documentatiemap