Aids stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. That means it’s a syndrome, which affects your immune system. When you’re affected with a virus the human body normally makes anti-bodies to fight the virus. But the aids-virus is so obstinate that the body doesn’t succeed. Then the virus does its destructive work and tears down the immune system. Result: infections. When someone who’s infected with the HIV-virus (which stands for Human Immune deficiency Virus) suffers from infections a lot, he will be diagnosed with aids.
Aids was first recognized in the U.S.A. in 1981. A certain type of pneumonia which normally only occurred to people with a weakened immune system, now suddenly was found among a lot of young (homosexual) men, who were completely healthy beforehand. In this group, a lot of cases with a certain type of skin-cancer were also discovered. It turned out to be a new disease. The disease was called aids. The aids virus spreads itself really fast. In 2002 the United Nations estimated the number of people with HIV or aids 42 million. In 2000 this was just 36 million. By far the most people who are infected with HIV or aids live in development areas. In countries south of the Sahara, aids is the number one cause of death. In a lot of development countries children are sexually active at a young age, although they know very little about sex, for example how to prevent aids or HIV. In these countries there is not enough money for sex education or contraceptives such as condoms to prevent aids or HIV.
HIV or aids isn’t hereditary. The virus can be found in blood, sperm, vaginal fluids, pre-ejaculation fluids and breast milk. With someone who’s infected with HIV the blood and sperm contains a high concentration of the virus. With the other body fluids the concentration is obviously lower, but contamination through these fluids is possible.
Aids is incurable. There are medicines to slow down the disease but until today they’re still looking for the cure.