AIDS/HIV & Its Effects on Popular Culture Essay

The term Human Immunodeficiency Virus is commonly known as (HIV), which is a virus that attacks the immune system of humans by destroying the amount of CD4 cells in their bodies. Without CD4 the human body is unable to fight against diseases, which can lead to Acquired Immune deficiency syndrome known as AIDS for short. The first case of the HIV/AIDS virus in the U.S. occurred in the early 1980’s. The first spark of the virus was found in San Francisco with couple of homosexual Caucasian American males. Today African Americans account for the largest proportion of HIV and AIDS in this country, represent approximately 13% of the U.S. population, but accounted for an estimated 44% of new HIV infections in 2010(the last year a study was

This history of HIV/AIDS as a blurry timeline before the 1980’s since that was around the time reports came in which eventually become an HIV report. The origin of HIV can be traced back to the early part of the century. Some believe that in the 1920’s chimpanzees from the Congo came into contact with humans (Avert, 2016). Though reports were not identified as HIV until the 1980’s, the belief that HIV was already scattered throughout four other continents may have been incident (Avert, 2016). Even though for the past 30 years the world has been diligently working to find a cure and pushing prevention, we are still struggling each year with increasing diagnosis. The beginning of HIV did end with lots of death, but now with our improved antiviral medication there is hope for many.

As a disease, HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a blood-borne virus that is transmitted from person to person via sexual intercourse, mother to child, or intravenous drug paraphernalia. The virus itself causes, usually over a period of time, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. AIDS actually targets the immune system and causes an immunosuppression which makes people who have the virus more susceptible to cancers and infections. This is the most unique feature of the HIV/AIDS virus and is the most deadly since its implications are destructive if not properly treated (Moore 51). The significance of this disease is one that began in the 1980’s and initially was thought to be a virus only found within homosexual communities and was even originally called Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Virus. However, in 1981, it was found that the virus was spreading beyond the gay community when Blacks accounted for 25% of the HIV/AIDs population and a trend began where Blacks continued to contract HIV significantly more than

AIDS or acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a disease where a person regardless of race or gender can get infected and have no chance of survival. AIDS started in the 1980’s to move from human to human. In a event were sex kills this is the one. In 1995, AIDS was the leading cause of death for adults 25 to 44 years old. But in recent years treatments help the survival and prolonged life of many with AIDS yet the disease still resides within them and they are dangerous to the well being of

It is believed that the first case of HIV/AIDs was first recorded somewhere in West Africa somewhere in the beginning of the twentieth century. Since then, it has spread across central Africa, undetected for a long time. But the question that has bewildered many, is how HIV spread in the first place. According to “Natural Transfer Theory”, HIV was spread to humans through chimpanzees. “Africans have been killing and eating monkey for at least fifty thousand years” (43). It was common for small African communities to hunt and eat chimpanzees. Chimpanzees were said to have “SIVs, simian immunodeficiency viruses that closely resembles HIV” (41). The virus is said to have spread to humans through these infected chimpanzees. The blood of these chimpanzees could have

In the 1980s, a mysterious disease began to take the lives of Americans. With the cause unknown, a fear grew among Americans. An unusually high rate of people was becoming sick with strange and rare diseases. When experimental treatments failed to work, people died. This mysterious disease is what we now know as HIV–Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In the past thirty-five years, the HIV has taken many turns in history. Although we do not hear about HIV and AIDS now, it is still a prevalent issue in the United States and in the world.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or better known as HIV, has been in the United States since the mid to late 1970’s. HIV, if left untreated can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Once HIV is contracted it is a life-long disease and as of today there is no cure for the virus. The virus works by destroying CD4, or T cells, and eventually destroys enough to break down the body’s ability to fight off infection and disease. If left untreated the virus will break down the CD4 cells and once these cell levels drop below 200 cells per cubic millimeters of blood you are then considered to have developed AIDS (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The virus is thought to of come from West

It is proven that the source of the HIV virus was from a type of chimpanzees located in West Africa ("Where Did HIV Come From?"). The chimpanzees carried a virus called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) which is similar to HIV ("Where Did HIV Come From?"). It is thought that when it was transferred the humans it mutated into HIV ("Where Did HIV Come From?"). The disease was transferred to humans by hunting the chimpanzees and eating the meat off of them ("Where Did HIV Come

The disease AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. The epidemic disease AIDS affected the US in 1981. The disease AIDS is defined according the world health Organization (WHO) ‘’ Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a term which applies to the most advanced stages of HIV infection”. An outbreak virus that struck women, men, and children from every single part of world. A known disease of gay men that caused fears and folk tale and deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates 34.3 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 1999 and an estimated 15,000 people

Unlike the plague, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is species specific and has puzzled many scientist about the possibility of overcoming its harsh implications. This mean that HIV can be found only within a particular species and, in this case, this virus tends to attack the human race. Many blame that the very existence of AIDS emerged from gay people or relations with animals, but it’s believed that transmission of this virus originated from a close derivative of HIV, SIV. SIV in known as Simian Immunodeficiency Virus which the Monkey virus that is equivalent to HIV. It has been known that the development of AIDS started with the transmission of SIV to humans via being bitten by a primates or the consumption of a primate who is infected

HIV and AIDS have affected millions of people throughout the world. Since 1981, there have been 25 million deaths due to AIDS involving men, women, and children. Presently there are 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS around the world and two million die each year from AIDS related illnesses. The Center for Disease Control estimates that one-third of the one million Americans living with HIV are not aware that they have it. The earliest known case of HIV was in 1959. It was discovered in a blood sample from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Looking further into the genetics of this blood sample researchers suggested that it had originated from a virus going back to the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. In 1999,

AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, has a set of symptoms that has caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV. This type of virus is considered to be when a person’s immune system is too weak to defend advanced HIV infections and how it develops certain symptoms and illnesses that will destroy the immune system. Most of the infections are harmless for healthy people, but the ones that have AIDS can die from the same diseases. “There is no cure for HIV and AIDS yet. However, treatment can control

Scientist believe that HIV came from a chimpanzee in Central Africa HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. The chimpanzee transmitted their version of HIV, called simian deficiency virus (SIV), when humans would hunt and eat the meat of the chimpanzee or come in contact with its blood. Over time the virus slowly spread across Africa and other parts of the world. HIV has existed in the United States since at least mid 1970’s. To contract HIV it will usually come from contact of any bodily fluid or the engagement of sexual intercourse. HIV destroys the body by attacking the body's

HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. A member of a group of viruses called retroviruses, HIV infects human cells and uses the energy and nutrients provided by those cells to grow and reproduce. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease in which the body's immune system breaks down and is unable to fight off certain infections, known as "opportunistic infections," and other illnesses that take advantage of a weakened immune system. When a person is infected with HIV, the virus enters the body and lives and multiplies primarily in the white blood cells. These are the immune cells that normally protect us from disease.

HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus which damages and kills cells of the immune system. It attacks the T-cells, key cells of the immune system, and uses them to make copies of itself. After being infected with the virus it progressively interferes and eventually destroys the immune system's ability to fight the anti-genes. HIV may develop into the syndrome AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV is an STD - a sexually transmitted disease - and therefore most commonly it is spread through sexual contact, and the virus mainly enters the body through the penis, mouth, lining of the vagina or vulva during sexual activity. HIV can also be spread through sharing syringes or needles with someone who is infected with the