Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS weakens the immune system hampering the body’s defense mechanisms. AIDS is known to be a deadly disease, especially if it is not treated in a timely manner. AIDS and HIV is an epidemic that is increasing among the African American population with roots tracing back to Africa, AIDS and HIV needs greater exposure and more awareness within the African American community and in the homosexual community.

Semen containing white blood cells infected with HIV comes into contact with tissue in the rectum and vagina. The virus can then enter the bloodstream of the host through perforations in the tissue surface. The risk of this happening is greatest in anal intercourse, either between two men or a man and a woman.” HIV is spread through a direct exchange of blood or blood products. This mode of transmission is most frequent among IV drug users who share injection needles. It includes, as well, hemophiliacs and other persons who receive blood transfusions, and fetuses of mothers who carry the AIDS virus.” AIDS has sparked considerable interest and controversy since the start of the epidemic. However, in trying to identify where AIDS originated, there is a danger that people may try and use the debate to attribute blame for the disease to particular groups of individuals or certain lifestyles. When the AIDS epidemic became offical in June 1981, it was widely considered exclusively a "gay disease” and this was because many people were confused and uneducated about this new, foreign disease that faced and ravaged our society as a whole. There is no doubt that many people coming from all walks of life were subject to discrimination when other people discovered that they were suffering as victims taken by the disease. The cultural and social response to AIDS portrayed in the film Philadelphia (1993) covered all of these aspects and was

In the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” FRONTLINE examines the outbreak of AIDS since its first diagnosed case in 1981. The film investigates different medical, political and social environments under AIDS pandemic in the US and worldwide. The film not only focuses on the scientific research and progress in treating the disease, it also looks at the social stigma, government strategies and public campaigns around different countries.

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is related to HIV, but they are not one in the same. A person has AIDS only in the final stages of HIV, after the immune system becomes unable to defend itself against foreign bacteria, other viruses, and fungi, and allows for the development of certain cancers. The world first became aware of AIDS in the early 1980s. Growing numbers of gay men in New York and California were developing rare types of pneumonia and cancer, and a wasting disease was spreading in Uganda. Doctors reported AIDS symptoms under different names, including “gay-related immune deficiency” and “slim,” but by 1985, they reported them all over the world.

We have been aware of HIV and AIDS since the 1970s (Miller, 2012), and though there have been treatments and reduction in the number of people infected, the disease remains. The disease results in death usually following opportunistic infections as a result of AIDS destruction of the immune system, but thanks to modern medicine “many people

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

According to a report published in the February 1998 edition of “Nature”, scientists identified what they believe is the earliest case of AIDs in a man from the Congo in 1959. (Lerner and Hombs 39) By the end of the year 1980, 80 men would have been diagnosed with at least of the opportunistic infections that are a characteristic of AIDs. (Lerner and Hombs 40) AIDs cases in the 1980s increased dramatically not only around the world but in the United States, primarily in larger cities like Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. The numbers of AIDs diagnoses and deaths spiraled out of control throughout the 1980s and towards the end of 1989 there were 117,500 cases of AIDS reported and 89,000 related deaths.(Lerner and Hombs 54) In the

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.

People with AIDS are concerned about some of their rights that they might lose. Some of the consequences that those with AIDS have are restrictions on international travel, housing, employment, medical care, and health care insurance (Comprehensive). One of the biggest fears of people in the community is acquiring the HIV/AIDS disease. Because of the terrible effects of HIV, community members tend to have some concerns about those with the disease. People who are diagnosed with AIDS are usually highly discriminated against. It can be very difficult for people with AIDS to find a job, because they are constantly being denied (Comprehensive). They also have problems with being restricted or denied access to education, health, and social services (Comprehensive). Governments are held accountable for the way they treat those with HIV/AIDS and how they deal with their rights. The government is responsible for not violating the rights of those affected with HIV/AIDS. There are certain rights that cannot be taken away from those with AIDS. These are the right to be free from torture, slavery, or servitude, the right to a fair trial, and the right to freedom of thought (Gruskin, 2002). There will always be discrimination, but there needs to be a better balance of the protection of those with HIV/AIDS, and the community members, protecting all human

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, is a disease transmitted through blood and bodily fluids, and is caused by HIV or human immunodeficiency virus ("History of AIDS Up to 1986."). Did you know that many people considered AIDS a gay disease because it was thought that it only affected homosexual males, mainly those with several sexual partners or those who used drugs ("History of AIDS Up to 1986.")? Before AIDS had a name it was called a number of different things (“HIV and AIDS in the USA”). AIDS is important to world history because it helped people become aware of a disease that could affect them.

According to Alonzo & Reynolds (1995), HIV/AIDS are manifestations of an extraordinary illness in terms of its potential for multidimensional stigmatization. The stigmas associated with the disease and the negative connotations such as the behaviors that believe/perceived to have caused the illness, the association with sudden death, being perceived as an undesirable can and will affect one’s housing status.

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

Chapter 15 of the book discusses about AIDS or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. This is an epidemic and is taken into account as the deadliest epidemic in human history since it first appeared in 1981 and there were several theories attributed to its existence

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,

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.