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Aids Among Women During The Sex Industry

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AIDS among women in the sex industry

Human immunodeficieny virus (HIV) is a virus that produces AIDS (HIV/AIDS: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). The HIV virus attacks and weakens a person immune system. People with weaker immune systems are at higher risk of contracting infections or cancers. The HIV virus is spread from person to person through sexual contact, blood, and from mother to child. The people that are at higher risk of contracting HIV are drug users who share needles, and people who have unprotected sex. When someone is diagnosed with HIV they often have to get blood test to check their CD4 cell count. A person that is healthy has a CD4 count that is from 500-1500 cells per cubic milliliter of blood. A person that becomes infected with HIV may start to feel symptoms when their CD4 count drops below 350. If the count drops under 200 then the person is diagnosed with AIDS. The name of the treatment that people with HIV/AIDS receive is called antiretroviral therapy (ART).Overall, people that undergo treatment and take care of themselves can live a normal life (HIV/AIDS: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia).
In 2010, 34 million people in developing countries had HIV. The country with the most people affected with HIV is Sub-Saharan Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa 60 percent of the people that live with HIV are women. Transmission rates are growing in females between the ages of 15-24. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa don’t have much knowledge about the transmission of HIV.

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