Acquired Immune Difficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

- Very good essay.

Acquired Immune Difficiency Syndrome

AIDS is a life and death issue. To have the AIDS diseas is at present a sentence of

slow but inevitable death. I've already lost one friend to AIDS. I may soon lose others.

My own sexual behavior and that of many of my friends has been profoundly altered

by it. In my part of the country, one man in10 may already be carrying the AIDS virus.

While the figures may currently be less in much of the rest of the country, this is

changing rapidly. There currently is neither a cure, nor even an effective treatment, and no

vaccine either. But there are things that have been PROVEN immensely effective in slowing

the spread of this hideously lethal disease. In this essay I hope to present this

information. History and Overview

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Defficiency Disease. It is caused by a virus.

HIV/AIDS Support Group in Rural Kenya

English: South Africa HIV & AIDS Orphanage

English: AIDS in Africa Deutsch: AIDS in Afrika

The

disease originated somewhere in Africa about 20 years ago. There it first appeared as a

mysterious ailment afflicting primarily heterosexuals of both sexes. It probably was

spread especially fast by primarily female prostitutes there. AIDS has already become a

crisis of STAGGERING proportions in parts of Africa. In Zaire, it is estimated that over

twenty percent of the adults currently carry the virus. That figure is increasing. And what

occurred there will, if no cure is found, most likely occur here among heterosexual folks.

AIDS was first seen as a disease of gay males in this country. This was a result of

the fact that gay males in this culture in the days before AIDS had an average of 200 to

400 new sexual contacts per year. This figure was much higher than common practice

among heterosexual (straight) men or women. In addition, it turned...