AIDS :: Free AIDS Essays

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). "The virus was discovered in France in 1983 and in the United States in 1984. In the United States, it was initially identified in 1981. In 1986, a second virus, now called HIV-2, was also discovered in Africa.(Bookshelves)" Female prostitutes in Africa probably spread it very quickly. AIDS became a huge crisis of major proportions in parts of Africa. It is my own strongly held opinion, and that of most medical and research community world wide, that the AIDS epidemic is a serious problem. It has become the worst plague this species has ever known. Vastly greater sums should be spent on searching for treatments and vaccines. The United States government needs to do more intensive tests and research to help curb this virus instead of waiting for other countries to do so. AIDS is transmitted in one of three ways: From intimate sexual contact without protection, from the mixing of a person’s blood with infected blood, and from an infected pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection can occur from blood transfusions of infected blood, or sharing unclean needles. (Needles already used, in this case, by an HIV positive person and not sterilized.) The HIV-2 virus also causes AIDS. AIDS was first seen as a disease limited gay males in the United States. "This was a result that gay males in this culture before AIDS had an average of 200 to 400 new sexual contacts per year. This figure was much greater than the new sexual encounters among heterosexual (straight) men or women. (Strack,5)" In addition, it turned out that rectal sex was a particularly effective way to transmit the disease. Rectal sex is a common practice among gay males. For these reasons, the disease spread in the gay male population of the United States more quickly than in other populations. It became to be thought of as a "gay disease". As the AIDS epidemic began to affect increasingly large fractions of those two populations (gay males and IV drug abusers), many of the rest of the American society looked on smugly, for both populations tended to be despised by the "mainstream" of society here. It is extremely important for scientists to find a cure for AIDS. It is important because mostly everyone in the world has sex. The safest option regarding AIDS and sex is total abstinence from all sexual contact. For those who prefer to indulge in sexual contact, this is often far too great a sacrifice. The development of a safe and effective vaccine to prevent HIV infection is among the highest priorities for the AIDS research effort. Yet, vaccine research historically has received less funding and attention than other areas of AIDS research. Although this may have been justifiable in the past, the continued spread of the HIV epidemic and recent advances in our knowledge dictate a reassessment of priorities and a