AIDS AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a human disease characterized by progressive destruction of the body's immune system. AIDS results from the infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus. AIDS is currently considered incurable. In poorer countries where treatment is not widely available, most sufferers die within a few years of infection. In developed countries, people have lived with AIDS for ten to twenty years. It is estimated by the World Health Organization that, as of the end of 2004, 37.2 million adults and 2.2 million children were living with HIV. During 2004, 4.9 million people contracted HIV and 3.1 million died from AIDS. Since 1981, AIDS has killed 23.1 million people, out of 79.9 million who have died due to infections. In Africa, life expectancy has dropped by decades in many countries solely due to deaths from AIDS. AIDS was first noticed among intravenous drug users in the 1980s. By the 1990s the syndrome had become a global epidemic and in 2004, 58 percent of those with AIDS were women. The Red Ribbon symbol is used internationally to represent the fight against AIDS. Symptoms HIV is transmitted by bodily fluids, such as blood, semen, breast milk, and vaginal secretions. It causes disease by infecting CD4+ helper T cells, a type of white blood cell that normally coordinates the immune response to infection and cancer. When a person's white blood cell count decreases sufficiently, he or she is prone to a range of diseases that a healthy person's body is normally able to fight. These diseases include cancers, which are usually the cause of death in persons with AIDS. HIV also infects brain cells, causing some neurological disorders. Originally AIDS was diagnosed based on the opportunistic diseases affecting the patient. Today, diagnosis is based on cell counts. This allows for earlier diagnosis. Origins of HIV HIV, a retrovirus, is closely related to the simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV), which affect apes and monkeys. It may be possible that both humans and chimpanzees were infected from a third source. The natural transfer hypothesis proposes that SIV was transferred to humans due to the natural interaction between human and primate populations. Studies suggest that the virus spread initially in West Africa, but it is possible that there were several separate initial sources, corresponding to the different strains of HIV (HIV-1 and HIV-2). The earliest human fluid sample known to contain HIV was taken in 1959 from a British sailor, who apparently contracted it in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The earliest documented western death from AIDS was Dr. Grethe Rask, a Danish surgeon, who worked in the Congo in the early 1970s. It is believed that the virus was spread via sexual activity in Africa's rapidly growing urban areas. Some researchers have suggested that the United Nations oral polio vaccination program in Africa may have introduced HIV during the late 1950s since these vaccines were taken from monkeys and injected into thousands of people. Current medical understanding of AIDS Currently the most common ways to contract HIV are via unprotected sexual activity and the sharing of needles by users of intravenous drugs. Blood transfusions have also been major routes of infection, leading to stricter screening procedures. The criteria for a diagnosis of AIDS can vary from region to region, but a diagnosis typically requires either 1. An absolute CD4 cell count below 200 per cubic millimeter 2. The presence of opportunistic infections, caused by agents usually unable to induce diseases in healthy people Treatments and vaccines There is currently no cure or vaccine for HIV or AIDS. Newer treatments, however, have played a part in delaying the onset of AIDS, fully eliminating the HIV virus from those recently exposed, on reducing the symptoms, and extending patients' life spans. Over the past decade the success of these anti-retroviral treatments in prolonging and improving the quality of life for people with AIDS has increased dramatically. Current optimal treatment options consist of combinations of two or more types of anti-retroviral agents such as two nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), and a protease inhibitor. However, there is concern with such regimens that drug resistance will eventually develop. Side effects have also been noted. There is ongoing research into developing a vaccine for HIV and in developing new anti-retroviral drugs. Human trials are currently underway. Research to improve current treatments includes simplifying current drug regimens to improve adherence and in decreasing side effects. They are still used by some people with AIDS who do not believe that HIV causes AIDS. Alternative therapies such as massage, acupuncture and herbal medicine are still used by many, mainly to treat symptoms such as pain and loss of appetite. People with AIDS, like people with other illnesses such as cancer, also sometimes use marijuana to treat pain, combat nausea and stimulate appetite. In 2005 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States recommended a 28-day HIV drug regimen for those who believe they may have had contact with the virus. The drugs have been shown to be effective in preventing the virus nearly 100% of the time in those who received treatment within the initial 24 hours of exposure. The effectively falls to 52% of the time in those who are treated within 72 hours; those not treated within the first 72 hours are not recommended candidates for the regimen. COUNTRIES AND REGIONS AIDS AFFECTED POPULATION Sub Saharan Africa 8% Of Working Population South East Asia 15%Of Gobal Aids Cases Latin America And Caribbean 2.2 Million People Affected Western Countries Infection Rate Has Dropped Brazil Launched Aids Prevention Program Asia 7.5 Million People Affected India 4.6 Million People Affected (0.9% Of Population) China 1 To 1.5 Million People Affected Thailand And Cambodia Aids Is Under Control Eastern Europe 1.7 Million People Affected, Has Increased Russia 257,000 People Affected Ukraine And Estonia 500,000 People Affected Prevention Despite fears about the possible casual transmission of HIV and AIDS, the risk of infection is virtually eliminated by following simple precautions, such as abstaining from sexual activity form people who are HIV positive or unknown to you. One must also avoid blood transfusions with unsafe blood. The only proven cause of transmission is the exchange of bodily fluids, in particular blood and genital secretions. Breathing, casual contact such as touching, holding or shaking hands or hugging cannot transmit HIV. HIV is not a hardy organism; the virus dies within about twenty minutes once it is outside a human body. Thus, bloodstains quickly become non-infectious and are no cause for concern. HIV is known to be transmitted via the sharing of needles by users of drugs, and this is one of the most common methods of transmission. All AIDS-prevention organizations advise drug-users not to share needles and to use a new needle for each injection.