Causes
Causes to AIDS/HIV , About HIV , AIDS Side Effects/About AIDS , The Diagnosis of AIDS , History of AIDS , AIDS Statistics , Elaborating on AIDS , AIDS is Increasing |
There are many different causes to AIDS. The main way to get Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is to get HIV. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) weakens the immune system by killing and/or damaging cells in it. This allows AIDS to get inside the immune system a lot easier. Below is a list of ways that HIV is caused
1.having sex with an HIV-infected person
2.using an HIV-infected needle
3.receiving blood from an HIV-infected person
4.drinking breast-milk from an HIV-infected person
5.passed to a baby from a mother that is infected by HIV
The immune system naturally blocks AIDS and certain types of cancers from getting into the immune system, however, when the immune system is tainted with HIV, it does not block either of these. The body naturally has 800-1200 CD4+T cells in the immune system per cubic millimeter of blood. It is easy for AIDS to pass into the immune system if the body is infected with HIV (and if it's untreated) and only has 200 CD4+T cells in the immune system. If a body has had HIV for a while and the HIV has gotten to it's last stages, then it is possible that other organs can get infections as well. Some of the organs that can get infections are the lungs, eyes intestinal tract, and the brain.
AIDS also comes with side-effects such as extreme weight loss, neurological conditions, diarrhea, types of lymphomas, and types of cancers (including Kasposi's sarcoma). According to one source, HIV is just as common in a white person than a black person, heterosexual or bisexual, young or old, male or female. AIDS can easily transfer from person to person, making it the first actual global epidemic. Proving this, approximately 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 people in the end of 2003 were diagnosed in the United States only.(Source: Department Of Health And Human Services, Cdc. "Basic Statistics." Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 28 June 2007. <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm>.).
There are separate diagnoses involved with these terrible diseases. The first is HIV (not including AIDS). Second, HIV with a following diagnosis of AIDS. Last, HIV with AIDS; a very deadly combination.
When AIDS first started out, no one
knew what caused it, what cured it, or anything about it. This global
epidemic is affecting lives all over the world,
killing people not only in Africa, as everyone thinks, but everywhere
in the world. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated
that 40,000 diagnoses for AIDS/HIV are given per year in the United States.
In 2005 only, about 37,331 people were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.(Source: Department
Of Health And Human Services, Cdc. "Basic Statistics." Center
for Disease Control and Prevention. 28 June 2007. <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm>.).
Out of everyone diagnosed with this deadly disease in 2005, 26% of them were female and 73% were male. Out of everyone that was diagnosed with this disease in 2005, 49% are black, 31% are white, 18% are Hispanic, 1% are Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% are American Indian/Alaska Native. These results show that out of the people in the United States in 2005 that were diagnosed with AIDS/HIV, most of them are black males. Out of everyone in the United States (people with HIV/AIDS and people without it) 13% are black.
Cures to this terrible disease started to become more and more advanced
as we began to learn more about it. The time period in which
(for the most part)
the
treatments started to become more advanced was in the mid 1990's to the
late 1990's. This was when people started to realize that this
disease was not
a small one, but a large one that is extremely deadly and
is not easily cured.
Cures
for this disease are very expensive, resulting in a lot of people not
being able to afford it. To learn more about the cures to this terrible
disease,
go to our
Cures page.
From 2000-2005, the number of people that were died from this terribly
deadly disease went up and down, but overall, it raised. The reason for
this is uncertain, but it is most likely because more people are getting
HIV. Another reason as to why the number is rising is that there may
have been statistical problems when getting this information. The third
and final reason is that the increase in testing for HIV/AIDS could be
affecting the results. This rise in people suffering from AIDS/HIV has
been increasing mostly since treatments for it have become more advanced,
which is very odd.
