What is AIDS?

By Andrea R. and Shardon T.

AIDS, short for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is a disease caused by a virus. The virus that causes AIDS is called HIV, short for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV can affect your brain and destroy your body's ability to fight off illnesses. AIDS is not the thing that kills people, it is other infections that the body cannot fight off. You can get AIDS by:

1. Being born with it
2. Getting it through sharing blood with someone who has an open cut
3. Blood transfusion
4. From sharing contaminated needles
5. From having sex with another person that has AIDS

Many people think that people with AIDS will die right away, but they are wrong. People that have AIDS, at least most of them, can live long lives if they take care of themselves and get good help from a doctor.

You might be wondering who gets HIV and AIDS. Anybody can get HIV and AIDS. It doesn't matter if you are a male or female, and it doesn't matter how old you are or where you live. People of all races can get AIDS including whites, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians. The population of our country is about 240 million, and about 1 to 1.5 million people have AIDS.

I hope that you know a little more about what AIDS and HIV are. You should also talk to your parents about the diseases if you have any questions.