AIDS

AIDS is a disease with many signs occurring at the same time. Thus, it is called a ‘syndrome’, which means a group of signs and symptoms that occur together. The victims of AIDS usually die within two years. So far, no cure for AIDS has been found.

AIDS is caused by the virus affecting the white blood cells. There are also harmful effects for example, HIV-infected people may develop signs and symptoms such as tiredness, weight loss, fevers and severe diarrhoea only after many months or years. The full blown AIDS occur within eight to ten years of HIV infection, causing people to suffer from pneumonia, cancer of the blood vessels and damage to brain and finally death. 

AIDS is the most widely known Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) caused by a virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It refers to the most advanced stages of HIV infection as it may take months to years before HIV infection develops into AIDS. HIV destroys the immune system of the infected person, so that the body is unable to produce sufficient antibodies against diseases. 

The symptoms of AIDS include: 

-severe diarrhoea lasting for months
-chronic or persistent fever
-pneumonia
-Kaposi’s sarcoma or cancer of the blood vessels
-brain infection; and
-widespread tuberculosis (a lung disease) affecting many organs at the same time

HIV is commonly transmitted by sexual intercourse or sharing of hypodermic needles with an infected person. (e.g. when drug addicts share their needles. Needles used for tattooing, acupuncture or ear-piercing may transmit the disease if they are not cleaned properly.) The blood transfusion with blood from an infected person can also cause HIV. During pregnancy or breast milking, the virus may also be passed from the infected mother to the fetus.

In order to prevent the infection of HIV, people should take precautions. For example, they could keep to one sex partner or do not have sex. For the males, a condom should be worn to reduce the risk of infection, especially if they are not sure whether their partners or themselves are infected with AIDS. People should not abuse drugs as drug addicts tend to share needles. They also shouldn't not share instruments that are likely to break the skin and be contaminated with blood, e.g. razors and toothbrushes. If they require acupuncture treatment, ear-piercing or tattooinggo they should got to reliable operators. They could also make sure that the needles used are sterilised or insist on using disposable instruments. Sterilisation removes living microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses from the instruments.