Introduction: AIDS is a life and death issue. To have the AIDS disease is currently a sentence of slow but inevitable death. I have already lost one friend to AIDS and may soon lose others. My own sexual behavior, as well as that of many of my friends, has been profoundly altered by it.
In my part of the country, one in ten men may already be carrying the AIDS virus. While the figures may currently be lower in much of the rest of the country, this is changing rapidly. Currently, there is neither a cure nor an effective treatment, and no vaccine either. However, there are things that have been proven immensely effective in slowing the spread of this hideously lethal disease. In this essay, I hope to present this information.
History and Overview: AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Disease.
It is caused by a virus. The disease originated in Africa about 20 years ago. It first appeared as a mysterious ailment afflicting primarily heterosexuals of both sexes. It was probably spread especially fast by primarily female prostitutes. AIDS has already become a crisis of staggering proportions in parts of Africa.
In Zaire, it is estimated that over twenty percent of adults currently carry the virus, and that figure is increasing. If no cure is found, what occurred there will most likely occur here among heterosexual individuals. AIDS was first seen as a disease of gay males in this country due to the fact that, in the days before AIDS, gay males in this culture had an average of 200 to 400 new sexual contacts per year.
This figure was much higher than the common practice among heterosexual men or women. 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 this country much more quickly than in other populations. It became thought of as a “gay disease”. Because the disease is spread primarily by exposure of one’s blood to infected blood or semen, I.
Drug addicts who shared needles were also soon identified as an affected group. As the AIDS epidemic began to affect increasingly large fractions of those two populations (gay males and IV drug abusers), many in the rest of society looked on smugly, as both populations tended to be despised by the mainstream. However, AIDS is also spread by heterosexual sex and blood transfusions. Newborn babies can acquire the disease from infected mothers during pregnancy.
Gradually, more and more mainstream individuals contracted the disease. Recently, a member of Congress died from it. Eventually, even the national news media began to educate the public that AIDS can affect anyone. Basic medical research provided some information and assistance. The virus causing the disease was isolated and identified.
The AIDS virus turned out to be a very unusual sort of virus. Its genetic material was not DNA, but RNA. When it infected human cells, it directed the synthesis of viral DNA using its RNA. While RNA viruses are not uncommon, very few reproduce by setting up the flow of information from RNA to DNA. Such reverse or retro” flow of information does not occur in any DNA virus or any other living organism. Hence, the virus belongs to the rare group of viruses called “Retroviruses.”
Research provided the means to test donated blood for the presence of antibodies to the virus, reducing the chance of getting AIDS from a blood transfusion. This was one of the first breakthroughs. The same discoveries that made our blood bank supply safer also allowed us to determine (in most cases) whether someone has been exposed to the AIDS virus using a simple blood test.
The types of AIDS infection can be broken down into three general situations: AIDS disease, ARC, and asymptomatic seropositive condition. The AIDS disease is characterized by the immune system being devastated by the AIDS virus. One is said to have the disease if they contract particular varieties of pneumonia, such as Pneumocystis.
