Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(AIDS)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), human viral disease that ravages the immune system, undermining the body’s ability to defend itself from infection and disease. Caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS leaves an infected person vulnerable to opportunistic infections—infection by microbes that take advantage of a weakened immune system. Such infections are usually harmless in healthy people but can prove life-threatening to people with AIDS. Although there is no cure for AIDS, new drugs are available that can prolong the life spans and improve the quality of life of infected people.
Transmission of HIV—the AIDS-causing virus—occurs most commonly as a result of sexual intercourse. HIV also can be transmitted through transfusions of HIV-contaminated blood or by using a contaminated needle or syringe to inject drugs into the bloodstream. Infection with HIV does not necessarily mean that a person has AIDS. Some people who have HIV infection may not develop any of the clinical illnesses that define the full-blown disease of AIDS for ten years or more. Physicians prefer to use the term AIDS for cases where a person has reached the final, life-threatening stage of HIV infection
AIDS is one of the deadliest epidemics in human history. It was first identified in 1981 among homosexual men and intravenous drug users in New York and California. Shortly after its detection in the United States, evidence of AIDS epidemics grew among heterosexual men, women, and children in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS quickly developed into a worldwide epidemic, affecting virtually every nation. The United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that the worldwide number of new cases of HIV infection peaked in the late 1990s with more than 3 million people newly infected each year. However, some regions of the world, especially Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in Southeast Asia, continued to see an increase in the
(AIDS)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), human viral disease that ravages the immune system, undermining the body’s ability to defend itself from infection and disease. Caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS leaves an infected person vulnerable to opportunistic infections—infection by microbes that take advantage of a weakened immune system. Such infections are usually harmless in healthy people but can prove life-threatening to people with AIDS. Although there is no cure for AIDS, new drugs are available that can prolong the life spans and improve the quality of life of infected people.
Transmission of HIV—the AIDS-causing virus—occurs most commonly as a result of sexual intercourse. HIV also can be transmitted through transfusions of HIV-contaminated blood or by using a contaminated needle or syringe to inject drugs into the bloodstream. Infection with HIV does not necessarily mean that a person has AIDS. Some people who have HIV infection may not develop any of the clinical illnesses that define the full-blown disease of AIDS for ten years or more. Physicians prefer to use the term AIDS for cases where a person has reached the final, life-threatening stage of HIV infection
AIDS is one of the deadliest epidemics in human history. It was first identified in 1981 among homosexual men and intravenous drug users in New York and California. Shortly after its detection in the United States, evidence of AIDS epidemics grew among heterosexual men, women, and children in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS quickly developed into a worldwide epidemic, affecting virtually every nation. The United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that the worldwide number of new cases of HIV infection peaked in the late 1990s with more than 3 million people newly infected each year. However, some regions of the world, especially Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in Southeast Asia, continued to see an increase in the
References: Barnett, Tony, and Alan Whiteside. 2006. Aids in the Twenty-First Century: Disease and Globalization. 2nd edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Green, Edward C. 2003. Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Learning from Successes in Developing Countries. Westport, CT: Praeger. Usdin, Shereen. 2003. The No-Nonsense Guide to HIV/AIDS. London: Verso. "Human Immunodeficiency Virus." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.