The Facts About Hiv and Aids

The Facts about HIV & AIDS After working in the healthcare field for a few years, I have come to the disturbing conclusion that there are still so many of us that have no knowledge of this deadly epidemic that’s spreading across the U.S.. This disease is called Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome commonly known as AIDS. AIDS is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, also known as HIV. This disease is one of the leading causes of death in America, and yet there are more than 56,000 Americans infected with the HIV virus each year. In some way we have all been affected by this AIDS epidemic, whether we have lost a close friend , relative or even a neighbor, this disease does not discriminate and no one is exempt from contracting it. So why do we fail to educate ourselves about this virus/disease and what are some ways to prevent ourselves from becoming infected. There are so many ways to get this disease and not a lot of people know about these ways. Some people believe that abstinence is the only way to prevent one’s self from contracting the HIV virus, this is not the case. Abstinence is a way of preventing the disease, but there are still other ways the disease can be transmitted . A person can develop the virus from performing oral sex on someone that is infected, if that person has an open sore on that part of the body, this is called a contraction through a mucous membrane. Drug use is a very common way to get the virus, for example sharing needles with an infected person. Although there have been some people that have been intravenous drug users for years and think they are free from getting the disease, this is also a

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