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AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a complex
disease that attacks the very cells that should help the body in
fighting off infection. The virus, which is spread by the mixing
of blood and bodily fluids, causes the immune system to
degenerate, leaving the sufferer at risk to a variety of other
infections and diseases of the lungs, skin, digestive and
nervous system.
AIDS was first officially recognised in America in 1981, when
within three months, four self-confessed young homosexual men
were diagnosed as suffering from an unusual lung infection - the
type which would only normally occur when the body's immune
responses are weakened.
Since then the disease has spread rapidly all over the world
with more than 176 000 people being infected by the year 1995.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), unlike other viruses
cannot be 'caught' through casual contact, such as touching a
sufferer, using the same cutlery or even kissing - provided
there are no cuts or sores on the mouth. This virus is unable to
survive outside the human body, and will also be destroyed by
soaps and detergents. HIV, is not as many may well have been led
to believe, confined to homosexual (Gay) men - it can easily be
spread by unprotected sexual contact with any infected person,
through the shared usage of needles and syringes, infected blood
transfusions and passed on from mother to child during birth. It
is one of the most serious health problems in the world today,
and regardless of our age, social standing, race or background,
everyone should gain a better understanding of the disease, as
it is not confined only to those in 'high-risk-groups'.
Back to Sexually Transmitted Diseases
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