Aids Virus example essay topic

368 words
We know that AIDS is caused by the HIV virus. It can be diagnosed through a simple blood test. Frequently a person with HIV, the initial stage of AIDS, has no symptoms and might not even think to get tested before engaging in dangerous behavior which could spread the disease. AIDS is the final and almost always fatal stage of HIV disease. It is a complicated illness involving several phases.

The virus attacks the immune system and leaves the body vulnerable to many life-threatening diseases caused by common bacteria, yeast and viruses which don t usually cause disease. There have been many theories as to how the disease evolved. Most people speculate that there was a possible animal to human viral link, likely originating in Africa many decades ago. The virus was isolated by the Pasteur Institute in France in 1983.

At first clusters of homosexual men were found to have the disease. Then people with hemophilia, transfusion recipients, female and male partners of people with the disease and infants born to infected mothers were also its victims. AIDS is not just a gay disease. It is critical that everyone be educated as to how this disease is spread.

AIDS is transmitted by direct contamination of the bloodstream with body fluids that contain the AIDS virus. Usually this means from contact with blood or semen from an HIV infected person. The virus is usually transmitted through various forms of sexual intercourse, a tainted blood transfusion, or the sharing of contaminated needles. This virus CANNOT penetrate intact bodily surfaces, such as uncut skin. It is not spread by casual physical contact or by sneezing. The virus has been found in tears and saliva, but in such low amounts that transmission from these body fluids is extremely rare.

It does exist in cervical mucus. There are no known cases of transmission from mosquitoes. It is believed that a mother can pass AIDS to her child usually close to or during delivery. The virus does not pass through the placenta. But it can be passed through breast milk.