Hiv And The Percentage With Aids example essay topic

To talk about AIDS today, one has also to talk about sexuality. Nowadays AIDS is largely related to sexual activities since AIDS is a consequence of the virus HIV, which can be transmitted during sexual relations. The movie that we saw, Philadelphia, deals with this. It tells the story of a homosexual man who contracted HIV during sexual intercourse with another man. After some years he starts to suffer from AIDS and the discrimination that came along with it. He was a successful lawyer, and was fired only because he had AIDS.

What is AIDS? AIDS is a stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is a disease caused by the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) virus. An HIV-infected person receives a diagnosis of AIDS after developing one of the CDC-defined AIDS indicator illnesses. An HIV-positive person who has not had any serious illnesses also can receive an AIDS diagnosis on the basis of certain blood tests. A positive HIV test result does not mean that a person has AIDS.

A person may carry the virus inside his body for as long as 10 years (or more) without showing an illnesses caused by AIDS. Infection with HIV can weaken the immune system to the point that it has difficulty fighting off certain infections. These types of infections are known as 'opportunistic' infections because they take the opportunity a weakened immune system gives to cause illness. Many of the infections that cause problems or may be life-threatening for people with AIDS are usually controlled by a healthy immune system. The immune system of a person with AIDS is weakened to the point that medical intervention may be necessary to prevent or treat serious illness. Today there are medical treatments that can slow down the rate at which HIV weakens the immune system.

There are other treatments that can prevent or cure some of the illnesses associated with AIDS. As with other diseases, early detection offers more options for treatment and preventative care. HIV is spread by sexual contact with an infected person, by sharing needles and / or syringes (drug injection) with someone who is infected, or, less commonly, through transfusions of infected blood or blood clotting factors. Babies born to HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth or through breast-feeding after birth. There are a couple of myths about how the HIV is transmitted. Some people fear that HIV might be transmitted in other ways; however, no scientific evidence to support any of these fears has been found.

If HIV were being transmitted through other routes (such as through air, water, or insects), the pattern of reported AIDS cases would be much different from what has been observed. For example, if mosquitoes could transmit HIV infection, many more young children and preadolescent's would have been diagnosed with AIDS. In countries all over the world HIV and AIDS have always affected gay men more than any other group of people. In the UK and USA especially, the percentage of young gay men infected with HIV and the percentage with AIDS is much higher than that among other groups such as heterosexual people or children. Gay men have sexual relations against nature and they (homosexuals) are more likely to acquire the HIV virus because most for most of the time they don't use any kind of contraceptive.

Discrimination against gay men is widespread. In many countries gay men may have to abide by different rules and laws about sexual behavior to heterosexual people. It is only in recent years in the UK, for example, that the age of consent for two men to have sex together has been lowered to 16 years old - the same as for a man and woman. In the USA there are different rules and laws about sex between young men in different states and in some other countries it is completely illegal. Gay men suffered particular stigmatization when they were widely perceived to be responsible for the epidemic rather than affected by it. Raising public awareness and understanding has an important play in challenging misconceptions like this.

In the UK the Terrence Higgins Trust has mounted a mass media campaign aiming to challenge stigma. In conclusion, AIDS is something that we should all be aware of, even though the risks of getting it are more likely in gay communities and by the use of drugs. Campaigns so far are the only way to prevent AIDS and its spread, so I believe that more of them should be made. Laws should also be made to punish people that spread aids voluntarily, not just for gay people but to everyone. web.