AIDS

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Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

Abstract

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ) results from damage to the immune system of humans by an HIV virus (Human Immunodeficiency virus (Marx , 1982 ) and was first discovered in 1981 . The virus was first identified in 1983 . The consequent vast number of varying symptoms and infections are collectively called as Syndrome because of the opportunistic infections that can affect almost every organ and tissue of the body

Introduction

AIDS is a pandemic believed to

be first originated in sub-Saharan Africa . According to one estimation around 42 million contracted AIDS and 20 million have already died with this disease by the year 2003 and by Jan 2006 the number increased to more than 25 million as reported by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV /AIDS (UNAIDS ) and the World Health Organization (WHO . It has proved to be most deadly epidemic around the world . It has been estimated that worldwide there are approximately 38 .6 million infected with AIDS ( HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /UNAIDS " \o "UNAIDS " UNAIDS , 2006 . The most densely populated area of HIV infection is South Africa . A 2 /3rd of to 3 .3 million people including 570 ,000 children ( HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /UNAIDS " \o "UNAIDS " UNAIDS , 2006 Centers for Disease Control (CDC ) and Prevention revealed the data that currently more than a million people in United States are living with AIDS in 2006

Routes of Transmission

AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease (STD it can also spread through contact with infected body fluids , for example , blood , vaginal fluid preseminal fluid , breast milk and semen (Divisions of HIV /AIDS Prevention , 2003 HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /w /index .php ?title San_Francisco_AIDS_Foundation action edit " \o "San Francisco AIDS Foundation " San Francisco AIDS Foundation , HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /2006 " \o "2006 2006 . Symptoms of this disease appear several years after infection Asymptomatic carriers of HIV infection can be the real source of spread of this infection . Those who have contracted AIDS but still not aware can keep the normal sex relations with their heterosexual /homosexual partners thus becoming the major source of HIV infection . It has been estimated that the most common cause of HIV infection is having sex relations with an infected person via sexual transmission . Transmission can occur through both heterosexual and homosexual partners . In United States highest numbers of causes are due to homosexual transmission

Routes of transmission can be through normal sex or abnormal sexual acts like anal and oral sex . Other methods of transmission can be due to sharing infected needles or use of other procedural equipment infected with HIV for invasion into the body , blood transfusion , placental transmission into fetus , breastfeeding to child , direct contact of mucous membranes and other methods of exposure . Transmission through infected syringes is the second major cause of this infection . Most prone to these conditions are drug addicts and those who are hospitalized under unhygienic conditions

Etiology

CD4 T cells...