Causes of aids

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Research papers on AIDS reports that the disease afflicts people who are infected with a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is passed from person to person through the following ways:

• Contact with blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, saliva, or other body fluids that may contain blood.
• In addition, babies can contract HIV while inside the mother's uterus, or during birth.

Although HIV appears to remain latent, or dormant, in some individuals for years, it is quite active.

Causes of AIDS - Death Sentence

The CD4+ T cells, which play an important part in the human immunity, are the targets of HIV, which gradually destroys enough cells to indicate that development of AIDS is imminent. Recent research has revealed a relationship between the amount of HIV cells, a reduction of CD4+ T cells down to 200 from the normal 1000, and development of AIDS. Recent research reveals much more than what is reported here. Order a custom research paper on the causes of AIDS and you will receive the most up-to-date and relevant medical health research findings on AIDS.

AIDS, and the virus that causes Aids, HIV, is still a major concern of all countries in the world despite the number of new treatments currently available. Even though these treatments can help control the disease and in some cases prevent opportunistic diseases associated with it, a diagnosis of AIDS is still considered to be a death sentence.

At year-end of 2002, some 40 million people worldwide were infected with HIV. In Africa, more people die of the disease than get married. In February of 2003, Reuters Health reported that the number of HIV and AIDS infections in the United States had risen for the first time in over a decade. Experts attribute the rise to "AIDS compliancy", whereby people are not getting tested as often as in the previous decade, having more unprotected sex, and engaging in other risky behaviors.

Causes of AIDS - Myths

In 25 states in the United States, new HIV cases rose by 8 percent between 1999 and 2001. In men who had sex with other men, the increase rate was 14 percent. About half of the new reported cases were women who had sex with HIV infected men.

Although California and New York lead the nation in the number of HIV infected individuals, these two states were not included in the 25 states that reported sharp increases in HIV infections. As stated by one expert, "We are very concerned that [the numbers] could represent a reversal in trends that we believe have been relatively stableat about 40,000 new cases every year". The increases reported over the last two years are the sharpest increases recorded since 1993.
A major contributor to the problem is the public perception that the disease poses the biggest threat for individuals in other countries, especially developing countries. Researchers also fear that as many as 280,000 people in the United States may be infected with the disease and not even know it.

Another problem lies in the large number of myths that exist about AIDS. Many people are convinced the AIDS epidemic is over due to the number of drug advances in recent years and the decrease in the numbers of individuals who die from the disease each year. Although the number of individuals who died from AIDS decreased from 1996 through 2001, the number of individuals who develop AIDS has increased. As of December 2001, approximately 362,827 people were living with AIDS in the United States. Before this date, approximately 807,075 individuals had been diagnosed with the disease, with 462,653 of these individuals dying as a result.