The Most Deadly Disease: AIDS
AIDS is a disease that is widely known all over the world primarily because of the way it affects the infected person. There have been enough movies, documentaries and other similar forms of media coverage for the disease and the people suffering from it. Furthermore, there have also been a host of awareness programs undertaken all over the world. However, despite so many media campaigns, many people still do not know a lot about AIDS. In order to rectify this, the following is some critical information pertaining to AIDS.
What is AIDS?
AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease that is deadly because it affects the body’s ability to defend itself. The full form of AIDS is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and it is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or, as it is more generally known, HIV. As mentioned earlier, AIDS is a disease where HIV renders the infected person’s immune system almost redundant. This results in the patient becoming susceptible to a variety of external infections and internal tumors that he or she would have otherwise been able to fight off. Therefore, in simple words, AIDS is a disease which destroys the patient’s immunity, leading to him or her contracting all types of diseases. It is worth noting that research and scientific studies have revealed that AIDS originated on the continent of Africa.
How do people get affected from AIDS?
AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease, which means that sexual activities can result in a person contracting the virus from the other person. Although AIDS is counted under the category of sexually transmitted diseases, it can spread in more ways than just sexual activities. Apart from sexual activities, HIV can spread through people sharing needles, blood transfusions and from a pregnant mother to her child. In a nutshell, HIV can spread through direct contact of a mucous membrane or bodily fluids like blood, vaginal fluid, semen, preseminal fluid and breast milk.
What symptoms are there in a person suffering from AIDS?
The primary effect of HIV in a person is partial or complete loss of immunity. This leaves the door open for opportunistic infections. Therefore, the direct and most blatant symptom of AIDS are the person developing multiple diseases in multiple parts of the body that would have otherwise not occurred. The agents of these infections could be virtually all types of microorganisms including fungi, bacteria, viruses and parasites. In fact, people with AIDS are also particularly susceptible to cancers and tumors.
What is the treatment for AIDS?
There is no known treatment for AIDS which is why most media campaigns and doctors suggest that the best foot forward is prevention of the disease. However, if a person is already HIV positive, then there are ways through which the problems can be managed. This procedure is an antiretroviral treatment that is extremely expensive and rare in most countries. Furthermore, the treatment also has its related side effects such as extreme fatigue, diarrhea, malaise and nausea. Also, the regimen that an HIV positive or AIDS patient has to follow under this treatment can be very demanding.