Aids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Aids - Essay Example It can also be transmitted through infected blood transfusions. Drug addicts who use syringes are also at a high risk of developing the disease. It can be transmitted to the fetus from the mother during pregnancy as well as during birth and nursing. The disease affects the major systems of the human body owing to the suppression of immunity by the virus. It can result in severe conditions which include pneumonia as well as cancers like Kaposi’s sarcoma. The treatment for the condition is mainly antiretroviral therapy. Prevention is aimed at awareness. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is a pathological condition which is referred to as a syndrome owing to the fact that this disease affects many systems of the human body and is characterized by many secondary infectious diseases as well as cancers arising from different cells. It may also affect the nervous system of the patient and hence the patient presents with signs and symptoms of nervou s disease. This syndrome is led to by the human immunodeficiency virus. This virus and the resulting disease were identified in the year 1981. The virus possesses the ability to decrease the efficacy of the immune system of the human body and hence it puts a person at risk of the development of many diseases that would not occur in a normal healthy person. The pathology has led to increased attention from international health organizations due to the severity of the disease accompanied by the fact that the number of infected people keeps on increasing every year (Davidson et al 2006, Levinson 2008, Robbins et al 2005). Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome has been ranked as the second most common pathological condition across the world which explains the fact that this disease follows a global pattern. It has been labeled as an epidemic due to the increased presentation of the number of cases. In Africa it has been identified as the first most common reason of death and has been repor ted to lead to more than 20 percent of deaths in the region. Ever since the disease has been identified, it has been linked to greater than 20 million deaths around the world. The World Health Organization presented with the findings that 39.4 million people had AIDS or were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus in the year 2004 (Davidson et al 2006, Levinson 2008). 70 percent of the people who suffer from this disease belong to Africa. In the year 2002, it was identified that 900,000 residents of the United States were suffering from the disease. Amongst the residents of the U.S., it is considered to be the second reason of death amongst the males of the age group 25 to 44. On the other hand, amongst the females of this age group, it is ranked as the third life taking reason. The pathology is also found to affect young children below the age of 13 years. It has been analyzed that 2 percent out of the total cases of the disease affects these children. In 2002, 800,000 more children were affected with this syndrome (Robbins et al 2005, Levinson 2008). There are many underlying causes that can result in AIDS. The human immunodeficiency virus which is the causative organism for this disease prevails in the fluids of the human body which include the blood, semen, saliva as well as milk from the mammary glands. Thus contact with infected body fluids increases the susceptibility of contracting the disease (Davidson et al 2