Essay on “The Monster of -Aids will Wipe out Humanity” Complete Essay for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

The Monster of -Aids will Wipe out Humanity

More than 30 million people around the world are currently infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). New HIV infections have levelled off or even declined in most developed countries, but the virus is spreading rapidly through much of the developing world. In some areas of sub-Saharan Africa, one in four adults are carrying the virus.

In the early 1980s deaths by opportunistic infections, previously observed mainly in transplant recipients receiving immunosuppressive therapy, were recognized in otherwise healthy homosexual men. In 1983, Luc Montagnier and scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris isolated what appeared to be a new human retrovirus from the lymph node of a man at risk of developing AIDS. Almost simultaneously, both Robert Gallo’s group at the National cancer Institute (NCI), and a group headed by Jay Levy at the University of California, San Francisco, isolated a retrovirus from Alps patients and from people who had had sexual contact with AIDS patients. All three groups had isolated what is now known as HIV-the aetiological (causative) agent of AIDS.

Race, sex and age have nothing to do with who can get this disease, however, the race with the highest number of infected people happens to be Caucasian males, aging 25-44. About forty-five percent of the 641,000 AIDS cases in the U.S. have been white people. Blacks aren’t far behind with over 35 per cent of cases, and Hispanics have about 20 per cent of all cases. Asians have less than anyone does, with 1 per cent. Of the estimated 30.6 million people worldwide living with this horrible, life-threatening disease in 1997, about 68 per cent were living in sub-Saharan Africa. Adult males are the leading sex to contract AIDS. They account for over 80 per cent of all cases in the U.S. Adult women make up 15 per cent and children make up the other 1 percent of the cases. People have been lead to believe so many fictional stories about the ways of contracting AIDS and HIV; it’s hard to know what to believe. T he truth is, the main way of getting this disease is unprotected sex. Although condoms do work most of the time, they are not 100% effective. Abstinence is the only foolproof way of not being infected with this disease or one of the thousands of others. Besides sexual contact with a person carrying the AIDS virus or HIV, you can also be infected in many different ways. There has not yet been a case attributed to kissing, however, there is still a potential for contraction. For awhile now there have been rumours of transmission by insects that suck blood and bite humans. Studies have shown no evidence of this, but the rumours are still claiming it could happen. Scientists and researchers have preformed experiments after experiments because of the overwhelming concern.

With the identification of HIV in 1983 Came the opportunity to develop a method of specific detection. The screening tests now in widespread use detect the presence of antibodies produced by the immune system in response to infection with HIV in a sample of blood. By the end of 2000, 15 anti-retroviral drugs had been approved for use in the treatment of HIV infection. From the 1980s until the mid-1990s, the available drugs were generally used one at a time in sequence, but their effects were disappointingly short-lived. Greater success has been achieved by using them in combination regimens, which can significantly delay the onset of opportunistic infections and prolong life. Globally, the most common route of HIV transmission is through unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse. The risk can be eliminated by avoiding intercourse, or minimized by using a condom, since HIV cannot pass through an intact latex barrier. HIV transmission through drug-injecting equipment can be prevented by avoiding injecting drug use or by only using sterile equipment. Needle-exchange programmes have been introduced in many countries to minimize HIV transmission among drug users. In the early years of AIDS many cases of HIV transmission occurred through contaminated blood products and transfusions; the introduction of screening and heat treatment procedures means that infection through these routes is now extremely unlikely. Prevention efforts to promote sexual awareness through open discussion and condom use through distribution in schools have raised opposition from certain groups in society on the unfounded grounds that these efforts promote sexual promiscuity among young adults.