AIDS, stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is a deadly disease. It malfunctions the human body's defence system, making the infected person extremely vulnerable to diseases, and eventually cause death.
AIDS can be spread in many ways, but the main medium is through having unprotected intercourse with an infected person. Apart from that, AIDS can spread from mother to new born baby, or sharing of needles, shaving blades, or any means of blood contact.
Once infected, it may take years for the person to notice, and in these years, the infected person may not know and can infect many more, who in turn go and infect others, just like an exponential growth.
being paid to the HIV/AIDS situation in China, especially after a gathering of leading officials, scientists, medical workers and activists in the field occurred in Beijing on November 10. By official estimates, China has 840,000 people carrying HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and about 80,000 AIDS patients. Despite the fairly large groups of HIV carriers and AIDS patients, the epidemic is mostly confined to high-risk groups, such as drug users, prostitutes and users of blood products.
And it has yet to spread widely in the rest of the nation. The Chinese Government is well aware of such perspectives, and the central and local governments have allocated 6.8 billion yuan (US$822 billion) to establish and improve disease prevention and control mechanisms in provinces. Each year a special fund of more than 200 million yuan (US$24 million) is channeled into HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment. Since April, free medicine to poor AIDS patients has been delivered in regions hit hardest by the virus. Just as the impacts of AIDS reaches social and economic fields of society, effective prevention also requires united efforts from virtually all sectors. Key factors needed include public education, affordable drugs, medical training for healthcare workers in hospitals and the public health system, monitoring and evaluation, care for orphans, measures to stop mother-to-child transmission, a comprehensive care framework and research into vaccines and a cure.
None of these things can be achieved with the single hand of any institution — not health officials, not medical workers or the government. The fight against HIV/AIDS requires the participation of as many parties as possible. As former US President Bill Clinton said as a co-chair of the advisory board of International AIDS Trust, the AIDS problem is “manageable and preventable” though we must wage it on all fronts with tenuous determination, utmost patience and tactful skills.
Do you think you could get AIDS by...
sharing a bathroom?
eating food that was cooked by someone that has AIDS?
giving blood at a blood drive?
coughing or sneezing?
shaking hands?
being bitten by a mosquito or a tick?
touching someone who is sweating that has AIDS?
swimming in a pool?
You can't get AIDS by doing any of thes
e things, although many people think you can. You can't get AIDS by being near or touching someone who has AIDS. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is spread through the blood. HIV does not travel as tears, air, or sweat. If you find a used needle on the ground, don't touch it. Especially if you have an open cut. The blood from the needle might have HIV in or on it. You can kiss a person infected with HIV on the cheek, but you shouldn't do any big, deep kissing since small amounts of HIV have been found in saliva.
You can get AIDS by:
blood transfusions ( not very common anymore).
being born with it.
having unprotected sex with someone who has AIDS.
finding a used needle on the ground, picking it up, and getting the infected blood into an open wound.
getting blood from someone else's cut who has AIDS, into yours.
As you can see, AIDS is hard to get. One boy, whose story I read, got very lucky! He almost got cured from his AIDS! The doctors gave him several drugs to slow down the spread of the HIV virus, but sadly they didn't work.Over the years the amount of the HIV virus in his body increased, and the number of fighting cells dropped! After that scientists invented a new group of drugs, called protease ( PROH-tee-ayss) inhibitors. The drugs help prevent HIV from spreading in the body. The boy took the drugs, and they are working very well. The number of HIV viruses in his body has dropped to almost zero!!!!!!!
Right now there isn't a cure for HIV and AIDS, but a lot of scientists and doctors are working very hard to find one!
Fight Against AIDS
As we all know,AIDS has already become a severe and global threat to human beings since first diagnosed in the Unite States.According to a recent survey conducted by WHO---the World Health Organization,the past decades has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of AIDS patients and infecters from 100,000 to 3,000,000.So,what should we do to fight against AIDS?
Firstly,we must have a good knowledge of how HIV virus infects a person and how to protect ourselves.
Secondly,as college students,we should try to spread AIDS prevention knowledge to the people around us.
Last but not least,we should care about those who are unfortunately infected by HIV virus just in the way we do with our family members and friends.Have you ever notice that the word “AIDS” happen to have a same spelling as the word “aids”,which means helping or assisting.It might suggest that they need more care and love from our society.
I think,with our sparing no efforts to fight against AIDS,we will one day beat AIDS!