Scientists suspect that at least two viruses cause AIDs: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Worldwide, the viruses infect equal numbers of people, but HIV-1 is much more known in North America. HIV-2 is extremely rare outside of Africa.

The virus enters the body through small abrasions or cuts in mucous membranes in the mouth, vagina or rectum and destroys T cells, so the immune system fails. Patients then develop infections that eventually kill them.

From what to popular belief, AIDS is not a highly contagious disease. The only way you can get it is to have unprotected vaginal, oral or anal sex with an infected partner or to share tainted blood through IV-drug use or transfusions.

You can't get AIDS from kissing. The protein in saliva keeps the AIDS virus from infecting the white blood cells. The protein attaches itself to white blood cells and protects them from infection.The discovery may lead to new strategies for developing AIDS medicines, such as injecting this protein directly into the bloodstream to keep the virus from attacking blood cells.

You also dont need to worry about catching AIDS if you live with someone who has it. HIV cannot be t

Within a few weeks of infection , the body should be producing anti bodies to the virus, which doctors can detect in blood tests. But, your body may take as long as 35 months to produce a detectable level of anti bodies, so if you think you've been infected, particularly if you're in a high-risk group, you should be tested for the disease every six months.

The current treatment of choice for AIDS patients is the use of powerful antiviral drugs. These include zidovudine, didanosine , dideoxycytidine , lamivudine , stuvadine , nevirapine, and a group of drugs called protease inhibitors, which incllude nelfinavir, ritonavir, indinavir and saquinavir. These drugs are used in combination - usually a protease inhibitor plus two other drugs. None of these cures AIDS, but they clearly have a major effect on the disease.

Don't use oil-based lubricants, which can eat through condoms.

Although a number of vaccines to prevent AIDS are under investigation, scientists have had difficulty finding one that works. The theory is that injecting someone with a weakened form of the virus would spur that person's immune system to mount a huge attack against HIV and build up a resistance. Doctors are understandably reluctant to inject anyone with HIV, however, fearing that even a weakened virus might cause AIDS.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Pancreatic Protease, America HIV-2, Test Procedures, Treatment Dramatic, AIDS Initial, Conventional Medicine, Zidovudine HIV, Infectiou Diseases, HIV-2 Worldwide, Causes Scientists, blood cells, immune system, white blood cells, infected hiv, indinavir saquinavir, anti bodies, oral anal, saquinavir drugs, nelfinavir ritonavir indinavir, white blood, nelfinavir ritonavir, ritonavir indinavir saquinavir, indinavir saquinavir drugs, anti viral,
Approximate Word count = 1152
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)