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Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, is caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which attacks cells in the immune system and results in functional defects. These defects may not be apparent for years. However, they lead to a severe suppression of the immune system's ability to resist harmful organisms. This leaves the body open to invasion by various infections, which are called opportunistic diseases, and to the development of unusual cancers. The virus also tends to reach certain brain cells, leading to so-called neuropsychiatric abnormalities, or psychological disturbances which are caused by physical damage to nerve cells. From the first reports AIDS in 1981, through mid-1994 more than 402,000 AIDS cases and more than 241,000 deaths have been reported in the United States alone. This is only the tip of the iceberg of HIV infection, however. It is estimated that nearly 1 million Americans have been infected with the virus through !the mid-1990s but have not yet developed clinical symptoms. In addition, although the vast majority of documented cases have occurred in the United States, AIDS cases have also been reported in almost every country in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa in par
e instituted stringent rules for testing long-term foreign visitors or potential immigrants for AIDS, as well as testing returning foreign nationals. In the United States one frequent phenomenon is the effort to keep school-age children with AIDS isolated from their classmates, if not out of school altogether. Governmental and civil rights organizations have countered restrictive moves with a great deal of success. There is little doubt that the ultimate physical toll of the AIDS epidemic will be high, as will be its economic costs, however the social issues are resolved. Concerted efforts are under way to address the problem at many levels, and they offer hope for successful strategies to combat HIV-induced disease. Politics and AIDS In the United States, AIDS provoked a grass-roots political response, as well as government action. First evident in urban gay men, AIDS moved an already politically organized gay community to create service, information, and political orga! ated blood and plasma for HIV antibodies have reduced the number of cumulative cases caused by transfusion to about 1 percent. The number of new cases of AIDS in women of reproductive age is increasing at an alarming rate. AIDS has become the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 20 and 40 in the major cities of North and South America, Western Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States, AIDS has hit hardest among black and Hispanic women, who represent only 17 percent of the female population, but 74 percent of women with AIDS. AIDS is also having a devastating impact on infant mortality, since more than 89 percent of HIV-infected children under the age of 13 acquired HIV from their mothers. Between 24 and 33 percent of children born to infected women will develop the disease. There is no scientific evidence to support transmission of HIV through ordinary nonsexual contact. Careful studies show that despite prolonged household contact with infe! Following infection with HIV, an individual may show no symptoms at all or may develop an acute but transient mononucleosis-like illness. The period between initial infection and the development of AIDS is currently observed to vary from about 6 months to 11 years. Various estimates indicate that somewhere between 26 to 46 percent of the infected individuals will develop full-blown AIDS within seven years of infection. Once full blown AIDS occurs, the clinical course generally follows a rapid decline; most people with AIDS die within three years. Alcamo, I. E., AIDS: The Biological Basis (1993); oxic side effects may preclude uses in many cases. DDI acts similarly but is recommended for those who cannot tolerate AZT. Other drugs are in clinical trials. Some drugs are available to fight major opportunistic infections. Eye infections can be treated with ganciclovir or foscarnet, which also helps patients live longer, while aerosolized pentamidine fights Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and protects the patient from AIDS dementia. The slow process of FDA approval of new AIDS drugs has developed into a political issue. AIDS activists are demanding that the government speed up authorization by postponing certain tests comparing efficacy and ability to prolong life until after the drug is on the market. While a faster approval rate may expose patients to unforeseen side effects, activists argue that patients with life-threatening diseases who have no alternative therapy should still be entitled to choose these drugs. Efforts at Prevention In the absence of an effectiv! ely discovered by Robert Gallo at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Luc Montagnier at France's Pasteur Institute. The virus was at first given various names: human lymphotropic virus (HTLV) III, lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), and AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV). It is now officially called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and considerable evidence demonstrates that it is ind
Some common words found in the essay are:
HIV Blood-cell, AIDS AIDS, Health Service, ARC HIV, Yearly AZT, DDI AZT, HIV RNA, , HIV Research, Disease KS, hiv infection, hiv infection aids, infection aids, aids patients, opportunistic infections, blood cells, t4 cell, percent aids, infected hiv, united aids, opportunistic diseases, blood cells called, al eds aids, human immunodeficiency virus, et al eds,
Approximate Word count = 3242
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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