Aids outbreak
Who would have ever thought that a disease, possibly brought to America by infected African monkeys, would affect the country forever? This is exactly what happened in the late nineteenth century when the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was introduced to America. The unpredictable epidemic caused a huge outrage for years to come. The outbreak of the HIV virus, AIDS, in the early 1980's resulted in medical research, public misconceptions, and ultimately growing awareness. Appearing first only in homosexual men, AIDS was an unfamiliar virus to the entire United States. Reports of unknown and unexplainable symptoms caused much confusion among patients and even doctors. In 1981, the first reports explained that 41 homosexual men in the San Fransisco area had "...a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer" (Altman n.p.). After years of researching these cases and millions of others appearing later in the decade, scientists discovered that it was not cancer they were dealing with. They called it HIV (Human Immune Virus) which leads to AIDS (Acquired Immune deficiency Syndrome) that "...progressively destroys the body's
Also like the black plague did, AIDS carried with it a long string of misconceptions. In the Middle Ages anyone carrying the "black plague" was to be avoided. Similarly, the public would often avoid people with AIDS. There were fabrications that AIDS could be caught by another human being from sneezing, coughing, hugging, kissing or even any "casual contact" ; so, people stayed away from those who were infected by AIDS. Another lie was that AIDS was caused by something magical or mystical (Taylor 23-24). Though some were overly careful of "catching" the virus, others were not careful enough. Since the initial outbreak was among gay men it was simply assumed that only gay men could be affected. Then reports of IV drug users having the disease still seemed to eliminate the chance of the common person being infected. Next, hemophiliacs and people who had had blood transfusions were reported followed by blacks, Hispanics, lesbians, straight women e world wide web and it shows that AIDS in an important component of modern life. Not only are people becoming aware of the AIDS epidemic, but they are becoming aware of sexuality through learning about AIDS. Before the outbreak of this fatal virus sex was only spoken about discretely. Now even kids are being made aware of the dangers of sex and spreading HIV. In this way HIV/AIDS had a positive affect on the country. People are aware of the facts and probably make better decisions. Some experts have said that AIDS will remain the way it is now and others pr
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1028
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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