Aids And Government Funding Essay Research Paper

Aids And Government Funding Essay, Research Paper

Governing AIDS

AIDS is a very complicated infection. It is not only infecting individuals, but it also infecting our society. Until a cure is reach it will continue to plague human society. No person will ever be truly safe. Our government needs to keep spending money on research to develop a cure for AIDS.

To fully understand why our government should continue to spend its funds on AIDS research one must first understand AIDS. No one actually knows where AIDS comes from. Americans say that it originated in Africa. Africans say that the Europeanours brought it to Africa. AIDS got its first documented case as late back as the 1950’s on the African continent. Africa has more documented cases than any where in the world. Scientist predict that three out of every ten sexually active people in Africa carry the AIDS virus. AIDS has become a threat to entire communities there. Scientist believe that the spread of the disease is almost entirely by heterosexual activity, since the amount of male and female infection are about equal. AIDS is a disease that can be spread through traveling. At first the disease was only in North America and Africa. It is now spreading all over the world. Although there are not as many cases of Aids in America as Africa the disease still exist at an alarming rate. AIDS was not discovered in America until 1981 and not given a name until 1984. In America AIDS is mainly a disease that plagues white males. It seems that most cases of AIDS are due to homosexuality and drug use. When people use drugs that use syringes, such as heroin or steroids they are at high risk. When one person uses a syringe and then gives it to another person they are sharing their blood. AIDS spreads faster among drug abuses that any other group because they are often careless with their needles (Taylor,6). Unfortunately these are not the only ways a person can contract AIDS. AIDS can also be brought on by heterosexual activities, with or with out intercourse being involved. In fact AIDS among teenagers in quickly becoming an at risk group. If there is a cut on or in the anus, vagina, penis, or mouth the disease, if present, will be spread. People can also contract AIDS through blood transfusions and during surgeries involving donor body parts including blood. It wasn’t until 1985 that blood was rigorously tested for the presents of HIV and other diseases. This test helped people who were hemophiliacs out very much. These are people that have a blood disorder that needs to be treated by regular blood transfusions. Even though it is now very rare to get AIDS through a transfusion it can and will happen to some one. A person can even be born with AIDS because their mother had the disease. Any profession that works with blood is also at risk. This leaves doctors, nurses, dentist, and eye doctors. AIDS can be found in saliva, tears, semen, blood, and vaginal secretions. Women, men, children; White or black; rich or poor; young or old; any person can get AIDS (Taylor 32).

What this disease does to a person is easily explained, but not easily understood. AIDS is a very dangerous disease. HIV its self can not kill a person, but it is usually another infection like pneumonia that kills the victim. The HIV virus, which causes AIDS, likes blood. Human blood is the most ideal place for this virus to sustain its life. The HIV virus must actually enter directly into the blood stream to be able to cause any sort of damage. That is why AIDS can only contracted through bodily fluids because they are direct doorways to the blood stream. The weird part is that just because a person has HIV does not mean that they will contract AIDS. HIV and AIDS are not the same disease. If a person does contract AIDS after contracting HIV this means that person will die from the disease and it’s side effects. What AIDS does to a person is rather interesting. AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Acquired means that a person must usually contract the disease. Immunodefieciency is a compound word. The first word is immuno. This word refers to a person’s immune system, the part that fights off infectious diseases. When a person is immune to a disease that means their immune system will fight off an infection before it makes one sick. Deficiency refers to the lacking of something. So when these words are put together they means that a person’s immune system is not working properly and they can get sick much easier than before. A syndrome is a set of symptoms associated with a particular infection. AIDS is not distinguished by the virus that causes it but more by the effects that are associated with it.

HIV and AIDS are caused by microscopic semiliving organisms called viruses. When viruses are outside the human body they are just tissue and when they are inside a body they become living organisms. A virus grows the best in inside of a cell. They live off of the cell’s protein. Eventually the virus will destroy the cell and it must move on to a new cell in order for it to survive. HIV adds an akward twist to this little cycle. HIV targets the immune system . HIV hunts down a cell called the T cell helper. Without this cell the T cell does not know what to look for and it becomes useless. B cells do not know what they should attack. Basically the body does not even know that there is an invader present. HIV by itself does not kill, but