AIDS

Thembi is a teen in Africa, who has AIDS. AIDS is a really big deal. For her life, she has been shunned and just really under prejudice. People treat her basically as though she is a leper. Her husband is a support to her. However, living in a poverty stricten land, she feels bad for her parents for raising someone who ends up having AIDS. She really has trouble telling her dad. However, many others in her community also will have AIDS. Most probably do not even know or realize it. For Thembi's story go to http://www.aidsdiary.org/


As many of you may know, AIDS (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is a growing pandemic that has recently skyrocketed in numbers. Along with Thembi, about 38.6 million people are infected with the syndrome. A third of those people reside in South Africa. In fact, a 15-50% of people have HIV in the southern part of Africa. It has caused the life expectancy of South Africa to drop from 63, 1993, to just 48. In the US, .5-1% of the population has HIV. 25 million people have died since the 1980's, 2.5-3.5 million people have died from AIDS in just 2005. These giant numbers have been noticed, especially through the media, because it is a big deal.


AIDS is an evolved form of HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus). Most people have HIV for about a decade, and as soon as they develop AIDS, they are expected to live for less than a year. It also makes people more likely to develop other diseases, such as CMV retinitis, which will result in becoming blind. HIV is incredibly easy to spread. It is spread through bodily fluids, including tears and saliva. It can even be spread from mother to her child, during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It is most often spread through sexual intercourse and could be spread through use of needles. If you need to use a needle, be sure to use a new, clean, and sterile needle. Also, Even if you plan on staying abstinent, it is a good idea to get test for HIV and while you're at it, STDs (Sexually transmitted disease).


Although, there is no cure for AIDS, there is therapy available to those with HIV. Being a virus, HIV incurable. However, through therapy of medicine, the result of HIV can be changed. That means you can avoid AIDS, even when you have HIV. However, one type of HIV, HIV-1,although the more frequent, is hard to vaccinate/redirect.


Other good sites are:
Medscape (good site): http://www.medscape.com/hiv
Teen Aids (for our age group):http://www.teenaids.org/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids
World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/en/