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Africa - An AIDS Epidemic

 

             Throughout history men, women, and children have all faced some type of incident that has involved death. This is not to say that each individual man, woman, and child has, but rather to say that each group has experienced it. People have seen millions of people die from wars, car accidents, plane crashes, shootings, and the like, but now the whole world is witnessing the new global killer. It doesn't matter whether you are Asian, Black, Hispanic, White or other, the global killer doesn't find its preference in any group. It merely attacks whomever it can. This global killer is known as HIV/AIDS.
             HIV stands for the Human Immuno Virus, and it is very much like a germ. Just like viruses and germs, they can cause us to get the flu, diarrhea, infections, etc., but with HIV, once you got the virus, it is yours till death do you part. In other words, there is no cure for it. You don't actually die from the HIV virus, but you die from what it does to your immune system. The HIV virus attacks your immune systems T4 (CD4) helper cells and essentially destroys them. These T4 cells are the little guys that make you feel better when you get sick, because they help your body (i.e. immune system) to grow a defense system against the foreign invader (the germ, virus, etc.) and eventually rid the body of such microbiological infections. However, it is very different with HIV, because the body cannot destroy the foreign HIV strands fast enough due to its high mutation rate. In other words, by the time a single HIV strand is destroyed, another strand of HIV (mutation) has already succeeded to take its place. When enough T4 cells have been destroyed and you are left with less that 200 per ul, then you are diagnosed with AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome), and it is this condition that you actually die from. What's even worse is that new evidence in various publications indicate that if you already have an Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD), then you are more susceptible to attracting the HIV virus.


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