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AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome HIV and Aids affect more than
roughly thirty million people worldwide. Race, sex and age have nothing to do
with who can get this disease, however, the race with the highest number of
infected people happens to be Caucasian males ages 25-44. About forty-five
percent of the 641,000 AIDS cases in the U.S. have been white people. Blacks
aren’t far behind with over 35 percent of cases, and Hispanics have about 20
percent of all cases. Asians have less than anyone does, with 1 percent. Of the
estimated 30.6 million people worldwide living with this horrible,
life-threatening disease in 1997, about 68 percent were living in sub-Saharan
Africa. 22 percent of all cases were in Southern and Eastern Asia and the
Pacific, 4 percent in Latin America, 5 Percent in North America and the
Caribbean, and 2 percent in Europe and Central Asia.
In 1994 and 1995 AIDS was
the leading cause of death among Americans ages 25-44 years old. It was also the
leading cause of death for men in the same age group and the third leading cause
of death in women 25-44. Adult males are the leading sex to contract AIDS. They
account for over 80 percent of all cases in the U.S. Adult women make up 15
percent and children make up the other 1- percent of the cases. (Encarta 99)
People have been lead to believe so many fictional stories about the ways of
contracting AIDS and HIV; it’s hard to know what to believe. The truth is, the
main way of getting this disease is unprotected sex. Although condoms do work
most of the time, they are not 100% effective. Abstinence is the only foolproof
way of not being infected with this disease or one of the thousands of others.
Besides sexual contact with a person carrying the AIDS virus or HIV, you can
also be infected in many different ways. For example, although no one has
actually contracts AIDS from contact with these things, HIV has been found in
sweat, saliva and tears. People who are unsure about the AIDS status of their
partner should actually be weary of kissing them. There has not yet been a case
attributed to kissing, however, there is still a potential for contraction. For
awhile now there have been rumors of transmission by insects that suck blood and
bite humans. Studies have shown no evidence of this, but the rumors are still
claiming it could happen. Scientists and researchers have preformed experiments
after experiments because of the overwhelming concern. They all have proved
there is no cause to fear insects such as mosquitoes, because in HIV carriers
don’t have constant high levels of HIV in their bloodstream. Another reason is
that an insect mouth parts don’t hold large enough amounts of blood to transmit
the disease.
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