by Alicia M Prater PhD

Created on: May 07, 2009   Last Updated: October 04, 2009

There is no cure for HIV infection and treatment is a lifelong and expensive undertaking, if it works at all. Prevention is key for protecting the population from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The question though is how to prevent the spread of this deadly disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. HIV causes AIDS by attacking the body's immune cells and infection is completely preventable if the proper caution is taken. Since the early 1980s, millions of people worldwide have died from AIDS.

How HIV is Transmitted

To prevent infection, the easiest place to start is to prevent transmission.

HIV is transmitted via body fluids. When HIV was originally described, the populations most affected were male homosexuals and intravenous drug users. After education about clean needles and safe sex, including needle exchange and condom distribution programs, the infection rates decreased in these populations. Currently, males are still the majority of new infections in the United States (73%), and they include men who have sex with men (50% of all new infections), but heterosexual contact is the reason for one-third of all new infections in the United States. For females, 80% of all infections are due to heterosexual contact, accounting for approximately 7400 new infections in 2006.

Blood transfusions were also once a source of infection, but since the discovery of the virus, screening methods have been put in place to prevent this from occurring. This measure of caution and prevention has essentially eliminated hemophiliacs from the list of affected groups, at least in developed countries.

Other modes of transmission include breast feeding, which is a common route of infection in Africa, passing the disease from the mother to her child. Africa is the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, with nearly half of all infections on that one continent. Half of all infections in Africa are women and children. The problems in Africa are slightly different from those of the United States. Tribal wars, government denial, cultural views on contraception and premarital sex, and a lack of health care and antiviral access have made education, prevention, screening, and treatment very difficult roads to follow.

So what is the answer? How do we protect the world's people from HIV and AIDS?

There is no one answer. In the developed world,

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