by Carol Lee

Created on: February 28, 2007   Last Updated: April 18, 2007

Imagine living in a country where a deadly virus threatens the life of you and your loved ones every day. You have seen friends and family members die from it, you have more friends and family members who are ill and dying. You may have the virus already, but you have no way of knowing, and if you don't have it already, you probably will. This is reality for people living on much of the African continent, where HIV/AIDS run rampant and hardly anyone remains untouched. The AIDS epidemic in Africa has grown to such epic proportions that the only way to bring it under control will be to use a combination of many short-term and long-term approaches, with the help of funding from industrialized countries, or face disastrous consequences.

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a late stage in a disease process that begins with infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). After being infected, HIV may remain latent and undetectable for months or even years, but eventually immune function will begin to decrease steadily. With the loss of immune function, the infected person becomes more susceptible to other diseases, known as opportunistic infections. A person is said to have the AIDS virus when they have either experienced an opportunistic infection or their immune cells drop below a certain level. (Kurth 21-22)

AIDS is the most deadly disease the world has ever seen, with a death rate above 99%. (Clark 48) However, it is not transmitted easily and is therefore preventable. The only known ways that HIV is transmitted are through having oral, anal or vaginal intercourse with an infected person, sharing drug needles or syringes with an infected person, receiving a transplanted organ or blood products from an infected person, or direct blood on blood contact with an infected person. It can also be passed from mother to child either during pregnancy or through childbirth or breastfeeding. (Begun 17-18)

AIDS probably originated from a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus found in monkeys. It is known that in certain parts of Africa, several kinds of monkeys are a source of food, so it is very likely that the disease was introduced to humans through some kind of blood contact with these animals. The disease could be as many as several hundred years old, but took many years to genetically adapt to humans. It probably originated in a rural area of Africa and originally spread very slowly from village to village. (Clark 47) Only when people began moving into the cities

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