An epidemic began in 1981, and has grown to such large proportions that there is not a country in the world that has not been touched. It has been twenty years that people have been searching for answers in this mystery of death and suffering, searching for an end to the pain of the millions who have been touched by HIV/AIDS . I believe these people are looking for an end to this pandemic in the wrong places. To learn the meaning of the present we must refer to history and all the possibilities the stories of the past hold. I believe that to fully understand the course one is running, you must first find the starting point, realize why things started where and when they did, and work your way forward to the end, to a completion. We can not eradicate HIV/AIDS by suppressing it, and we cannot find a cure without discovering where it began.
HIV is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS. HIV works by impairing and killing the cells of the immune system and it progressively destroys the body’s ability to fight off disease. There are three ways to contract HIV: through sexual contact (including oral, anal and/or vaginal intercourse) with an infected partner, through contact with infected blood or blood products, and through intravenous drug use when sharing needles with an infected individual. HIV can also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy and birth, or through breast feeding the baby, as HIV is present in breast milk. After initial infection, HIV is usually asymptomatic for a time period of two months to more than a decade. Although there may be no noticeable symptoms within this time frame, HIV is already multiplying within the body and infecting and killing the cells in the immune system. The only way to know if you are infected is to get a blood drawn to test for HIV anti-bodies one-month to six months after the exposure risk date. As the immune system deteriorates during the advanced stages of HIV there are a few symptoms that become recognizable. They can include, but are not limited to frequent fevers, sweats, lack of energy, swollen lymphnodes, weight loss and frequent yeast infections (vaginal or oral). The most advanced stage of HIV is clinically defined as AIDS when the CD4 + T cell count drops below 200 (a healthy adult has a count of 1,000 or more). There are 26 clinical conditions that typically affect people with AIDS that also help define the start of the disease. They are called opportunistic infections (OIs) such as pneumocystis pneumonia, cryptococcal meningitis and certain types of cancers.While there is not yet a cure for HIV/AIDS, there have been great strides made in medicine and science that have produced medications to suppress the disease and prolong life for a considerable amount of time. As I previously stated, I believe it is crucial to understand the origin of the disease before it will be possible to eradicate it.
There are many theories about the possible origin of HIV/AIDS. They range from government conspiracies by the United States and Soviet communists to natural transfer from primate to man to a heavenly intervention by God to punish mankind for the “evils” of modern society. Through my research I have narrowed the field down to the few which are the most plausible, and often the most controversial. In this paper I will clearly outline the basic ideas and facts that these theories are made of, and hopefully provide a better basis to judge them by. |
