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AIDS 101 | National Geographic


about 37 million people around the world
are currently living with AIDS making
the disease one of the worst pandemics
in modern history AIDS or acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease
in which the human immune system is
severely impaired it’s caused by the
human immunodeficiency virus or HIV and
is the last stage of the virus’s
infection HIV attacks by entering the
bloodstream and attaches to helper T or
cd4 cells a type of white blood cell cd4
cells are responsible for fighting
infections first HIV attaches itself to
a cd4 cell and fuses with it then HIV
releases its genetic material into the
cd4 cell which combines with the cells
DNA this allows the virus to produce
more HIV proteins inside the cell the
proteins are then packaged and released
to attack other cd4 cells without HIV
medicines an individual’s infection may
spread and within 10 to 12 years
advanced to become AIDS this decreased
immunity makes patients with AIDS
vulnerable to a number of diseases
including infections dementia and cancer
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scientists believed that HIV originated
in west central Africa where a similar
virus was found in chimpanzees and
gorillas around the turn of the 20th
century the virus was transmitted to
humans due to the handling of chimpanzee
meat the virus then spread from the
African continent during the mid 1960s
through a single carrier eventually
making its way around the world in 1982
science has labeled the illness as AIDS
and the following year identified a
virus as HIV ever since about 70 7.3
million people around the world have
contracted HIV with the majority of
affected individuals living in countries
with very few resources scientists are
working to one day develop a cure for
AIDS
in the meantime advancements in
biotechnology plus increase awareness
prevention and access to health care are
saving many lives and they hold the key to finally exterminating the disease
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