PREVENTIVE MEDECINE: AIDS
What is it?
A potentially lethal venereal disease that affects mainly the homosexual community and those who have received infected blood by transfusions. The letters of the name stand for Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome-the condition is so named because it produces a breakdown in the body’s ability to combat infections.
AIDS appears to be a new disease and at the time of writing the total number of cases reported worldwide is less than 12,000. Just why some people who develop AIDS die and others seem to be able to cope with the infection is not known but most people who contract the disease probably do not realize they have it. Only about one in ten of those with the AIDS virus go on to develop a more serious form of the disease.
There is no treatment for AIDS and this makes prevention all the more vital. Gamma interferon, Inter-leukin and bone-marrow transplants have all been tried unsuccessfully.
The first signs of AIDS are night sweats, fevers, rapid weight loss, lethargy and general malaise. Sometimes these symptoms are clear-cut and then disappear. Swelling of the lymph glands and the appearance of skin blotches are signs that the full AIDS condition has developed. Symptoms can take from six months to four years to appear after the initial contact with someone with the virus.
People who have AIDS usually die from pneumonia or skin cancer as a result of the breakdown of the immune system.
What causes it?
AIDS is caused by a virus that was only identified in May 1984. Since then the entire genetic structure of the virus has been discovered but vaccines may take a long time to develop because the AIDS virus, unlike that of certain other viral diseases, appears to be able to live alongside the antibody to it in the blood. The virus is also very changeable (rather like the ‘flu viruses) and this again makes for problems in combating it.
Infection with the virus does not necessarily mean death as was thought until very recently. Having said this, once someone has the disease itself (as opposed to being infected with the virus) at the current state of knowledge death is certain. The disease has only been around for six years or so and it is clear that the incubation period can be this long. There is now concern that carriers of the virus might remain symptom-free for perhaps much longer and then finally develop the disease-all the time passing it on to others unwittingly.
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Tags: General health