AIDS in Africa
Krysten Audibert
Mr. Shaughn
World History
May 28, 2008
Audibert 1
Krysten Audibert
May 21, 2008
World History
Period 1
AIDS in Africa
You are walking down the dirt roads of South Africa and you see families in nothing but rags, struggling to hold onto their limp bodies and dirt on their faces. The idea of poverty comes to your mind, but that is only a small component compared to what they are really suffering from…AIDS. The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) may have a short history known to mankind, but what this disease has caused is devastating. AIDS has become a worldwide crisis and is not only infecting humans daily but killing them as well. This killing virus proves to be a source of mass destruction to the human body, economic growth and the lives of millions of people all over the world.
What is HIV and AIDS?
AIDS is not a disease that overcomes your body alone. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) causes AIDS by attacking a human’s immune system and infecting the “ T helper cells” that fight against infections. After the virus has taken over the “T helper cells,” it starts multiplying and damaging more of the infection- fighting cells. As the number of “T helper cells” falls to a very low level, there is a greater chance of being vulnerable to other infections and types of cancer. At a deeper understanding of events inside the cell, “ the T-cells are infected, then replicate, release new viruses, and kill healthy T- cells” (White 16). When the immune system becomes too weak to give off
Audibert 2
any protection, it becomes AIDS. Not only is AIDS life threatening, but can cause other
severe infections, numerous types of cancer and the deterioration of the nervous system. To prove HIV is the cause of AIDS, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases “offers extensive evidence to refute them and support the idea that HIV does cause AIDS,” (Yount 53) and use HIV antibody tests that have...