AIDS is caused by infection with a virus called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood and sexual contact. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their babies during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Some of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.
Say ‘AIDS’ and dime-a-dozen misconceptions abound. The chart topper is that AIDS is supposedly a disease of gay men and intravenous drug users. The facts are otherwise. No doubt in the early years many HIV-positive cases were reported amongst the Western gay community. In recent years, however, prevalence rates among gays have leveled off. Instead, heterosexual transmission has been forging ahead of all other modes of transmission.
The AIDS virus is NOT contracted through touching, hugging, kissing, massage, sharing toilet seats, drinking or eating from utensils used by an infected person or any other mode of casual contact. Nor does working, socialising and living with infected people cause the disease.
Repeated sexual contact without proper precautions with an infected person, using an infected syringe, exposure to infected blood or sexual fluids are ways through which the disease can be transmitted.
Donating blood also does not run the risk of disease contraction since needles used for such purposes are always sterile. Since the AIDS virus is unable to survive outside the human body beyond a short duration, dried blood is not infectious For this reason, mosquitoes are incapable of transmitting HIV as the virus cannot replicate itself in the intestine of insects.
Although medical personnel are potentially at risk from infection, this is minimal if protective gear such as gloves, masks and goggles are always used when handling potentially infected material.
The Elusive Cure
The large-scale infections and deaths have spurred a spate of worldwide efforts for a cure. In the US, however, AIDS cases are said to be dropping and new infections leveling off. Mortality from AIDS is also dropping.
In the developing countries, though, the cases continue to rise alarmingly. Globally, three million died in the year 2000, with 5.3 million newly infected people, 95 percent of whom might die.
Many scientists, doctors and researchers contend that AIDS is not a new disease, having been around much longer than people believe. Dr. Robert Willner—author of Deadly Deception: The Proof That Sex and HIV Absolutely Do Not Cause AIDS—asserts that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. He claims that nearly 500 hundred top scientists of the world have challenged the hypothesis of Robert Gallo—who patented the HIV test the day after the AIDS virus was discovered—that HIV is the precursor of AIDS.
Besides other telling facts, the dissenters want to know how one can explain HIV-free AIDS cases, of which there are said to be nearly 5,000 on record.
Dr. Frank Shallenberger, a licensed medical and homeopathic practitioner, says that statistics are only a correlation—not a result—that HIV is one cause of AIDS, citing the fact that some AIDS victims do not have HIV antibodies. Dr. Shallenberger considers AIDS a multifactorial disease that strikes when the immune system is down.
The search for a cure, also brings to light other interesting facets. African chimpanzees have been harboring the simian equivalent of the AIDS virus for centuries, according to detailed studies conducted by researches at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Why don’t the chimps succumb to the virus?
Says Dr. Anthony Fauci from the National Institutes of Health: "There must be something about the chimp’s immune system or some host defense system that is doing a very good job of containing the virus. If we find that out we may be able to extrapolate to humans."
Chimpanzees being the closest living relatives of humans, their DNA differs from human DNA by less than two percent. Adds Dr. Fauci: "It’s entirely conceivable that the very small genetic differences between the chimp and the human will explain why the chimpanzee does not get sick and the human does."