AIDS is a major failure of the body's immune system (immunodeficiency). This decreases the body's ability to fight infection and suppress multiplication of abnormal cells, such as cancer. It affects the immune system, including special blood cells (lymphocytes) and cells of the organs (bone marrow, spleen, liver and lymph glands). These cells manufacture antibodies to protect against disease and cancer. AIDS is a secondary immunodeficiency syndrome resulting from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. AIDS is defined as the most severe form of a continuum of illnesses associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Its slow degeneration of the immune system with the development of opportunistic infections, malignancies and frequently, impairment of the central nervous system. AIDS is one stage in the course of the HIV disease, which must be diagnosed by a physician.

Debate around the origin of AIDS has s

Many people with HIV/AIDS virus develop serious illnesses that are not life threatening to anyone whose immune system is functioning normally. These illnesses are referred to as "opportunistic" infections or diseases. People diagnosed with HIV/AIDS do not always appear sick. The spectrum of HIV/AIDS disease are categorized into four areas: infected; no symptoms; mild symptoms; and, AIDS ("Q&A's", uiuc, Internet, 2002, 1). Pneumocystic carinii pneumonia continues to be one of the most serious processes in individuals with HIV/AIDS (Marrelli, 41).

When people contract the HIV/AIDS virus it basically worms its way into the immune system. After the virus has wormed its way in, it starts to gradually erode the ability to fight off bacteria, other viruses, funguses and other diseases the most healthy bodies would otherwise be capable of fighting off. From the time that an individual initially contracts the HIV/AIDS virus, one may not have any signs or symptoms for as long as eight to ten years.

The HIV/AIDS virus is growing larger than ever. About forty-seven million people worldwide have been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus since the start of the epidemic. This condition is currently considered incurable. However, symptoms can be relieved or controlled and scientific research into causes and treatment continues. AIDS may not develop for years following a positive HIV test. Once ill, survival averages vary. Home continues to be the care setting for most individuals with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Care is directed toward treatment of opportunistic infections, other HIV-related conditions and preventions of further problems. Comfort, support, teaching and palliative care to individuals, their families and their care givers is key to effective care in the community. These findings indicate that AIDS continues to place a burden on the health-care system in the United States and that access to medical and preventive services must be improved to reduce the overall health impact of AIDS.

The government has not yet approved the drug called Tipranavir and thus may not appear on pharmacy shelves for two or more years. Physicians conclude Tipranavir has proven to be effective in individual HIV/AIDS patients during the drug trial testing. Over the past six years, a combination of drugs known as the "cocktail" has radically changed the lives of individuals with HIV/AIDS. Those drugs keep the virus at low or imperceptible levels in the blood. However, these medications are not cures and they never eliminate the HIV/AIDS virus from the body. The future of HIV/AIDS treatment has further been hampered for the future due to the increasing number of resistance to drugs in one or more of the three classes of HIV/AIDS medications ("Aspects", Internet, 2002, 2). Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation recently stated, "We are not just fighting a disease, but the poverty, malnutrition, wars, homelessness and denial of human rights that are the root and cause of the disease" (AIDS2002, Internet, 1).

HIV/AIDS is very fragile. The virus is not tr

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