This is when certain rare types of cancer and many other serious infections were starting to show up in many people who were healthy beforehand. "Strikingly, these were disorders that would hardly ever threaten persons with normally functioning immune systems." (Devita, Hellman, & Rosenberg, 1992) It wasn't until 1981 that these symptoms, which were symptoms of HIV, progressed and were given a formal name and description we now know as the AIDS syndrome. .
Since the first AIDS cases were reported, more than 1 million people have been diagnosed with the AIDS virus and over 200,000 have died in the United States alone. Of the more that 1 million people who have been infected by HIV, most don't even know that they have been infected because they still have not developed any symptoms. The first high risk group was among homosexual men. AIDS first appeared among the gay community. Now, homosexuals are not the only people who are getting AIDS. The syndrome is now widespread among heterosexuals also. AIDS is an invader because it unwittingly enters the body without any warning signs. There is no ways of telling whether or not a person has HIV or even full-blown AIDS. Anyone can get AIDS. The only way that an individual can be safe from this silent invader is to stay away from high risk activities.
These activities are sexual intercourse, whether it be homosexual or heterosexual, with an infected individual and exposure to infected blood or blood products, such as through a blood transfusion or by using infected hypodermic needles during drug use. The number of women being infected by the AIDS virus is increasing very rapidly. "AIDS has become the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 20 and 40 in major cities of North and South American, Western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States, AIDS has hit the hardest among black and Hispanic women." (Gong & Rudnick, 117) Eighty percent of children born to women with AIDS acquire HIV from their infected mothers.
