A study on AIDS pandemic modes of transmission and prevention

Abstract

AIDS, the Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome sometimes called “slim disease” is a fatal illness caused by retrovirus known as the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) is characterized by a severe reduction in CD4+ T-cells which breaks down the body’s immune system, leaving the victim vulnerable to a host of lifethreatening opportunistic infections, neurological disorders or unusual malignancies. AIDS is only the last stage in the wide spectrum of clinical features in HIV infection. HIV/AIDS is still largely a disease of MSMs that refers to as men who have sex with men and male injection drug users, but it is spreading most rapidly among women and adolescents. The virus is transmitted primarily from person to person, most frequently through sexual activity, blood contacts and from an infected mother to her foetus, through the placenta or to her infant during delivery or by breast feeding. Person infected with HIV Virus, death is a certainty but certain measures can be taken to slow down the process of infection. HIV virus thrives in certain ecological conditions. AIDS can be called our modern pandemic, affecting both industrialized and developing countries. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the common modes of transmission, prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis of AIDS.