The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) became known worldwide in the 1980's when scientists studying opportunistic infections in otherwise healthy men stumbled upon the virus. Since then, multiple efforts have been undertaken at both a national and international level. In the United States, the incidence of new cases of HIV infection (and subsequent development of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome [AIDS]) have leveled-off and may even be on the decline. In Baltimore, the number of HIV/AIDS cases and deaths peaked in the early to mid 1990's, with a downward trend since then. Unfortunately, the rest of the world has not been as lucky.
The reasons behind this increase in the number of cases worldwide are many. Lack of access to health care is one reason. There are people with HIV/AIDS in many countries, including the United States, who are unable to afford medical care and medications. Without proper treatment, HIV will more than likely progress to AIDS. Also, people with HIV who are not showing symptoms and have not been tested may spread the virus to their sexual partners or introduce it into the blood supply of a community. Many places in the world do not have organizations like AIDS Action Baltimore to provide guidance and assistance on preventing and managing HIV/AIDS.
There are also social issues that have aided in the spread of the disease. Laws against homosexuality promote fear in people who would otherwise be tested for the disease. The assertion by many that HIV/AIDS is a disease exclusively of homosexuals make anyone who tests positive a target for legal action, or worse. So people living in those cultures and under those laws do not get tested. That same misinformation leads people to not practice safe sex. After all, why protect themselves when only "the gays" have the disease?
Finally, there is the simple matter of mathematics. Most people unknowingly practice a kind of "sexual Russian roulette" in that most people will have more than one sexual partner in their lives and they will also practice unsafe sex more than once. Multiply that times the 6.5 billion people on the planet, and the odds are very good that transmission of the virus will continue in the foreseeable future. The aim is to minimize the transmission and stop it little by little while a vaccine is found.
If you feel that you may have contracted HIV or are at risk for contracting HIV or any other infectious disease, talk to your health care provider. There are plenty of treatments available to help manage an HIV infection and delay it from becoming full-blown AIDS.
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