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| Posted: 14 May 2005 03:11 | ||
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Posts: 42 Join Date: May 2005 |
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AIDS is one of the most serious, deadly diseases in human history.
More than 20 years ago, doctors in the United States identified the first cases of AIDS in San Francisco and New York. Now there are an estimated 42 million people living with HIV or AIDS worldwide, and more than 3 million die every year from AIDS-related illnesses. AIDS is caused by the HIV virus (human immunodeficiency virus). HIV destroys a type of defense cell in the body called a CD4 helper lymphocyte (pronounced: lim-fuh-site). These lymphocytes are part of the body's immune system, the defense system that fights infectious diseases. But as HIV destroys these lymphocytes, people with the virus begin to get serious infections that they normally wouldn't - that is, they become immune deficient. The name for this condition is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). |
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