Chapter 5 : A Modern Plague, AIDS

Abstract:

Acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome (AIDS) is a deadly disease for which there is no cure or vaccine. The irony is this: most of us living today, especially those under the age of 25, cannot remember a time when we had to be concerned about an outbreak of typhoid or were endangered by lockjaw (tetanus). AIDS, according to the World Health Organization, afflicts 15 million people worldwide and occurs both in developed and less developed countries. The viral nucleic acid is packaged within a protein wrapper called the core, which in turn is encased in an outer virus coat or capsid; the outermost layer, called the envelope, is partly of host origin. Rous examined the filtrate and the sarcoma under the light microscope and found that neither contained bacteria; he concluded that he had discovered an infectious agent capable of causing tumors and that the infective agent was smaller than a bacterium. The transmission of disease from animals to humans is called a zoonosis. In the case of HIV, an extremely rare zoonosis established itself as a human-to-human infection. The linear array of nucleic acid bases that form the genes of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be used to show how closely related the immunodeficiency viruses are. A political dictatorship, a lack of clinics, severe poverty, and reluctance on the part of wealthy countries to invest or offer assistance makes the disease problem worse.