HIV/AIDS in United States - Research Paper Example

It is caused by Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV), known to be retro virus which is transmitted through body fluids, mainly blood and genital secretions. While HIV affects a body, it provokes almost all symptoms that cause the destruction of the body’s immune system. It causes the infected person to become vulnerable to fungus infections, pneumonia and other common ailments. As a contribution to this cause, worldwide heterosexual activities account for three quarters of all the HI Virus infections.

In addition to heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and prostitutes are regarded to be high risk groups of AIDS. Since it was first identified in 1981 in USA, it has spread to almost all parts of the country and infected more than one million people. About half a million have died of HIV’s infection. According to the statistics, HIV prevention attempts are not so effective and hence every year about 56,000 Americans are newly infected by HIV (Bonita de Boer, 2009). There are discriminations among Americans towards HIV infected people.

According to avert (2009), the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) statistics show that by the end of 2007, 468, 578 people were suffering from AIDS in US and it was around 20,000 more than the figures of 2006. Around 1,051,875 Americans have so far been diagnosed with HIV (Bonita de Boer, 2009) Among Americans, the impacts of AIDS have been more severe in some groups than the other. Black Americans have been affected largely by HIV since the beginning of this epidemic and it became worse over time.

Black people accounted to be more HIV affected cases and HIV related deaths. It has been reported that AIDS has a major impact on Black women, youth and men who have sex with men. In US, African Americans account to be 12% of the total population, but the percentage of AIDS diagnoses show that blacks account to be 49 % of total AIDS