30 years on, efforts never stop combating AIDS

BEIJING. May 31. KAZINFORM The AIDS epidemic has plagued the human being for almost 30 years and the efforts of fighting against it have never stopped.

According to Xinhuanet, the first case of AIDS was diagnosed by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control on June 5, 1981, and what began as a fatal new pandemic then has become a treatable chronic illness.

The pandemic is still strong, but the news is getting more positive. Nowadays infection can be prevented and the virus, immune system and the host-pathogen interaction are increasingly well understood.

Although a cure remains out of reach, the disease can be treated. Moreover, while many people still die because of the virus, HIV is no longer a death sentence anymore.

That is a triumph by any measure, but the epidemic is still killing people, and people are not paying enough attention.

According to a recent United Nations report, AIDS has claimed more than 25 million lives and more than 60 million people have been infected by HIV.

AIDS Community Resources of the United States revealed that youth are engaging in random unprotected sex with multiple partners and that there is a general lack of awareness about HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in the community.

"There's a myth out there that AIDS has a cure, that you can take a pill to treat HIV and there are no consequences," said Michael Crinnin, executive director of AIDS Community Resources. "There is no cure. There are consequences."

(Agencies)

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