Three Ways To Minimize The Spread Of

Aids In The United States In 2000 Essay, Research Paper

Three Effective Ways to Minimize the Spread of the AIDS

Virus to Every American in the United States in 2000

Since the first case were identified in the United States in 1981, AIDS has

touched the lives of millions of families. In almost two decades, the problems created by

AIDS has been consisting in the United States. There are three problems drastically

influence the people in the United States. First, AIDS makes the AIDS patients repelled

by the society and lost their families, friends, lovers, and work For instance,

in Florida, Broward County parents packed school meetings and teachers

filed aclass action grievance saying a student?s presence endangered their

health. District officials determined that the 17-year-old mentally handicapped

boy with AIDS would be educated by a teacher in an isolated classroom in the

school. (J. Stine 291).

Moreover,

in California, a young man arrived home one evening to find that the locks had

been changed. A few days later he discovered that everything he had ever

touched had been thrown out, such as clothes, books, bed sheets, and tooth-

brush. The day before he had told his friends he had AIDS. Overnight, he had

no friends, slept on park benches, stole food, passed bad checks, and no one

would come near him. (291).

Second, it makes the AIDS patients paid high cost of treatment from initial infection

through death. ?The combination anti-HIV therapy cost $12,000 to 18,000 a year. The

many other medications the patients with advanced AIDS may need for related

conditions could raise the bill to $70,000 a year.? (K. Altman). Many others may have to

pay out of pocket if the private health insurance plans will cover cost of some AIDS

patients. Moreover, the cost of new treatment still on increasing. Therefore, it is really

hard for the poor people to afford this bill. Last, AIDS is the fifth leading cause of death

among American between 25-44-years-old.

The spread of AIDS in the United States has historically resisted and continues to

resist attempted solution. In the present time, nobody has found where was the AIDS

actually come from. But the countries of the world showing the highest rates of infection

are located in south-central Africa.

Epidemiological studies have confirmed that HTLV-III spread first in Africa

and is endemic in Zaire, Burundim Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzaniz, and Kenya.

with the rise of urbanism and jet travel in south-central Africa, the virus spread

rapidly from city to city throughout Central African, into Haiti, and 4 percent of

gay men in North American by the late 1970?s. (A. Feldman 5)

?On June 5, 1981 the first cases of the illness now known as acquired immunodeficinecy

syndrome were reported from Los Angeles in five young homosexual men diagnosed

with Pneumeocystis carinii pneumonis and other opportunistic infections.?(J. Stine xxxii)

Then, the people infected with AIDS virus increasing year by year. In almost two

decades, the World Health Organization, Food and Drug Administration, U.S.

Department of Public Health, and more organization have been tried many solution to

minimize the spread of AIDS in the United States only with a minimal success. These

programs included a school AIDS education, promotion of abstinence, promotion of

condoms, and safer sex. For instance, the public school AIDS education programs that

have been designed to refuse pregnancy and the spread of STDs among teenagers.

?However, data from a variety of high school sex education classes offered across the

country indicate that teenagers are learning the essential facts but they are not practicing

what they learn and what they know.(298). Moreover, risky sexual behavior is

widespread among teenagers and has resulted in high rates of STDs. ?Over 25% of the 20

million STD cases per year occur among teenager.?(298). In addition, promotion of

abstinence is the surest way to avoid contraction AIDS, but it is very hard to practice in

today?s sexually charged environment. It is because ?the young people themselves often

feel sex is an important step to maturity; most adults think it is essential to a romantic

and intimate relationship.?(Garwood). Also, the promotion of condom program in college

may actually encourage sexual activity rather than discourage it. ?Overall of these

programs have reduced new HIV infection by 33 percent.?(A. Feldman 226). That is not

enough to minimize the spread of AIDS in the United States. If we want to have a more

effective result, more organizations, foundations, and donors should involved the new

program and research. Therefore, the researchers can get enough budget for a research.

Since many solutions have been tried with only a minimal success in the United

States, there are three alternative solution for this problem can be considered. The first of

the alternative solution is the public health officials can target on a few of ethic and age

groups that have the largest amount of AIDS and the main factor getting AIDS in the

United States in order to respond the solution. It is because United States is the largest

subculture country in the global. Therefore, we cannot to use the same method to

different ethic and age groups. The second of the alternative solution is the development

of AIDS vaccine.

Scientist are attempting to design three types of vaccines: (1) a preventive

or prophylactic vaccine to protect people from becoming HIV-infected,

analogous to classic virus vaccine such as those for measles and polio;

(2) a therapeutic vaccine for those who are already infect with HIV to

prevent them from progressing to AIDS : and (3) a perinatal vaccine for

administration to pregnant HIV-infected women to prevent transmission

of the virus to the fetus. (J. Stein 174).

The last of the alternative solution is a female use a condom instead of male because ?the

AIDS cases in women were twice times more than the AIDS cases in men in the United

States.? (Stolberg) Thus, female needs to use a condom in order to avoiding the AIDS

cases increasing rather than a male. A female condom is a safe and effective substance

that can be inserted into the vagina in a foam, gel, sponge or other form to kill or prevent

it from infecting cells in the body.

First, the public health officials can target on the ethnic and age groups that have

the largest amount of people infected with AIDS and the main factor getting AIDS in the

United States in order to respond the solution. It is a feasible to work for this solution.

For instance, ?AIDS is now the leading cause of death between age 25- 44 years old and

over half of thiese deaths are injection related among of the African Americans and

Hispanics in the United States.?(Elder). Also, ?Seventy percent of all injection-related

AIDS cases among African Americans and Hispanics have been reported in the last five

years.?( Day). The main reason is these two ethic groups of injecting drug users are