Module 5

HIV and AIDS was a huge pandemic from 2005 to 2012. It was first identified in Democratic republic of Congo in 1976. It developed from a chimpanzee virus. It has been proven to be a global pandemic that killed more than 36 million people since 1981. At the moment, there are about 31-35 million people living with this virus and the vast majority can be found in Sub Saharan Africa. It was believed to have been a curse from God because gay men that were sexually active were targeted by it from the beginning. People soon became more woke and realized that these were not the only individuals that were targeted by this disease. As awareness grew, new treatments for HIV were developed that made this disease more manageable to live with, but AIDS lacks a cure. HIV/AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease. Although AIDS was first observed in American gay communities and developed from West Africa, people learned that the disease spreads through certain body fluids. The disease is still present and there is still not cure to be found for it yet. Those infected by the virus experience fever, headaches, and enlarged lymph nodes upon infections. When the symptoms cool off,  individuals that are carriers become infections through blood and genital fluid and the diseases destroys t-cells.