(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] About 37 million people around the world
are currently living with AIDS
making the disease one of the worst pandemics
in modern history.
AIDS or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
is a disease in which the human immune system
is severely impaired.
It's caused by the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV
and is the last stage of the virus's infection.
HIV attacks by entering the bloodstream
and attaches to Helper T or CD4 cells.
A type of white blood cell,
CD4 cells are responsible for fighting infections.
First, HIV attaches itself to a CD4 cell
and fuses with it.
Then HIV releases its genetic material
into the CD4 cell which combines with the cell's DNA.
This allows the virus to produce more HIV proteins
inside the cell.
The proteins are then packaged and released
to attack other CD4 cells.
(lively music)
Without HIV medicines,
an individual's infection may spread
and within 10 to 12 years, advance to become AIDS.
This decreased immunity makes patients with AIDS
vulnerable to a number of diseases
including infections, dementia and cancer.
Scientists believe that HIV originated
in West Central Africa
where a similar virus was found
in chimpanzees and gorillas.
Around the turn of the 20th century,
the virus was transmitted to humans
due to the handling of chimpanzee meat.
The virus then spread from the African continent
during the mid-1060s through a single carrier
eventually making its way around the world.
In 1982, scientists labeled the illness
as AIDS and the following year identified the virus as HIV.
Every since, about 77.3 million people around the world
have contracted HIV
with the majority of affected individuals living
in countries with very few resources.
Scientists are working to one day develop a cure for AIDS.
In the meantime, advancements in biotechnology
plus increased awareness, prevention
and access to health care
are saving many lives
and they hold the key to finally exterminating the disease.