Epidemic Disease in History

AIDs 

Description of Disease 

Many people still cannot distinguish AIDs from HIV or know what AIDs is. AIDs, which stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is the final stage that a person infected with HIV undergoes. It means, not all HIV infections develop AIDs. HIV, the virus causing AIDs, spreads through body fluids, primarily, blood. People contract HIV through unprotected sex with an infected individual and drug needle sharing. A woman with the virus can spread it to her baby during pregnancy or during birth. Severe symptoms of HIV infection can take months or years to appear for the first time. HIV/AIDs is a pandemic disease of the current era, one which exists in every corner of the world. Although the disease has no cure, some drugs can lower the virulence of the infection to help the victims live longer. Prevention is considered the best strategy against HIV infection and people can avoid the infection through the use of condoms, abstinence and by not sharing needles or other skin piercing materials. 

History 

AIDs is believed to have existed as early as the 1960s in Africa. A hypothesis points to central Africa, specifically Cameroon, as the point of origin of the virus. Persons believe that the infection may have been contacted initially from a species of Apes in Cameroon through blood contact while the Africans slaughtered the Apes. Infections may have spread to Congo through the Congo River during the colonial times. The white who contacted the disease later spread it in Europe and other places such as America. Scientists first discovered the disease in the early 1980s in a group of gay men. Following the discovery of the disease, people believed that it only exists in urban areas and that it does not associate with prostitutes and other people with multiple sexual partners. Due lack of an understanding of the disease and lack of adequate technology, the disease could not be controlled and continued to spread all over the world. 

Aids in Africa and America 

Africa has had the largest numbers of people infected with HIV since the discovery of the virus and today, over sixty-five percent of the total global population of people living with HIV live in Africa. HIV/AIDs prevalence in Africa is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for about seventy percent of the total population living with HIV in Africa. In recent times, African governments have focused on reducing prevalence, preventing new cases and supporting those living with the disease through improved health care, health education and health campaigns. 

Today, in America, more than one million people are living HIV, and one in seven of those infected are not even aware of their status. The primary mode people contract HIV is through unprotected sexual intercourse. In American men having sex with other men are the most of the total people infected with the virus. African Americans are the most affected by the disease regarding the racial or ethnic distribution of the disease. Today, some drugs can prevent infection within three days of contact (PEP) and drugs which prevent pre-exposer (PrEP), all of which have been approved in the US to help those at highest risk of exposer such as those living with HIV-positive partners. 

Impact on Population 

Over the past three and a half decades, AIDs has impacted immensely on population especially the population of Africa. More than thirty million people have died as a direct result of HIV/AIDs in Africa over the years. In South Africa, for instance, about fifteen percent of the population consists of people living with HIV/AIDs. With two-thirds of the total number of people infected worldwide, Africa has lost a lot of lives over the last three decades to HIV infection. Besides, AIDs has dramatically lowered the life expectancy in Africa down to about thirty-five years. Current numbers of AIDs related deaths in the United States are about six thousand annually. While this number is relatively lower compared to Africa, the impact of AIDs is still significant on the American population. 

Smallpox and Syphilis 

Description 

The global eradication of smallpox by the World Health Organization came in 1980 after the last naturally occurring case of the disease had occurred three years earlier. Smallpox existed in two known viral forms, variola major and variola minor, with the former being more virulent than the latter. Symptoms included fever and vomiting later followed by sores formation on the mouth and rash formation on the skin. While the actual origin of the disease is not known, there are beliefs and myths that it existed earlier as over two thousand and five hundred years ago. Syphilis, a bacterial infection, is primary venereal disease spread through sexual contact and can also be transmitted to the fetus during pregnancy or birth. A chance on the penis is a sign of primary syphilis. In advanced stages, syphilis can infect major organs such as the heart, liver and the brain. With the discovery of penicillin as the cure for syphilis in 1940, rates of infections and syphilis related deaths decreased dramatically. Infections and deaths related to syphilis came on the rise again with the advent of the new century due to factors such as HIV infection, reduced use of condoms, unsafe sex among men having sex with men and increased prostitution. 

Comparison of the Impact of the Diseases 

Smallpox was quite virulent, killing about thirty percent of those infected. The disease occurred in epidemics sweeping away thousands or millions of people at a time. The incubation period of the disease lasts only two weeks making it quite deadly. In the advanced stages, the whole skin was covered in watery bump-like features making the disease quite dreadful. Its virulent nature and attack on the skin could cause other fatal issues such as blindness even for victims who survived it. The disease existed for about three thousand years, making one of the most dangerous diseases the world has ever seen. 

In comparison to smallpox, concerning virulence, syphilis is less virulent considering it takes a longer period before severe symptoms begin to develop. However, if left untreated, like in the case of ancient times, the disease can advance to sever stages where it attacks organs such as the skin, brain and the liver. In 2015 alone, the disease contributed to over one hundred thousand deaths worldwide while physicians diagnosed about forty-million with the infection. 

Why the Infections lost their Virulence 

Smallpox is considered a long-gone disease, one that can no longer infect humans. The cure of the disease reduced the rates of death caused by the disease, but the vaccine ensured immunized people could no longer contact the disease. The new generation born of vaccinated parents cannot contact the disease as well. The smallpox vaccine practically eradicated the virulence of the virus and infection from the human population. While syphilis remains a major venereal disease, the existence of its cure and the awareness and application of safe sex practices has significantly reduced its virulence in recent times. People can avoid syphilis infection through absence or using condoms. Those infected can receive treatment at any health care center nearby.