Aids in Asia

Yeo1
Summer Yeo
English 10
Period 4
May 23 2012
AIDS in Asia
Today many parts of the world are infected by AIDS, however many people associate the disease with Africa, and the media focuses on the efforts of those on the African continent. Though there is a huge struggle with AIDS in Africa, little know that there is a huge problem with AIDS in Asia also. Today around 4.79 million people are living with HIV in South, East, and South-east Asia.   It is important for us to be aware of the situation that is going on in Asia, and what we must do in order to prevent this disease from progressing into something worse than what it already has become.
Most people believe AIDS originated from chimpanzees, which was considered the “cut hunter theory”.   The hunters would kill the chimpanzees causing some of the blood to get into the hunters cuts or wounds, and thus causing the hunters to get infected by the disease.   Although, there were studies shown that the cause of HIV and AIDS could never have happened this way.   Many scientists and academics debated that the widespread of the AIDS virus began with an accidental vaccine contamination and subsequent transmissions to African villagers, but in February 1999, a group of researchers proved that the chimpanzees were the source of HIV-1, and at some point the disease crossed species from chimps to humans.
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This disease was first discovered in the USA in the early 1980’s when several cases of AIDS were occurring.   In the 1990’s, AIDS was infecting several Asian countries, and by the end of the decade, AIDS had spread rapidly throughout Asia.   There are many things that are causing more people to become infected by AIDS especially is Asia, such as unprotected sex, injecting drug use, sex between men, and mother to child transmission.   The most common way people are getting infected...