HIV/Aids

What is Aids?
Aids stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. We say that this disease is acquired because it is not an infection that is inherited. It is caused by a virus (the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV) which enters the body from outside.

How does one contract the virus?
There are three ways in which HIV infection can be transmitted from one person to another.

How common is HIV/AIDS? (Statistics)
HIV has changed the face of our world completely. Even the doomsday prophets could not have foreseen the destruction that HIV/Aids would leave in its wake.

HIV rates stabilising?
Sub-Saharan Africa is still the area hardest hit by HIV/Aids. But new statistics show that infection rates are stabilising. Experts warn that these statistics could be misleading.

Finding the cure for Aids
Check out this infographic on all you need to know about HIV/Aids with the latest information.

Where does Aids come from?
The first recognised cases of Aids occurred in America in the summer of 1981, and soon afterwards in Africa. In the beginning doctors did not know what caused this disease, and it was only in 1983 that scientists discovered that Aids is caused by a virus - now known as HIV-1.

In which body fluids does HIV occur?
HIV has been identified in various body fluids but it is especially highly concentrated in blood, sexual fluids (semen and vaginal fluids), and in breast milk.

Aids graphic: a brief history
In South Africa alone, it is estimated that 2000 new people are infected with HIV every day, and with 4 million HIV-positive. Take a look at the history of Aids.

Story of a virus
From whispers of 'gay plague' in the early 80s to 40 million infected today, the story of HIV/AIDS is one of the most fascinating in history. Here it is in distilled form.