We have done our utmost to condense the information as much as possible without creating any misleading ideas, but because it is so complex and ‘three dimensional' in many ways, this is quite a difficult task to accomplish.

The information we are supplying will at the very least increase ones knowledge into the viral infectivity, replication, prevention and transmission of the HIV/AIDS retrovirus.  This in turn will create and widen your knowledge base and perhaps hopefully touch the tip of the iceberg. Obviously many of the biochemical and catalytic reactions have not been mentioned as this simply complicates matters even further.  The information presented is instead ‘superficial'.

How many of us know what HIV/AIDS actually is?  How does it gain access into our cells? How is it replicated using the body’s mechanism for its own personal use and gain? Why is it so difficult to treat and how does it differ from the common bacterial infections seen today? How many of us actually know that the cause of death in patients is not from AIDS but rather from complications associated with AIDS?

For instance, AIDS was first recognized as a ‘new’ disease in the early 1980's, (although there was a supposed AIDS related death as far back as 1959 in the Congo).  New diseases happen frequently, and just when the medical student thinks he ‘knows it all’ - a new disease emerges from the woodwork!  In fact, we call them ‘”emergent” diseases rather than ‘new' as was the case with HIV/AIDS.

There had also been reports of some cases of a rare cancer called ‘Kaposi Sarcoma’.  This form of cancer, described by a Dr Kaposi some 100 years earlier, was unusual in so far as typically, it affected elderly men and was not an aggressive form of cancer. By contrast the reported cases in 1981 occurred in young men, but it was now a very aggressive form of cancer and recognizable under the microscope as typically ‘Kaposi’.

Because of a damaged immune system, HIV/AIDS patients were prone to fungal infections and unexplained diarrhoea.  In fact, there were a whole series of symptoms.  Hence AIDS was born.  But the next common factor with all the cases turned out to be a red herring.  Because all identified cases in the early days occurred in gay white males, it was assumed that the disease was linked to the gay sub-culture and it acquired the eponym of ‘GRID’ (Gay Related Immune Disease). This mistake had disastrous consequences.  At the time, there very was little acceptance with any type of behaviour from the accepted norm and research was directed towards finding a link to drug abuse in the Gay sub-culture. One such drug was ‘amyl nitrite’ or ‘poppers’.  It was only when cases began to occur in babies and in post-blood transfusion patients that serious efforts were mounted in the quest to find a contributing microbe.  The offensive ‘GRID’ eponym was dropped. There was a great deal of controversy over who discovered the AIDS virus, and today it is usually accepted that there were two independent workers who first isolated the virus - one in France the other in the USA. The importance of its discovery rests in the fact that once the virus (now called Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV for short) had been isolated in a laboratory, it became possible to manufacture a test to identify those persons infected.

To understand the process for any disease, it is essential to have an appreciation of science, or at the very least, have an understanding of scientific reasoning. Many of us are hesitant when we hear the word “science”.  We feel we lack understanding and will possibly expose our ignorance. In fact, by reacting in this manner we are denying ourselves fascinating opportunities in discovering that science is not a subject of unintelligible mumbo-jumbo - it is simply a method of ordered thought.

As with any other activity, scientists have invented a vocabulary to describe events succinctly - this should not be new to you. Golfers talk of eagles and birdies - but they are not into bird watching. When a golfer gazes into the sky he is not looking for that rare lesser speckled blue-tit or other exotic species.

In fact, it is safe to say that for that short space of time his mind is not on tits at all - his eye is on that tiny white orb that he has just smacked into kingdom come with his number four iron to see whether he is going to score a birdie or an eagle. Similarly, a medical scientist will not speak of a “disease process” - he will abbreviate it to one word: “pathology”.  We’ll keep technical words down to a minimum for the sake of easy reading, but occasionally the odd little bit of jargon may intrude, and indeed you will be surprised to find how much of it is familiar to you. The greatest scientists, even Nobel Laureates, are exceedingly simple people and most often very unassuming.  Their talent lies in taking the most difficult problem and breaking it down to its simplest terms.

In 1981 an epidemiology service in the USA (a service providing public health surveillance for epidemics of infectious and other diseases), noted a number of unusual illnesses were reported to them by doctors. These first five or so cases were just a collection of an unusual form of pneumonia and this was because the hospital laboratories had found that the bug causing this type of pneumonia was a very innocuous germ previously thought to be a harmless organism with the terrifying name ‘Pneumocyctis Caryneii’.  Please don't even bother to remember the name - but hopefully you’ll never meet the creature. So best you read our book and learn the lessons in it!

By the nature of the disease processes observed (the pathology), it was obvious that in all these patients the common factor was the dysfunction of the immune system.  A complete breakdown of the immune system in this fashion was not unknown, but it was usually noted in a hereditary form seen in babies who were born with a non-functional immune system. This was a form acquired later in life - all the cases were of young men in their 20's or early 30's, so the sobriquet was changed to Acquired Immune Dysfunction and it was characterized by other stigmata.

The early identification of persons carrying the virus is of the utmost importance for apart from a short period of mild ill-health at the time of infection, the acquisition of this destructive virus passes unnoticed for several years before evidence of severe disease becomes apparent.  During this ‘silent’ period the infected person is infectious to others if there is intimate interaction- particularly sexual intercourse or any activity where blood or body secretions are transferred between individuals. This is because the AIDS virus (HIV) is present in the infected person’s blood.  It poses a great danger to other persons if they are accidentally contaminated by blood from an infected person - even if that person is apparently in robustly good health.

Likewise, if a person is unaware of their infected status and donates blood for transfusion purposes, the donor could infect the person to whom it is transfused. Typically, the time from infection to the development of full blown AIDS may be anywhere up to ten years. This will be discussed in greater detail later in the book.  Suffice it to say at this juncture, it is wise to protect oneself from blood contamination at any accident situation.  Remember: “Be a good Samaritan with circumspection!”

Combating this pandemic will never succeed solely through medicinal, scientific or promotional material unless this message is collectively integrated with society’s co-operation. The latter point we believe is possible through education and the understanding of the disease. This in turn will only happen if government, various educational bodies, industry and even individual families take the time to learn and absorb the contributing factors leading to these infections. As far back as 1990, the Joint United Nations programme and the World Health Organisation declared that HIV/AIDS had become the leading cause of death in Africa - surpassing other diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. Such dramatic statistics and uncontrolled mortality figures inevitably leads to conflict between countries, governments, privately run campaigns and high profile misinformed individuals.   It’s unfortunate that these different bodies have in the past been unable merge and work together.  Instead they placed monetary value and stagnated personal ideas ahead of what should have been the topmost priority - education and treatment.