HIV/AIDS Is No Longer a Death Sentence Essay -- Disease/Disorders

I am positive the simplest statement suddenly carries a Brobdingnagian weight when the words HIV or acquired immune deficiency syndrome are followed right after. In the 1980s HIV meant AIDS and AIDS meant a rapid and untellable death. Death always seemed to be the end result in a world where we did not understand the indisposition that seemed to come from nowhere but was killing at an expedited rate. Thirty plus years later there is still no cure but there is now hope. Having HIV or AIDS is no longer an immediate death sentence. People infected with the virus can live a long and relatively normal life (2). On November 7th, 1991, NBA star Ervin dissembling Johnson announced that he tested positive for HIV and was retiring from basketball (7). Twenty plus years later Mr. Johnson is living inference that having HIV is not an automatic death sentence. When Mr. Johnson made his announcement, he gave the taboo topic of HIV/AIDS a very(prenominal) real and prominent commonplace im age. With his acknowledgement of being HIV positive spoken aloud, no longer could people put this disease into categories. Indeed, a rich heterosexual male not living in a third world country could contract HIV. HIV/AIDS is not only relegated to homosexuals or poor people. However, with this faade of the disease being uncovered another emerged with each year that Mr. Johnson is living and is healthy. Since the public cannot see the outward appearance of the disease a couple of myths have appeared. One, Magic never had HIV it was just a way to bring the disease out into the public to be discusses more openly for awareness. Two, Magic has magic he has been cured. This just shows that when one door closes another one opens. Information on HIV/AIDS clearly needs to be emphasized because ignorance is still very prevalent with the... ...AIDS. Mayo clinic. DS00005.Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER), October 20, 2011. 1998. April 11, 2012. http//www.mayoclinic.com/h ealth/hiv-aids./DS00005. 5) NIAID. HIV Basics. AIDS Education Global Information System. Roxanne Laboratories.2012. 1980. April 11, 2012. http//www.aegis.org/Basics/ social structure%20of%20HIV.aspx6) NIAID, NIH. HIV/AIDS. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. April 03, 2012. February 2, 2005. April 11, 2012. http//www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/Pages/whatAreHIVAIDS.aspx7) Vaughan PhD., Cheryl D. Abracadabra Magic Johnson and Anti-HIV treatments. Harvard University, Cambridge. 11 April 2012. Reading.8) Vaughan PhD., Cheryl D. Debunking Biology Myths What is AIDS? Harvard University, Cambridge. 25 April 2012. Lecture.