HIV and AIDS

The way in which HIV is transmitted differs from that of the Black Death.  There are many reasons why HIV and AIDS may not be seen as the black death of the 21st century.  The age we live in today is very different from that of the 12th century, recognition of the disease is widely available through different groups and education.  We can prevent HIV from spreading further by a number of methods.  The spreading of AIDS through sexual contact can be prevented by the use of condoms.  Among teenagers HIV is commonly spread through unprotected sex therefore educating them about it may help prevent this

The Nemours Foundation. (1995-2007). Kids health: STDs.http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/std/talk_child_stds.html. [date accessed 15/11/07]

Mother to child transmission can be prevented by medical treatment and precautions available such as having a caesarean and not breast feeding the baby.  Our media and technology is far more advanced nowadays to spread the knowledge about aids worldwide and our society is also a lot more controlled. This huge advancement in technologies means that treatments are now available to slow the replication and reproduction of the virus.  The developments of drugs that inhibit the virus’s growth also prevent or delay the onset of AIDS.  These advancements have happened in the past 20 years and the rate in which technology is advancing means there is a chance that a cure or vaccine may still be found before the end of the century.

However treatments to even suppress the virus could become impossible because the numbers of drugs available are limited, and if a person fails to take their medication as described the virus will eventually develop a resistance to them.  Some areas of AIDs are also impossible to treat such as adult dementia and swelling of the brain.  This lack of treatment will contribute to AIDS being seen as the black death of the 21st century.  More than 20 million people have died from AIDS so far and millions more are living with the disease.  The Black Death killed 75 million people worldwide and if nothing more is done to prevent AIDS from spreading further it will become the leading cause of death in the 21st century.  

Wikipedia. (2003). Wikimedia foundation, St Petersburg. http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_death [date accessed 16/11/07]

The prevention methods mentioned above need to be revised into more specific personal programmes, and the use of condoms and safe sex needs to be more culturally acceptable.  For every case of AIDS there are 50-100 infected people.  This confusion causes many people to deny there is a problem.  Say if a country has 400 cases of AIDS this is less than other diseases so they will not admit there is a problem.  However somewhere between 20000 and 40000 will be infected.  Most of these will not know they are infected and will pass on the virus to their sexual partners causing the number of infected people to double.  People will also deny that there is a problem as it would have a bad knock on effect for tourism and economy.  This denial and peoples attitude will contribute to AIDS being seen as the black death of the 21st century because unless they admit there is a problem nothing can be done to sort it out.  Because of its silent symptoms many people will not know that they have the virus and will unknowingly pass it on causing the problem to get rapidly worse and spread.  AIDS may also be seen as the black death of the 21st century because like the bubonic plague there is no cure or possible vaccine for it.  Even if a vaccine were to become available there is no certainty that all countries would have access to it.

From the information that I have gathered I have come to the decision that AIDS may be seen as the black death of the 21st century.  However there is not enough studies to show that this will definitely happen.  Technology may still produce a cure or vaccine before the end of the century, or the virus may develop further to resist all treatments.  For AIDS not to become the black death of this century then peoples attitudes will need to change and stop denying there is a problem.  Society will have to socially accept condoms and safe sex, and a greater need for education of prevention methods is also required.  However with the existing death rate being so high, and the number of people infected being even higher, and with no current forthcoming vaccine it looks as though it may be seen as the black death of the 21st century.