The Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system. The cause is the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). The HIV is an organism that attacks the immune system of people and reduces his effectiveness and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors. It is necessary to distinguish between HIV and AIDS: the AIDS is the advanced stage of HIV. This virus parasites the human body's white blood cells, destroying them or preventing them to fulfill their function properly. It's called slow virus because the symptoms of the disease they cause appear gradually, may live many years without clinical manifestations of disease, but also spread the virus. The time to develop AIDS after being infected with HIV is from 10 to 15 years. We don't know certenetly if all infected people will end up being sick, but the percentage of asymptomatic passing symptomatic category increases. The first case of AIDS was recognized in 1981.The people who have been infected with the AIDS virus have symptoms similar to a mild flu or a cold. The only way to know who has been infected with a specific test is performed by a health professional.

The AIDS virus can penetrate in the human body by means of the following body fluids: Blood - SEMEN - vaginal fluid and breast milk. The four major routes of transmission are unsafe sex, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth.

There is no known cure or vaccine. Antiretroviral treatment reduces the mortality of HIV infection, but these drugs are expensive and access to this drug is not available in all countries. Prevention of infection is an important key to controlling this disease.

70% of HIV transmissions are produced by people who are unaware of being infected.
Mortality and infections from this disease are more frequents in people about 40 years old, and most are men, and deaths were higher betwen 1992 and 1996.
At that time there