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Definition: AIDS from The Chambers Dictionary

a condition brought about by a virus which causes the body's immune system to become deficient, leaving the sufferer very vulnerable to infection. [Acronym for acquired immune deficiency syndrome]

❑ AIDS-related complex
n

a viral condition, marked esp by fever and swollen lymph nodes, that may develop into AIDS.

AIDS

From Encyclopedia of Global Health
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a chronic, life-threatening disease that is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS was first reported in the United States in 1981. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) in June 1981 that highlighted five cases of a rare type of pneumonia (Pneumocystis Carinii). Since this first report in 1981, AIDS has become a global epidemic affecting all people, directly or indirectly. As of January 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) estimate that 65 million people have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, the disease has killed at least 25 million people worldwide, and currently there are at least 39 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Since the identification of HIV, scientists have made many advances in the areas of transmission control, identification of risk factors, and therapy. Scientists are working to…
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Full text Article AIDS

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
A viral disease that impairs the immune system of the human body, leaving it vulnerable to many disorders. The disease is thought to be caused by two similar viruses known as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)-1 and HIV-2, transmitted by direct contamination of the bloodstream with infected body…
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AIDS is a fatal disease caused by the retrovirus...
Although TB and malaria currently affect more people, AIDS is well on its way to eclipsing the Black Death as the biggest killer in history. In the 14th century, bubonic plague swept through Asia and Europe killing some 40 million. Today, only two decades since the AIDS virus was discovered, 42…
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Full text Article AIDS

From Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable
The acronym of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a disease in which the body loses most of its cellular immunity, so lowering the resistance to infection and malignancy. The cause is a virus known as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) transmitted in blood and sexual fluids, and although having a…
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Full text Article AIDS

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
Diagram of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus...
From its early identification in the United States as gay related immune deficiency (GRID), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has demonstrated the powerful impact of identity on scientific research, social service provision, media representation, and community organizing. The initial list…
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Full text Article AIDS

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
The disease that came to be known as AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was first described in the United States in 1981. In the course of the next twenty-five years, more than half a million Americans died from AIDS-related illnesses. Although transmission of the virus that causes AIDS—the…
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Full text Article AIDS

From Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
Because the immune system cells are destroyed by...
AIDS—acquired immune deficiency syndrome—is an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus—HIV. The virus damages the immune system by destroying white blood cells (lymphocytes)—especially T cells—that carry a protein called CD4 on the cell surface. The weakened immune system…
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Full text Article AIDS

From The Gale Encyclopedia of Senior Health
AIDS “HIV Surveillance Report: Diagnosis of HIV...
AIDS—acquired immunodeficiency syndrome—is an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. The virus damages the immune system by destroying white blood cells (lymphocytes)— especially T cells—that carry a protein called CD4 on the cell surface. The weakened immune system…
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Full text Article AIDS

From Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health
Opportunistic infections caused by AIDS...
AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is the end stage of an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. There are two variants of the HIV virus, HIV-1 and HIV-2, both of which ultimately cause AIDS. The virus damages the immune system, leaving the patient…
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Full text Article AIDS

From Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Probably more than any other disease in the contemporary world, AIDS has both revealed and precipitated major social, cultural, political changes in society in general as well as in science and medicine more specifically. As such it has been a challenge for anthropologists, who have had a difficult…
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Full text Article AIDS

From Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health
A transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image...
AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is the end stage of an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. There are two variants of the HIV virus, HIV-1 and HIV-2, both of which ultimately cause AIDS. The virus damages the immune system, leaving the patient…
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