View of epidemic as a whole
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus which causes AIDS in the human body system, and AIDS is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. The virus HIV is what causes AIDS, but HIV is a cell that kills our T-cells while also replacing them, once a person is infected they carry the virus for life, in which HIV - positive the person who contracted this disease begins to suffer from infections, and disease.
The AIDS epidemic is considered to be the Black Death in modern times. The World Health Organization says that one out of every fifty people could be infected with the virus. In public opinion polls, more than 100 million Americans have an ‘acute’ fear of AIDS.
In 1985, forty-seven percent of Americans thought they could catch AIDS from a drinking glass, thirty percent thought the virus could be transmitted from kissing or a toilet seat.
The stigma that HIV/AIDS brought the rumors cause people to build walls instead of helping those to support to help find a solution. The stigma of being gay, or a drug addict as well as being poor, was seen “that God is punishing for a person’s ‘immoral’ behavior” However, It brought the knowledge of “safe sex” and safer drug use campigns for public awarness, by then it was a global standard behavior to learn about these campigns. When people speak out about HIV/AIDS they are able to humanize the impact it has on the world. The stigma became known as a “gay disease” or “drug abusers” because of the suggestion of being transmitted sexually or blood-born on needles, but it was a risk to thoe who were Hemophiliacs in their blood transfusions.
The awareness raised by celebrities like Freddie Mercury and Earvin "Magic" Johnson have helped defeat this negative stigma over time. A fix to this negative stigma did not come overnight, but has taken work over many years, and was heavily aided by the NAMES AIDS Quilt...