What is HIV?
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- HIV or Human Immunodeficency Virus is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system.
- If HIV is left untreated, it can lead to AIDS
- According to the CDC, there is currently no effective cure and once contracted you will have it for life
- With proper medical care, HIV can be controlled.
- People with HIV who get effective HIV treatment can live long, healthy lives.
Where did HIV Come From?
- HIV infection in humans came from a type of chimpanzee in Central Africa.
- Studies show that HIV may have jumped from chimpanzees to humans as far back as the late 1800s.
- The chimpanzee version of the virus is called simian immunodeficiency virus. It was probably passed to humans when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat and came in contact with their infected blood.
- Over decades, HIV slowly spread across Africa and later into other parts of the world.
- The virus has existed in the United States since at least the mid to late 1970s.