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There is a very dangerous disease
called AIDS, which stands for Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This disease makes it hard for your body to
fight against infections large or small because it kills the blood cells
that protect you from them. AIDS is caused by the virus known as HIV (Human
Immunodeficiency Virus). HIV is most commonly transmitted through
unprotected sexual contact with an infected person, sharing needles with an
infected person, and through an infected mother to her child during birth or
shortly after birth while breastfeeding. If HIV is contracted, it does not
immediately mean that you have AIDS, but you are still at high risk. In 2003
it was determined that 26,000 adult men aged 15-49 were living with HIV/AIDS
in Trinidad & Tobago, while the number for women of the same age group was
15,000. Many have died of AIDS because there is no cure. |