ABSTRACT
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), called by some the plague of the twenty-first century, is a deadly global disease for which there is no vaccine or cure . The magnitude of the AIDS epidemic can best be appreciated by looking at the increase in the number of individuals infected . In 1981, when the disease first appeared in the United States there were 12 cases, by 1994, the number of cases was 400,000, and in 2015 the CDC estimated that 1 .2 million people aged 13 years and older were living with the infection . Worldwide, UNAIDS estimates that in 2014 over 36 .9 million people were infected and in that year alone 1 .2 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses . It has been claimed that since the epidemic began, 25 .3 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses . With preventive measures and drug treatment, the vast majority of these deaths would not have occurred .
