| Popis: |
In terms of suffering, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) ranks high among diseases which have spread misery around the world. With its slow but inexorable progression towards death, AIDS recruits various opportunistic organisms to produce some remarkably uncomfortable disease states. Whether from the air hunger of pneumocystis carinii or cytomegalovirus pneumonia, or from the cutaneous or oral discomfort of herpesvirus or candida albicans infection, or from the local or the generalized discomfort of cryptococcal meningitis or toxoplasma gondii meningoencephalitis, or from the lassitude resulting from the wasting and emaciation, patients with AIDS suffer. Unfortunately, the numbers of cases of AIDS continues to rise. Although, recently many have tried to find optimism in the “plateauing” of the AIDS epidemic, the reality is that, although the rate of increase is slightly less, the slope of the epidemic curve is still upward (Figure 1). Over 5000 cases of AIDS have been reported as of July 1, 1984 — unfortunately, half of these have been reported in the last 6 months. |
