While neither a disease of the urinogential system nor an STD, strictly speaking, acquired immunodefiency syndrome (AIDS) ranks as one of the most feared diseases today. Because the disease may be transmitted by intravenous needles that are shared by drug abusers as well as through sexual contact and contaminated blood it cannot strictly be called as an STD. The disease strips the body of its acquired immunity against infection and leaves its victims susceptible to a variety of opportunistic infections. These include a rare form of pneumonia and Kaposi’s sarcoma, a rare type of cancer. AIDS is uniformly fatal. A virus called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is thought to be the cause of AIDS. Researchers speculate, however that more than one virus may be the causative agent in AIDS. Exposure to the disease does not mean inevitably that a person will contract AIDS. Perhaps no more than 10 to 20 percent of the individuals who have been exposed to HIV will develop full blown cases of AIDS. Many will develop what has been termed ARC, AIDS-related complex, which is often fatal and not considered by authorities to be AIDS.
