Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was once considered a taboo disease that first appeared in the United States in the late 1970s. Little was known about the virus and it was originally thought to only be present in the gay male community. As more and more research is done, people now understand the virus and realize that it affects men and women as well as all races, ages, and sexual orientations. HIV is believed to be a mutated form of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) found in chimpanzees. It is very likely that it was transmitted to the human population by people hunting monkeys, coming into contact with their blood and eating their meat (The Origin of HIV/AIDS, 2014). The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) leads to the potentially fatal acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV only lives in blood and other bodily fluids. Concentrations of HIV are low in vomit, sweat, tears, and saliva and cannot be transmitted through these fluids. Primary transmission is through fluids such as semen, vaginal secretions, and rectal mucosa during sexual contact, breast milk and amniotic fluid passing to children, and blood during transfusions and exposure. The early stages of HIV begin with acute infection. During the first two weeks to a month after exposure to HIV infection, most infected people experience symptoms of severe flu. Symptoms include fever, swollen glands, sore throat, rash, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, and headache. The early period of infection is known as “acute retroviral syndrome” (Stages, 2013). Once the virus exits the acute phase, it enters the latency phase where it continues to replicate but no symptoms appear. As the infection progresses and the immune system becomes...... middle of paper ......t the actual infection, but instead focuses on the side effects and conditions that arise from medications and the disease itself. Some of the problems that can be treated are peripheral neuropathy, myalgia, hypertension, and muscle wasting (Dudgeon et al., 2006; Galantino and Kietrys, n.d.). As the disease progresses, it can cause balance problems and slow oxygen consumption in the body (Galantino & Kietrys, n.d.). In 2011, the CDC reported that approximately 49,273 people were recently diagnosed with HIV and approximately 32,052 people had been diagnosed. with AIDS in the United States alone. The new diagnoses bring the overall total to approximately 1,155,792 people in the United States who carry the AIDS virus (HIV in the United States, 2013). With over a million people infected with AIDS and over a million more HIV-positive, this leaves many possibilities for treatment options..**