Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: A New Connotation for This Deadly Disease

Abstract


 
 
 
 D
 
 
 
 
 uring the last century in the 80s, an outbreak of opportunistic infections and Kaposi's sarcoma was reported for the first time in homosexual men [1]. This disease had a fatal outcome and was named as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) due to total loss of CD4+T-lymphocytes. Shortly after it was described, the disease was rampantly found in hemophilic patients, drug addicts using injectable form of illicit drugs, recipients of contaminated blood and infants of affected mothers.
 Later, in Central Africa, a heterosexual epidemic of AIDS was discovered in women [2-3]. Within a short span of time, AIDS turned out to be the greatest and deadliest pandemic of our times. A retrovirus called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was incriminated as the causative agent of AIDS [4]. An explosive HIV epidemic occurred in Africa, Asia and the former Soviet Union.
 A global struggle was initiated to combat this highly deadly disease of AIDS. Billions of dollars were allocated and spent to ensure a decline of this malady affecting millions of people worldwide, but years since then, AIDs still hangs like a Damocles sword on our shoulders. Many other countries like the sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean also became a prey to the deadly virus of HIV finally culminating in a full blown picture of AIDS [5].
 About two or perhaps more deaths occur each year from AIDS which is an astronomical figure. Death from AIDS remains a major challenge even today and it seems that we so far we have failed in eradicating HIV and thus AIDS despite huge expenses.
 The fatal and lethal syndrome colloquially and commonly abbreviated as AIDS in the contemporary literature could be re-designed and re-abbreviated as "Allah's Illness to Destroy the Sinners" (AIDS). This latter connotation of AIDS correctly fits this abominable syndrome of AIDS, since these patients finally face an inevitable and miserable death despite an aggressive and prolonged futile treatment, reinforcing our Islamic belief that Allah (the omniscient and the omnipresent) punishes these victims in the harshest possible manner for the sins they have committed during their life time.
 We may add that some unfortunate persons like hemophilic patients, recipients of contaminated blood and many others accidentally acquire AIDS and thus do not fall within the list of sinners, and thus should be excluded from the " Sinners' List".
 To conclude, we may add that We was tempted to put this new concept about AIDS for all our readers and colleagues both in the surgical and the medical fields who might be interested in semantics and advanced literary terminologies.