Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is the active state of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and is marked by a noticeable loss of the body's T-cells, a kind of white blood cell - the body's primary defense to infections of any kind.

The virus invades in the form of the invisible HIV, and hides itself in the body's vital fluids, waiting, silently building strength in number while taking advantage of its unknowing host's acts of love to further its own hold on the human species.

Then, after it has secured its grasp on the individual, and after it has allowed itself to be passed to the next unsuspecting man, woman or child, it activates and attacks the body's one and only defense to illness - the immune system.

And though advances in medication allow doctors to slow and sometimes prevent HIV from becoming AIDS, a cure remains undiscovered.

The disease has thus far proved to be quite unstoppable. It thrives in the bodies of 33 million human beings, all over the globe: homosexuals, heterosexuals, Whites, Blacks - people of all color and culture.

Transmission

Colorado AIDS Education and Training Center Program Director MeriLou Johnson said there are many misconceptions about how the disease is actually transmitted.

She said it is not transmitted in saliva, tears or urine. She said it is only transferred through blood transmission, seminal fluid (semen), vaginal fluid and sometimes through breast milk.

When asked if a kiss could transmit the virus, she said: "If you punch each other bloody and then kiss, I suppose its theoretically possible… But you would have to take on gallons of saliva for it to be infectious."

Treatment

"Treating HIV is not simple," said Johnson, who is also a Professor in Medicine at the Denver Medical School.

She said there are at least 23 drugs in circulation that treat HIV, and most of them can conflict with other prescription medication, like some kinds of birth control, but especially psychotropic drugs that treat mental illness.

They also all come with vicious side effects and a hefty price tag, but as Johnson said; side effects aside, life on the medication is far better than life without.

"If you are in a situation that you think you might have been exposed, talk to someone," she said. "Intervention right away can keep the HIV from developing. In cases of rape - get tested … there are places you can get treatment that can stop it in its tracks. It's not going to work 100 percent of the time … But it absolutely depends on how fast action is taken."