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What is AIDS?
Doctors in the US first reported a new disease, AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), in 1981. It has since become a world wide epidemic. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which attacks the immune system, disarming the body's defences against infections and certain cancers. Germs that cause minor illnesses in healthy people can make people with AIDS very ill.
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Over 33 million people in the world are infected with HIV.
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