HIV infection in critical care

摘要

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic has spread to every country in the world and has infected over 2.5 million persons world wide. While initially limited, infection with the HIV has literally exploded over the past 2 decades to become the worst epidemic of the twentieth century. With more than 20 million fatalities, the AIDS epidemic now ranks alongside the influenza pandemic of the early 1900s and the Bubonic plague of the fourteenth century in terms of fatalities. The impact of this disease on human suffering, cultures, demographics, economics, and even politics has been felt in nearly every society across the globe.