What's up?：December 1: World ... Day?

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　■每年12月1日是世界愛滋病日，以紅綢帶標誌表示對愛滋病患者及其家人朋友的關懷與接納，團結一致對抗愛滋病。 資料圖片

Can you think of anything special about today, December 1? This day is dedicated(= given time and energy) to raising awareness(information and understanding) of a disease. Do you know what the illness is? Yes, it's AIDS, and today is World AIDS Day, observed(= recognised with some activities) since 1988.

AIDS is caused by a virus(= an extremely small living thing that causes disease) called HIV. Can you tell the full name of these two abbreviations? AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, while HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The four words for AIDS are worth discussing: 'acquired', 'immune', 'deficiency' and 'syndrome'.

Acquired

The verb 'acquire'(pronounced 'a-KWAI-a') means to obtain, to gain: "The tycoon(= a rich and successful businessman) acquired the firm last year." 'Acquired' is the past participle acting as adjective, meaning that you get something later in life, i.e., it is not inherited(= it is not there when you were born).

Immune

'Immune'(pronounced 'im-MEW-n') is an adjective, and means protected against disease. Therefore, each of us needs a healthy immune system(= disease-fighting system) to protect us from all kinds of illness.

Deficiency

The adjective 'deficient'(pronounced 'dif-FISH-shunt') means not having enough of something, and its noun is 'deficiency'(pronounced 'dif-FISH-shun-see'), with a similar meaning. Therefore, 'immune deficiency' means not having enough power to fight against diseases.

Another way of saying 'immune deficiency' is a word appearing above: 'immunodeficiency'(pronounced 'im-mew-noh-dif-FISH-shun-see'), which is made up of the prefix(= letter(s) added in front of a word) 'immuno-'(with the same meaning as 'immune') and the word 'deficiency'.

Syndrome

'Syndrome' is a special medical term, which means a set of physical symptoms(= uncomfortable signs or feelings) indicating(= showing) that you have a particular disease.

With all the above explanations, it should become clear to us what AIDS and HIV actually means.

Sometimes we may encounter(= come across, see) the popular phrase 'HIV virus'. But actually it's wrong to say that. Do you know why? No? Try to write the long version out, and you would know the reason - 'HIV virus' means 'Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus'! Yes, there would be a repetition here. Therefore, we can't say this phrase, since the term 'HIV' already has the word 'Virus' hidden in it.

Questions:

1. A person infected with HIV is called an HIV-_____ person?

2. AIDS has spread worldwide. It's therefore a pan_____?

3. Medications that treat viruses are called anti_____ drugs?

Answers:

1. HIV-positive.

2. Pandemic.

3. Antiviral.　　■MT Ness