The AIDS virus turned out to be a very unusual sort of virus. Research provided the means to test donated blood for the presence of the antibodies to the virus, astronomically reducing the chance of ones getting AIDS from a blood transfusion. This was one of the first real breakthroughs. The AIDS disease is characterized by having one's immune system devastated by the AIDS virus. This disease is inevitably fatal.
Death occurs often after many weeks or months of expensive and painful hospital care.
Most folks with the disease can transmit it to others by sexual contact or other exposure of an uninfected person's blood to the blood or semen of the infected person. One tends to be plagued by frequent colds, enlarged lymph nodes, and the like. This condition can go on for years. Unfortunately, all those with ARC are currently felt to eventually progress to getting the full blown AIDS disease. There are, however, many folks who have NO obvious signs of disease, but when their blood serum is tested they show positive evidence of having been exposed to the virus.