Questions about AIDS?

i have a report in my Biology class and so I just want to ask some questions to clarify my researches:

1. Why is it difficult to cure AIDS?
2. What's with/in it that made it difficult to be cured?
3. Does it spread on one's body fast?

thanks. :)

AIDS is not a virus. It's a disorder caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Once a patient progresses to full blown AIDS, little can be done but treat symptoms as they arise and keep the patient comfortable. The difficulty in curing HIV lies in its wide varieties of forms and exceedingly high mutation rate. There are more strains of HIV than I care to count. There can even be multiple strains within a single patient! Additional difficulties lie in it's method of infection. It will actually insert its DNA into the genome of the host cells. This can make it extremely difficult to attack. The spread of the virus is highly variable. It can lie dormant in a handful of white blood cells for years before becoming active. Once active, it can overwhelm the body in weeks, killing millions of T-cells.

Try WEBMD for qualified answers to this.
AFAIK, AIDS is incurable due to its genetic makeup and it spreads fairly quickly within the diseased person.

As I said, go to WEBMD.COM and find out the real answers.

1.&2. till date der has been no cure for AIDS. it is caused bcoz of a virus called Human Immune Virus(hiv). it is a retrovirus which changes its character. it is very difficult to understand the nature of the virus. there is no vaccine developed for aids neither is der any treatment.
once the virus enters the body the person may not get aids instantly. the virus can live in the body for 5-10 years also. only after it bcums active da person suffers frm aids.
a person who suffers frm aids get many diseases simultaneously, even if one disease is cured the other persists. in aids the immunological system of the body is affected.the body is unable to fight against any disease.
3. the hiv virus can spread thru any secretion of da body like saliva, tears, blood,seminal fluid or vaginal fluid,etc. it cannot spread thru skin contact unless there is a cut or a wound.

First off, AIDS is caused by a retrovirus, hence, while by itself it can be looked at as a disease, it is caused by a retrovirus, to contradict an earlier post.

To answer [1,2], the problem is that the retrovirus integrates into your own DNA. As infected cells with this 'provirus' replicate, so does the virus as well. Think of it as an 'integrated passenger'. So, the problem is: how do you 'unsplice' this segment from the proviral DNA and not damage uninfected cells? Actually, there is some research ongoing right now which might have an answer to this. Only time will tell.

To answer [3], the virus spreads at a fairly constant rate. The problem is that it demolishes your immune system in the process, causing the immune system to fail in its ability to control other infections, resulting in other diseases causing significant problems.