AIDS  

PREVALENCE
CAUSE
HIV INFECTION
SYMPTOMS
DETECT
TREATMENT
PREVENTION
HISTORY

     

Google

 

INTRODUCTION

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), human viral disease that ravages the immune system, undermining the body’s ability to defend itself from infection and disease. Caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS leaves an infected person vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Such infections are harmless in healthy people, but in those whose immune systems have been greatly weakened, they can prove fatal. Although there is no cure for AIDS, new drugs are available that can prolong the life spans and improve the quality of life of infected people.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), principally attacks CD4 T-cells, a vital part of the human immune system. As a result, the body’s ability to resist opportunistic viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoal, and other infection is greatly weakened. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is the leading cause of death among people with HIV infection, but the incidence of certain types of cancers such as B-cell lymphomas and Kaposi’s sarcoma is also increased. Neurological complications and dramatic weight loss, or “wasting,” are characteristic of endstage HIV disease (AIDS). HIV can be transmitted sexually; through contact with contaminated blood, tissue, or needles; and from mother to child during birth or breastfeeding. Full-blown symptoms of AIDS may not develop for more than 10 years after infection.Photo Researchers, Inc./Luc Montagnier/Institut Pasteur/CNRI/Science Source 

 

Infection with HIV does not necessarily mean that a person has AIDS. Some people who have HIV infection may not develop any of the clinical illnesses that define the full-blown disease of AIDS for ten years or more. Physicians prefer to use the term AIDS for cases where a person has reached the final, life-threatening stage of HIV infection.

 

 


Home | PREVALENCE | CAUSE | HIV INFECTION | SYMPTOMS | DETECT | TREATMENT | PREVENTION | HISTORY