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HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It weakens a person’s immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. No effective cure exists for HIV. But with proper medical care, HIV can be controlled. Some groups of people are more likely to get HIV than others because of many factors, including their sex partners, their risk behaviors, and where they live.
AIDS is a serious condition caused by the infection Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It damages a person's immune system and its ability to fight against disease.
HIV takes years to weaken a person’s immune system causing AIDS. Though there is no cure for AIDS, medications can help to slow down the development of the disease.
AIDS is caused by HIV. HIV damages CD4 cells (a type of white blood cells) that play a vital role to fight against disease. HIV virus kills these CD4 cells weakening a person's immune system.
HIV is contracted through sexual contact, blood transfusions, sharing common needles, breast feeding and pregnancy.
Sexual Contact : A person may get infected by HIV if they have a sexual contact i.e. vaginal, anal or oral sex with an infected partner whose semen or vaginal secretion or blood enters the body.
Blood Transfusion:In few cases, HIV can be transmitted to other person through blood transfusion.
Sharing Needles : HIV can be transmitted by sharing common and contaminated needles infected with blood.
Breast-feeding and Pregnancy : Infected mothers can also infect their babies through breastfeeding or pregnancy.
The symptoms vary depending on the stages of infection such as primary infection (acute HIV), clinical latent infection (chronic HIV) and early symptomatic HIV infection.
Primary Infection (Acute HIV) : A person infected by HIV may suffer from flu, fever, headache, joint pain, sore throat and swollen glands within two months after contracting the virus. Often referred to as 'primary or acute HIV infection', it may go unnoticed. But the virus spreads fast and efficiently during this stage.
Clinical Latent Infection (Chronic HIV) : In some cases, person suffers from consistent swelling of lymph glands in the chronic HIV stage. This condition lasts for almost 10 years if the person is not taking up antiretroviral therapy. The phase can continue for decades if the person takes antiretroviral medicine. In few cases, the person may progress to severe stage.
Early Symptomatic HIV Infection:
As the virus further develops and continues damaging the immune system, a person may suffer from fever, fatigue, weight loss, oral yeast infection, diarrhea and shingles.
Other symptoms of AIDS include:
Risk Factors
HIV infection weakens the immune system, making the patient highly susceptible to numerous opportunistic infections and certain types of cancers.
Infectivity Common to HIV/AIDS
Cancers Common to HIV/AIDS
Other Complications:
AIDS/ HIV can be easily diagnosed by a blood or saliva test for the antibodies to the virus. It takes 12 weeks of time for the antibodies to develop and get diagnosed. Recently, a new test can quickly confirm the diagnosis sooner after infection.
In case of complications the doctor may also ask for following tests:
Although there is no cure for AIDS/ HIV, medications can retard the virus growth. There are a few classes of anti-HIV drugs that help in blocking the virus which include Protease Inhibitors (PIs), Non-nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs), Integrase Inhibitors, Nucleoside or Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and Entry or Fusion Inhibitors.
The doctor will examine the viral load and CD4 counts to ascertain the response to treatment. Viral load should be tested at the beginning of treatment and then every quarter during therapy. CD4 counts should be monitored every three to six months.
HIV treatment should decrease the viral load to the point that it's barely discernible as it does not mean the HIV is gone. It just indicated that the test is not adequately sensitive to detect it. One can still transmit HIV to others when the viral load is undetectable.
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