Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) And HIV

What Is AIDS?

AIDS is one of the most serious, deadliest diseases in human history. AIDS progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome:

* Acquired means you can get infected with it;
* Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body’s resistance that fights diseases.
* Syndrome means a group of health problems that make up a disease.

AIDS is caused by a virus known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). If you are infected with HIV, your body’s immune system will try to fight the infection. It will make “antibodies,” special molecules to fight HIV. It is with these antibodies by which a patient can be diagnosed as HIV positive. A blood test for HIV looks for these antibodies. If a person has these antibodies in the blood, it means that he or she is infected with HIV infection. People who have the HIV antibodies or who are infected with HIV infection are called “HIV-Positive.”

HIV destroys a type of defense cell in the body known as CD4 helper lymphocyte (pronounced: lim-fuh-site). These defense cells or lymphocytes are part of the body’s immune system. Immune system is the defense mechanism of the human body that fights infectious diseases. But since HIV virus destroys these lymphocytes, people with the HIV begin to get severe infections that they wouldn’t normally had— that is, their body becomes immune deficient. The name for this condition where the body is immune deficient is called as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

AIDS can affect every parts of the body’s system. The immune deficiency caused by having too few CD4 helper lymphocytes also allows developing some cancers which are caused by viral illness to occur — some people with HIV/AIDS get forms of lymphoma and a rare tumor of blood vessels in the skin called Kaposi’s sarcoma. As Since AIDS is lethal, it is necessary that doctors detect HIV infection as early as possible so a person can take medication to setback the inception of AIDS.

An HIV-positive person receives an AIDS diagnosis after developing one of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)-defined AIDS indicator illnesses. An HIV-positive person can also obtain an AIDS diagnosis on the basis of certain blood tests (CD4 helper lymphocytes counts) and may not have experienced any serious maladies. If a person is diagnosed as HIV positive in a HIV test it does not mean that the person has AIDS. A diagnosis of AIDS is made by a physician as defined by the norms of CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) AIDS Case Definition. AIDS is the condition where the body becomes immune deficient against the diseases and illnesses.

Sooner or later, infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) can deteriorate the immune system to the point where the immune system becomes weak in fighting off certain infections. Most of the infections that cause tribulations or that can be life-threatening for people with AIDS are generally proscribed by a healthy immune system. HIV weakens the immune system of a person to the point where medical intervention becomes necessary to prevent or treat even frivolous illness.

AIDS has already killed millions of people all over the world, millions still continue to become infected with HIV, and there’s no cure for AIDS – so AIDS and HIV will be around for a while yet.

One of the biggest problems with AIDS is that nobody is beyond its reach, so everyone should know the basic facts about HIV and AIDS.