Acquired immune deficiency syndrome: Difference between revisions

"HIV" stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.  Human means that this virus can only infect human beings.  Immunodeficiency weakens your immune system, like stated before, by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection.  A deficient immune system cannot protect a person.  Virus means that it can only reproduce itself by taking over a cell in the body of it's host.  HIV is like other viruses like the flu or common cold.  However, there is an important difference, with other viruses, a person's body can clear most viruses out of the body with the immune system.  With HIV, the human immune system cannot get rid of this virus.  Therefore, once a person has HIV, they cannot get rid of it and will have it for the rest of their life.  HIV can hide in a person's cells for a long period of time until they attack a key part of the immune system.  It attacks the T-cells or CD4 cells.  These cells fight infections and disease in a person's body.  HIV invades them and uses them to make more copies of itself to destroy more of them.  After awhile, if it destroys to many of a person's CD4 cells, the body cannot fight any infections and diseases anymore.  When that occurs, HIV then is considered AIDS which is the final stage of HIV infection.  People who are at this stage have badly damaged immune systems.  This puts a person at risk for "opportunistic infections" or OIs.  If a person has one or more specific OIs, certain cancers, or a very low number of CD4 cells, then they are considered to have progressed to AIDS.  If that is the case, medical intervention and treatment is needed to prevent death in the near future.<ref name=AIDSgov/>

A person transmits HIC through body fluids such as blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk.  If these body fluids come in contact with damaged tissue or is directly injected into a person's bloodstream, like a needle or syringe, transmission of the virus can possibly occur.  If the fluids come in contact with a mucous membrane, transmission can also possible occur.  Mucous membranes are soft, moist areas just inside the openings of one's body.  They are found inside the rectum, the vagina or the opening of the penis, and the mouth.<ref name=AIDSgov2>[http://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/how-you-get-hiv-aids/ How Do You Get HIV or AIDS] ''AIDS.gov''. Web. 16 June 2014 (last updated).</ref>

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No safe and effective cure for HIV currently exists, but scientists are working hard to find one, and remain hopeful.

AIDS was discovered just over thirty years ago.  It has become one of the leading causes of death worldwide.  As time went on, research, investment and commitment into understanding HIV increased, treatment methods evolved, and the outcome of people living with HIV improved around the world.  In the early years of the epidemic, AIDS was unknown, misunderstood, feared, untreatable and often fatal.  After many years, a virus named HIV was discovered and linked to AIDS.  This was the turning point in AIDS history.  HIV history then took a sharp turn with the development of highly-effective antiretroviral drugs which meant that, with access to treatment, people could lead healthy lives with HIV, like discussed above.

<ref>[http://www.avert.org/history-hiv-and-aids.htm History of HIV and AIDS] ''AVERTing HIV and AIDS''. Web.  1986-2014 (date of publication). </ref>

Timeline of AIDS:  http://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/aids-timeline/