Acquired immune deficiency syndrome: Difference between revisions

== Introduction ==

"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/>

== Causes/How it Spreads ==

People at high risk of getting HIV include: drug users who share needles, infants born from mothers with HIV who did not receive HIV treatment during pregnancy, people who have unprotected sex, especially with people who have other high-risk behaviors, are HIV-positive, or have AIDS, also people who received blood transfusions or clotting products between 1977 and 1985, which was before screening for the virus became standard practice, and sexual partners of those who engage in high-risk activities such as injection drug use or anal sex.  After HIV infects the body, the virus has been found in saliva, tears, nervous system tissue and spinal fluid, blood, semen (including pre-seminal fluid, which is the liquid that comes out before ejaculation), vaginal fluid, and breast milk.  Only blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk have been shown to transmit infection to others.  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>[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>

== Symptoms ==

If a person has HIV or AIDS and they are not taking any medication like antiretroviral therapy, eventually the virus will weaken the body’s immune system. The symptoms signals the transition from the clinical latency stage to AIDS.  During this late stage of HIV infection, people infected with HIV may have the following symptoms: rapid weight loss, recurring fever or profuse night sweats, extreme and unexplained tiredness, prolonged swelling of the lymph glands in the armpits, groin, or neck.  There are more symptoms like diarrhea that lasts for more than a week and sores of the mouth, anus, or genitals.  Pneumonia and red, brown, pink, or purplish blotches on or under the skin or inside the mouth, nose, or eyelids are also more symptoms.  Finally, memory loss, depression, and other neurologic disorders are more signs.  All of these symptoms could possibly mean of the progression from HIV to AIDS.<ref name=webmd/>

== Treatment ==

When used for a long time, these drugs increase the risk of heart attack, perhaps by increasing the levels of cholesterol and glucose (sugar) in the blood.  People who are on ART are monitored by their health care provider for possible side effects.  Blood tests measuring CD4 counts and HIV viral load will likely be done every three months.  The goal is to get the CD4 count close to normal and to suppress the amount of HIV virus in the blood to a level where it cannot be detected.  Medicines may be prescribed to treat problems related to AIDS such as anemia, low white cell count, and to prevent opportunistic infections.<ref name=avert/>  No safe and effective cure for HIV currently exists, but scientists are working hard to find one, and remain hopeful.  The only way to know for sure if someone has HIV or AIDS is to get tested.  Testing is relatively simple.  A person can get an HIV/AIDS test from a doctor or healthcare provider, community health center, Veteran’s health center, Title X family planning clinic, and many other locations.  There are also FDA-approved HIV home test kits a person can use.  One of the easiest ways to find an HIV testing location is to use the HIV Testing and Care Services Locator.  Someone can just type in their ZIP code and will get a list of HIV testing sites near by including those that offer free HIV testing.<ref name=AIDSgov/>

== Video ==

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== Viral Diseases ==

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== References ==