Acquired Immune Deficiency Sy... : Articles

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the final and most serious stage of HIV disease, which causes severe damage to the immune system.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It was first recognized in the United States in 1981. AIDS is the advanced form of infection with the HIV virus, which may not cause recognizable disease for a long period after the initial exposure (latency). No vaccine is currently available to prevent HIV infection. At present, all forms of AIDS therapy are focused on improving the quality and length of life for AIDS patients by slowing or halting the replication of the virus and treating or preventing infections and cancers that take advantage of a person's weakened immune system.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the final and most serious stage of the disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. Symptoms begin when an HIV-positive person presents a CD4-cell (also called T cell, a type of immune cell) count below 200. AIDS happens concurrently with numerous opportunistic infections and tumors that are normally associated with the HIV infection. The most common neurological complications of AIDS involve opportunistic infections of the brain such as progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML) and meningitis, other opportunistic infections such as herpes zoster ( shingles ), peripheral neuropathy , depression , and AIDS-related dementia .

A person with HIV can look and feel perfectly healthy. But that person can give HIV to others as soon as he or she is infected with the virus.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS is the advanced form of infection caused by HIV and typically only manifests itself after a long latency period after initial HIV infection. AIDS is a fatal disease for which there is currently no cure.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It was first recognized in the United States in 1981. AIDS is the advanced form of infection with the HIV virus, which may not cause disease for a long period after the initial exposure (latency). Infection with HIV weakens the immune system which makes infected people susceptible to infection and cancer .

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) by infecting helper T cells of the immune system. The most common serotype, HIV-1, is distributed worldwide, while HIV-2 is primarily confined to West Africa. AIDS is a severe immunological disorder caused by the retrovirus HIV, resulting in a defect in cell-mediated immune response that is manifested by increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and to certain rare cancers, especially Kaposi's sarcoma. It is transmitted primarily by exposure to contaminated body fluids, especially blood and semen. Everybody who has AIDS also has HIV disease, but not everybody with HIV disease is classified by the United States (U.S.) government as having AIDS. The U.S. government uses CD4 cell counts (part of the immune system) to make this distinction.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, is the final, life-threatening stage of infection with any of the human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV-1, its many subtypes, or HIV-2), which are transmitted from person to person sexually (including via anal, oral, and vaginal intercourse, both heterosexually and homosexually), through contact with blood (mainly via equipment used to inject illicit drugs and, rarely, via medical uses of blood), and perinatally (from mother to fetus or newborn during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, or after birth through breast-feeding).

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) was identified in 1983 by the French scientist Luc Montagier and his staff at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Ever since that discovery, scientists have been searching for ways to treat those infected with HIV, and to produce a vaccine to prevent its spread. While new antiviral treatments have been developed, a vaccine has yet to be found. HIV causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), an unpredictable condition that may progress over many years and is characterized by a slow deterioration of the immune system . Once an individual becomes infected (HIV has infected the target cells) it takes a week or more before the virus is spread throughout the body's blood and lymph system . The immune system responds by turning out HIV antibodies in about six to eighteen weeks. The progression of HIV infection to AIDS may take several years. In the initial period, prolonged (2–4 weeks) flu-like symptoms may appear. This is followed by an asymptomatic period (clinical latency) that may last ten or more years. When the immune system becomes further compromised, the patient may experience opportunistic infections , caused by the reduced function of the immune system resulting in a plethora of nonspecific and variable signs and symptoms. The condition known as AIDS is marked by severe compromise of the immune system and the presence of one or more opportunistic infections. Some clinical signs and symptoms may include sweating, diarrhea, malaise (feeling tired), anorexia (loss of appetite), weight loss, wasting (loss of muscle tissue), chest pain, swelling of the lymph nodes , fungal infections, neurological disorders, body-fat accumulations, and increased blood fats. In addition to disease-induced signs and symptoms, medications used to treat HIV/AIDS may produce additional signs and symptoms.