Non-hodgkin's Lymphoma : Risk Factors

Pneumonia is a lung infection that can be caused by many different germs, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. This article discusses describes pneumonia that occurs in a person whose ability to fight infection is greatly reduced because their immune system is weakened and not working properly. Such disease is referred to as "pneumonia in an immunocompromised host." See also: Hospital-acquired pneumonia; Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia; Pneumonia - cytomegalovirus; Pneumonia; Viral pneumonia; Walking pneumonia.

Discharge Instructions for Immunocompromised PatientsYou have either undergone a procedure or been diagnosed with an illness that has made you "immunocompromised." This means that your immune system is very weak, making it difficult to fight off i...

If you're not quite sure what's up with AIDS these days, don't feel alone. Misconceptions and falsehoods concerning AIDS and HIV abound.

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.

New drug treatments can delay the effects of AIDS and are helping patients live longer. But the reality is that no medicine can cure AIDS or the virus that causes it, HIV. Once inside the body, HIV destroys immune system cells, making it difficult to fight off illness.

What's true and what's not when it comes to AIDS? Here's a look at some common myths surrounding HIV infection and AIDS.

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.

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.

Detailed information on HIV and AIDS, including transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment

Detailed information on HIV and AIDS, including transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment

Detailed information on HIV and AIDS, including transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment

Detailed information on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) during pregnancy