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Permission to reprint and distribute
granted by
New Mexico AIDS InfoNet (www.aidsinfonet.org).
All InfoNet materials are copyright ©2001 The University of
New Mexico.
What Does “AIDS” Mean?
AIDS stands for Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome:
• Acquired means you
can catch it;
• Immune Deficiency
means a weakness in the body’s system that fights diseases.
• Syndrome means a
group of health problems that make up a disease.
AIDS is caused by a virus
called HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If you get infected
with HIV, your body will try to fight the infection. It will
make “antibodies”, special molecules that are supposed to
fight HIV.
When you get a blood test
for HIV, the test is really looking for these antibodies.
If you have them in your blood, it means that you have HIV
infection. People who have the HIV antibodies are called “HIV-Positive.”
Being HIV-positive, or having
HIV disease, is not the same as having AIDS. Many people are
HIV-positive but don’t get sick for many years. As HIV disease
continues, it slowly wears down the immune system. Viruses,
parasites, fungi and bacteria that usually don’t cause any
problems can make you very sick if your immune system is damaged.
These are called “opportunistic infections.” [See “The
Stalker Awaits”]
How do you get AIDS?
The blood, vaginal
fluid, semen, and breast milk of people infected with HIV
has enough of the virus in it to infect other people. You
can get HIV from anyone who’s infected, even if they don’t
look sick, even if they haven’t tested positive (yet). Most
people get the HIV virus by:
• Having sex with an
infected person.
• Sharing a needle
(shooting drugs) with someone who’s infected.
• Being born when the
mother is infected, or drinking the breast milk of an infected
woman.
Getting a transfusion of
blood from an infected blood donor used to be a way people
got AIDS, but now the blood supply is screened very carefully
and the risk is extremely low.
There are no documented cases
of HIV being transmitted by tears or saliva, but it is possible
to catch HIV through oral sex, especially if you have open
sores in your mouth or bleeding gums.
In the United States, there
are about 800,000 to 900,000 people who are HIV-positive.
Over 300,000 people are living with AIDS. Each year, there
are about 40,000 new infections. In the mid-1990s, AIDS was
a leading cause of death. However, newer treatments have cut
the AIDS death rate significantly.
What happens if I’m HIV-positive?
You might not know
if you get infected by HIV. Some people get fever, headache,
sore muscles and joints, stomach ache, swollen lymph glands,
or a skin rash for one or two weeks. Most people think it’s
the flu. Some people have no symptoms.
The virus will multiply in
your body for a few weeks or even months before your immune
system responds. During this time, you won’t test positive
for HIV, but you can infect other people.
When your immune system responds,
it starts to make antibodies. When you start making antibodies,
you will test positive for HIV.
After the first flu-like
symptoms, some people with HIV stay healthy for ten years
or longer. But during this time, HIV is damaging your immune
system.
One way to measure the damage
to your immune system is to see how many CD4+ cells you have.
These cells, also called “T-helper” cells, are an important
part of the immune system. Healthy people have between 500
and 1,500 CD4+ cells per milliliter of blood.
Without treatment, your CD4+
cells will most likely go down. You might start having signs
of HIV disease like fevers, night sweats, diarrhea, or swollen
lymph nodes. If you have HIV disease, these problems will
last more than a few days, and probably continue for several
weeks.
How do I know if I have
AIDS?
HIV disease becomes
AIDS when your immune system is so damaged that you have less
than 200 CD4+ cells or you get an opportunistic infection.
There is an “official” list of these infections, put out by
the Centers for Disease Control. The most common ones are:
• PCP (Pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia), a lung infection
• KS (Kaposi’s sarcoma),
a skin cancer
• CMV (cytomegalovirus),
an infection that usually affects the eyes, and
• Candida, a fungal
infection that can cause thrush (a white film in your mouth)
or infections in your throat or vagina.
AIDS also includes serious
weight loss, brain tumors, and other health problems. Without
treatment, these opportunistic infections can kill you.
AIDS is different in every
infected person. Some people die soon after getting infected,
while others live fairly normal lives for many years, even
after they “officially” have AIDS.
Is there a cure for AIDS?
There is no cure for AIDS.
There are drugs that can slow down the HIV virus, and slow
down the damage to your immune system. But there is no way
to get all the HIV out of your body.
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