HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection, making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. It is spread by contact with certain bodily fluids of a person with HIV, most commonly during unprotected sex (sex without a condom or HIV medicine to prevent or treat HIV), or through sharing injection drug equipment. Show If left untreated, HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The human body can’t get rid of HIV and no effective HIV cure exists. So, once you have HIV, you have it for life. Luckily, however, effective treatment with HIV medicine (called antiretroviral therapy or ART) is available. If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine can reduce the amount of HIV in the blood (also called the viral load) to a very low level. This is called viral suppression. If a person’s viral load is so low that a standard lab can’t detect it, this is called having an undetectable viral load. People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex. In addition, there are effective methods to prevent getting HIV through sex or drug use, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent getting HIV from sex or injection drug use, and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), HIV medicine taken within 72 hours after a possible exposure to prevent the virus from taking hold. Learn about other ways to prevent getting or transmitting HIV. What Is AIDS?AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection that occurs when the body’s immune system is badly damaged because of the virus. In the U.S., most people with HIV do not develop AIDS because taking HIV medicine as prescribed stops the progression of the disease. A person with HIV is considered to have progressed to AIDS when:
Without HIV medicine, people with AIDS typically survive about 3 years. Once someone has a dangerous opportunistic illness, life expectancy without treatment falls to about 1 year. HIV medicine can still help people at this stage of HIV infection, and it can even be lifesaving. But people who start HIV medicine soon after they get HIV experience more benefits—that’s why HIV testing is so important. How Do I Know If I Have HIV?The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to get tested. Testing is relatively simple. You can ask your health care provider for an HIV test. Many medical clinics, substance abuse programs, community health centers, and hospitals offer them too. To find an HIV testing location near you, use the HIV Services Locator. HIV self-testing is also an option. Self-testing allows people to take an HIV test and find out their result in their own home or other private location. You can buy a self-test kit at a pharmacy or online. Some health departments or community-based organizations also provide self-test kits for a reduced cost or for free. Learn more about HIV self-testing and which test might be right for you. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult for some people to access traditional places where HIV testing is provided. Self-testing allows people to get tested for HIV while still following social distancing practices. Ask your local health department or HIV service organization if they offer self-testing kits. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. In the UK, most cases of HIV are caused by having sex with a person who has HIV without using a condom. A person with HIV can pass the virus on to others even if they do not have any symptoms. People with HIV can pass the virus on more easily in the weeks following infection. HIV treatment significantly reduces the risk of someone with HIV passing it on. Sexual contactMost people diagnosed with HIV in the UK acquire the virus through unprotected vaginal or anal sex. It may also be possible to catch HIV through unprotected oral sex, but the risk is much lower. The risk is higher if:
Who's most at risk?People who are at higher risk of becoming infected with HIV include:
How HIV is transmittedHIV is not passed on easily from one person to another. The virus does not spread through the air like cold and flu viruses. HIV lives in the blood and in some body fluids. To get HIV, 1 of these fluids from someone with HIV has to get into your blood. The body fluids that contain enough HIV to infect someone are:
Other body fluids, like saliva, sweat or urine, do not contain enough of the virus to infect another person. The main ways the virus enters the bloodstream are:
HIV is not passed on through:
How HIV infects the bodyHIV infects the immune system, causing progressive damage and eventually making it unable to fight off infections. The virus attaches itself to immune system cells called CD4 lymphocyte cells, which protect the body against various bacteria, viruses and other germs. Once attached, it enters the CD4 cells and uses it to make thousands of copies of itself. These copies then leave the CD4 cells, killing them in the process. This process continues until eventually the number of CD4 cells, also called your CD4 count, drops so low that your immune system stops working. What are the four causes of AIDS?people who have unprotected sex with somebody who has injected drugs and shared equipment. people who share sex toys with someone infected with HIV. people with a history of sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis B or hepatitis C. people who have had multiple sexual partners.
What are the causes of AIDS class 8?AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a disease caused by the HIV virus. In this condition, a person's immune system becomes too weak to fight any kind of infection or disease. AIDS is usually the last stage of HIV infection; a stage where the body can no longer defend itself and thus spawns various diseases.
Is AIDS caused by a virus or bacteria?Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV weakens your immune system by destroying your T-cells until you are unable to fight off even minor illnesses. You can have HIV without any symptoms.
What are the causes and effects of AIDS?AIDS develops from a breakdown of the immune system, a result of the fact that HIV infects and destroys a specialized group of white blood cells called T-helper of T-4 cells. And with the breakdown of the immune system, severe opportunistic infections develop.
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