What Is AIDS?
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is caused by HIV and refers to the most advanced stage of HIV infection. If you develop an AIDS-related illness, it’s called an opportunistic infection. You are then diagnosed with AIDS. If you have HIV, but don’t have an illness associated with AIDS, you can still be diagnosed with AIDS based on blood test results (CD4+ or T-cell count).
AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is a disease in which the body’s immune system breaks down and is unable to fight off infections, known as “opportunistic infections,” and other illnesses that take advantage of a weakened immune system. When a person is infected with HIV, the virus enters the body and lives and multiplies primarily in the white blood cells. These are immune cells that normally protect us from disease. The hallmark of HIV infection is the progressive loss of a specific type of immune cell called T-helper, or CD4, cells. As the virus grows, it damages or kills these and other cells, weakening the immune system and leaving the person vulnerable to various opportunistic infections and other illnesses ranging from pneumonia to cancer. A person can receive a clinical diagnosis of AIDS, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if he or she has tested positive for HIV and meets one or both of theses conditions: the presence
• AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. A person who tests positive for HIV can be diagnosed with AIDS when a laboratory test shows that his or her immune system is severely weakened by the virus or when he or she develops at least one of about 25 different opportunistic infections — diseases that might not affect a person with a normal immune system but that take advantage of damaged immune systems.AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. A person who tests positive for HIV can be diagnosed with AIDS when a laboratory test shows that his or her immune system is severely weakened by the virus or when he or she develops at least one of about 25 different opportunistic infections — diseases that might not affect a person with a normal immune system but that take advantage of damaged immune systems.
