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Facts
About HIV
- AIDS stands for "acquired immunodeficiency sydrome."
A syndrome is a cluster of medical conditions. AIDS is caused
by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which weakens the
body's immune system.
- HIV spreads
through unprotected sex (intercourse without a condom), transfusions
of unscreened blood, contaminated needles (most frequently for
injecting drug use), and from an infected woman to her child
during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
- The majority
of infected individuals look healthy and feel well for many years
after infection; they may not even suspect they harbor the virus,
though they can transmit it to others. A laboratory test is the
only certain way to determine whether an individual is HIV-positive.
- Once they
have an established HIV infection, individuals are infected for
life and will probably succumb to serious opportunistic infections
caused by the weakening of their immune system. Treatment with
antiretroviral drugs can slow the progression of HIV infection
but these expensive medications are not available to most people
in the developing world. In individuals who do not get antiretroviral
therapy, the time between infections with HIV and the development
of the serious illnesses that define AIDS is around 8-10 years,
and most patients do not survive much more than two years after
the onset of AIDS.
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