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Know all about HIV/AIDS.




AIDS is the short form of “Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome”, the final and deadliest stage of infection occurs when the body's immune system is badly affected or damaged due to “HIV” (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). Cells that help a human to fight body infection are attacked by the HIV virus that makes a person vulnerable to different diseases & infections by harming the immune system, destroying the white blood cells.

HIV spreads by contacting certain bodily fluids due to unprotected intimacy, leaving it untreated can cause AIDS. The person getting HIV can have its medicine as according to the research mostly people in US having HIV don’t develop Aids as they take the medicine which stops the progression of the diseases.

With AIDS a person can only survive for 3 years approximately with the medicine but in case of avoiding the treatment a person can have a dangerous opportunistic illness, life expectancy without proper treatment can fall to about one year only. So it’s very important that the medicine should be taken from the very beginning stage of HIV infection so that the life of a person can be saved, also HIV testing at the right time is very important to analyze the situation of the infection.

The symptoms of HIV and AIDS differ from one another. It’s very possible that the person affected by HIV develops a flu-like illness that can be within a few days after the virus enters the body causing fever, muscles sore, weight loss, rashes, cough, etc. the symptoms can be very unnoticeably mild which can the reason that the HIV spreads more likely in the very first stage rather than other stages.

AIDS damages the immune symptom causing many serious diseases and the symptoms may include; chronic diarrhea, weakness, persistent white spot, skin bumps, etc.

The four stages of AIDS include;

1. Infection:

After the HIV virus enters the body it quickly replicates into infection, during this time the immune systems try to protect the body from this virus by developing anti-bodies also referred to as “Zero-conversion”. some people develop flu-like symptoms which can be fever, rashes, sore throat, etc, within two to four days.


2. Asymptomatic:

In this stage, the infection (HIV) doesn’t cause any signs or symptoms, as a result despite the immune system becoming weaker eventually. The person may look well but the virus is weakening the body’s immune system slowly and gradually. Without a proper HIV test, one cannot get an idea that they have this virus in their body or not as this state of the body may last from 8 to 10 years depending on the body type.


3. Symptomatic:

With the passage of time, the virus gets worsen with symptoms including fatigue, weight loss, mouth-ulcer, due to the emergence of the opportunistic infection as the virus starts taking advantage of the person’s weak immune system.


4. Progression of HIV into AIDS:

In this stage, the person has to take many different tests as it’s the last and the most dangerous stage of the virus. Many symptoms are looked at by doctors which include CD4.

It's not necessary that everyone who faces stage one always get to stage 4, as there are many treatments in order to prevent the infection development.


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References:

https://www.hivireland.ie/hiv/stages-of-infection/

https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/about-hiv-and-aids/what-are-hiv-and-aids

https://medlineplus.gov/hivaids.html

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hiv-aids/symptoms-causes/syc-20373524#:~:text=Acquired%20immunodeficiency%20syndrome%20(AIDS)%20is,to%20fight%20infection%20and%20disease.


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