Archive for the ‘Definition’ Category
About HIV and AIDS
Many people (not just kids, but adults, too) don’t really understand how HIV and AIDS are related, even though they hear these two words used together all the time.
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency (say: ih-myoo-nuh-dih-fih-shun-see) virus. AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. HIV is actually the virus that causes the disease AIDS.
HIV Hurts the Immune System. Read the rest of this entry »
What is HIV AIDS?
To answer the question of what HIV / AIDS, we must begin at the beginning of the epidemic. In 1985, scientists discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and with it the question “What is that AIDS has been answered. HIV is a virus that spreads from person to person through the exchange of bodily fluids such as blood, semen, breast milk and vaginal secretions. Sexual contact is the most common in the spread of HIV / AIDS, but also be transmitted by sharing needles to inject drugs or during childbirth and lactation. That HIV / AIDS, reproduction, damages the body’s immune system and the body becomes vulnerable to diseases and infections. There is no known cure for HIV infection.
What is a Retrovirus & AIDS??
HIV is a special type of virus known as a retrovirus. Retroviruses spread by breaking down the DNA in our cells and then reassembling it to make copies of themselves. Retroviruses are challenging to treat as they can rapidly mutate (alter) into new strains of virus.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a term that is used to describe the latter stages of HIV, when the immune system has stopped working and the person develops a life-threatening condition, such as pneumonia (infection of the lungs). Read the rest of this entry »
What Is It?
More than 20 years ago, doctors in the United States identified the first cases of AIDS in San Francisco and New York. Now there are an estimated 42 million people living with HIV or AIDS worldwide, and more than 3 million die every year from AIDS-related illnesses. Read the rest of this entry »
Definition
AIDS is a chronic, life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By damaging your immune system, HIV interferes with your body’s ability to fight off viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause disease. HIV makes you more susceptible to certain types of cancers and to infections your body would normally resist, such as pneumonia and meningitis. The virus and the infection itself are known as HIV. “Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)” is the name given to the later stages of an HIV infection. Read the rest of this entry »