Both the illness and the diagnosis of HIV infection and AIDS are distinct from one another.
HIV is a virus that targets the body’s immune system’s CD4 cells, a subset of white blood cells.
It reduces the body’s capacity to fend off disease and infection. Many viruses can be fought off by the body, but once they are present, some of them cannot. One of these is HIV.
Antiretroviral medication, on the other hand, can lessen the impact of the virus by delaying or stopping its spread. Today, treatment can lower the virus’s bloodstream concentration to undetectable levels. This indicates that the body is still healthy and that the virus cannot spread.
A person with HIV who does not receive treatment may eventually develop AIDS, which is a syndrome or set of symptoms. Although it is possible to have HIV without ever developing AIDS, the reverse is also true.
How is HIV different from AIDS?
Those who adhere to an efficient treatment plan are unlikely to ever contract AIDS.
However, HIV continues to weaken the immune system if untreated.
As a result, there is a higher chance of contracting an infection or disease. Some of these ailments have a real chance of killing you.
Opportunistic infections and diseases
Opportunistic infections are “infections that occur more frequently and are more severe in individuals with weaker immune systems,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Opportunistic infections and other illnesses that can manifest in HIV-positive people include:
- cancers, such as invasive cervical cancer, lung cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, carcinomas, and lymphomas
- candidiasis, a fungal infection of the throat or lungs
- cytomegalovirus, a viral infection that can cause blindness and other complications
- pneumocystis pneumonia, a fungal form of pneumonia that can be fatal
- toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection of the brain
- tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial infection of the lungs
- cryptococcosis, a fungal infection that can lead to pneumonia
There may also be co-infections, which are instances of two infections that frequently co-occur, such as TB and cryptococcal disease or TB, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.
AIDS: Stage 3 of HIV infection
The third and ultimate stage of HIV infection is AIDS. A CD4 cell count or the emergence of one or more opportunistic infections are used to diagnose it. HIV has two stages: acute stage (stage 1) and clinical latency stage (stage 2). Later in the essay, more details are provided on these two steps.
In healthy people, there are 500 to 1,600 CD4 cells per cubic millimeter of blood (cells/mm3). A person with HIV is said to have AIDS, according to AIDS.gov, when their CD4 cell count falls to under 200 cells/mm3.
Without medical care, AIDS commonly appears 2 to 15 yearsTrusted Source after acquiring the HIV infection.
The patient’s age, general health, heredity, the existence of other illnesses, and the level of medical care received all affect how quickly the virus spreads.
Some persons who carry the HIV virus never progress to AIDS. Medication use makes it less likely that they will ever need it.
