HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. Unlike some other viruses, the human body can’t get rid of HIV completely. So once you have HIV, you have it for life. HIV attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 cells (T cells), which help the immune system fight off infections. If left untreated, HIV reduces the number of CD4 cells in the body, making the person more likely to get infections or infection-related cancers.
Over time, HIV can destroy so many of these cells that the body can’t fight off infections and disease. These opportunistic infections or cancers take advantage of a very weak immune system and signal that the person has AIDS, the last state of HIV infection.
Acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection that occurs when the immune system is badly damaged and you become vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Not everyone who has HIV advances to this stage.
AIDS is the stage of infection that the number of CD4 cells falls below 200 cells/ (Normal CD4 count of an uninfected adult/adolescent who is generally in good health ranges from 500 cells/mm3 to 1,600 cells/mm3.)
You can also be diagnosed with AIDS if you develop one or more opportunistic infections, regardless of your CD4 count. Without treatment, people diagnosed with AIDS typically survive average of three years.
Once someone has a dangerous opportunistic illness life expectancy without treatment falls to about one year. People with AIDS need medical treatment to prevent death. How HIV spreads Most commonly, people get or transmit HIV through sexual behaviour and needle or syringe use. HIV is not spread easily.
Only certain body fluids from a person who has HIV can transmit HIV: These include blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, vaginal fluids and breast milk. These body fluids must come into contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue or be directly injected into the bloodstream (by a needle or syringe) for transmission to occur. Mucous membranes are found inside the rectum, vagina, penis, and mouth. Anal sex is the highest-risk sexual behaviour; vaginal sex is the second highest-risk sexual behaviour.
Sharing needles or syringes or other equipment used to prepare injection drugs with someone who has HIV that can live in a used needle for days depending on temperature and other factors. Less commonly, HIV may be spread from mother-to- child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. Although the risk can be high if a mother is living with HIV and not taking medicine.
In extremely rare cases, receiving blood transfusions, blood products, or organ/tissue transplants that are contaminated with HIV are risky. HIV does not survive long outside the human body (such as on surfaces) and it cannot reproduce outside a human host.
It is not spread by air or water; mosquitoes, ticks or other insects, shaking hands, hugging, sharing toilets, dishes/drinking glasses, or closed-mouth or “social” kissing with someone who is HIV-positive.
Know your HIV status You cannot rely on symptoms to tell whether you have HIV. The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to go for the HIV antibody test. Knowing your status is important because it helps you make healthy decisions to prevent getting or transmitting HIV.
After you get tested, it’s important to find out the result of your test so you can talk to your health care provider about treatment options if you’re HIV-positive or learn ways to prevent getting HIV if you’re HIV-negative.
You are at high risk of transmitting HIV to others during the early stage of HIV infection, even if you have no symptoms. For this reason, it is very important to take steps to reduce your risk of infection. If you have HIV and you are not on ART, eventually the virus will weaken your body’s immune system and you will progress to AIDS.
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