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HIV + AIDS

What is HIV?

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a serious and sometimes life-threatening disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). An estimated 1.1 million Americans are infected with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Approximately one-quarter of those infected are unaware of their status... Read more

HIV damages the immune system and destroys CD4 positive T cells. The purpose of these cells is to help coordinate your body’s ability to fight infections. As HIV progresses, your body's ability to fight infections decreases and you become more susceptible to a wide variety of infections and other diseases. According to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, providers typically diagnose AIDS when an infected person develops one or more particular infections like pneumonia or tuberculosis, or when your T cell count drops to dangerously low levels (less than 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood).

Symptoms of HIV/AIDS vary depending on the stage of infection. This is mainly defined by the degree to which your CD4 cell count has dropped. Within two weeks of developing an HIV infection, you may experience flu-like symptoms that can last up to two months. Symptoms may include:

headache
fever
muscle aches and joint pain
body chills
sore throat
swollen lymph glands

Initial symptoms of an HIV infection may also include night sweats, diarrhea, and skin rash. However, some people don’t show symptoms during the early stage.

HIV Causes

HIV is primarily a sexually transmitted disease. The virus can pass from person to person through contact with infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluids. Having unprotected sex with an infected partner increases your risk of infection.

Other risk factors for HIV/AIDS include having a blood transfusion and sharing needles or syringes with an infected person. Infected mothers may pass the virus to their children during pregnancy or through breast-feeding. Although it remains a controversial topic, some studies suggest that uncircumcised men have a higher risk for HIV, according to the Mayo Clinic.

HIV Diagnosis and Tests

If you’re sexually active or if you think you've been exposed to the virus, talk to your healthcare provider about testing. You can infect others with the virus even if you don't have symptoms of HIV.

In order to determine if you have HIV, your provider may test your blood in order to look for antibodies specific to HIV. However, that initial round of testing may not detect the virus. It can sometimes take up to three months for an HIV antibody test to become positive. If you test negative, providers may recommend follow-up testing in a couple of months. They may also conduct a test that’s able to identify an HIV protein in newly infected people.

If you're diagnosed with HIV infection, you will need to see an infectious disease specialist who has experience treating people with HIV. Your healthcare provider will complete additional tests to determine how severe your infection is. These tests include the following.

CD4 Cell Count; This test determines how many CD4 cells are present in a sample of your blood.

Viral Load; This is a test that tells your provider how much of the virus is present in your blood.

Drug Resistance

Some strains of the virus are resistant to certain medications used for the treatment of HIV. This test helps your provider determine the best combination of drugs to treat your infection.  Simply because you’ve never been treated for HIV before doesn’t mean that the virus you’ve been infected with hasn’t been exposed to antiretroviral drugs before. The virus may have been exposed to antiretroviral drugs in the person who transmitted the virus to you. The initial drug resistance test can allow your provider to create a treatment plan that will work for you.

HIV/AIDS Treatment

HIV can develop into AIDS in about 10 years if left untreated, according to the Mayo Clinic. There’s no cure for HIV/AIDS, but treatment can slow the progression of the disease and improve your quality of life.

Once you’re diagnosed with the virus providers prescribe antiretroviral therapy (ART). These medications can stop HIV from multiplying in the body and reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to others. There are five classes of anti-HIV drugs. Your provider will likely prescribe multiple drugs to help control the virus. Drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS include:

non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)
nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)
protease inhibitors (PIs)
entry or fusion inhibitors
integrase inhibitors

HIV/AIDS is a chronic condition that requires lifelong treatment. You’ll need periodic blood testing to check your viral load and CD4 count. This helps your healthcare provider determine whether treatment is working. In addition to addressing side effects or complications, this will guide their decisions about future treatments.Type your paragraph here.

HIV Medications

The most common medications are:

Aptivus®
Atripla®
Combivir®
Complera™
Crixivan®
Edurant™
Emtrivia®
Epivir®
Epzicom®
Fuzeon®
Intelence®
Invirase®
Isentress®
Kaletra®
Laxiva®
Norvir®
Prezista®
Rescriptor®
Retrovir®
Reyataz®
Selzentry®
Stribid™
Sustiva®
Trizivir®
Truvada®
Videx® EC
Viracept®
Viramune®
Viramune® XR™
Viread®
Zerit®
Ziagen®