AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, sometimes written Aids) is a human disease characterized by progressive destruction of the body's immune system. It is widely accepted that AIDS results from infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). AIDS is currently considered incurable; where treatments are unavailable (mostly in poorer countries) most sufferers die within a few years of diagnosis. In developed countries, treatment has improved greatly over the past decade, and people have lived with AIDS for ten to twenty years. In 2003, it was estimated that 40 million were infected with HIV and 5 million contracted AIDS.AIDS was first noticed among homosexual men and intravenous drug users in the 1980s. (See Homosexuality and medical science.) By the 1990s the syndrome had become a global epidemic and in 2004, 58% of those with AIDS were women. While homosexual men continue to suffer higher per capita AIDS rates, the majority of victims are currently heterosexual women and men, and children, in developing countries.
1 Symptoms
HIV is transmitted by bodily fluids, such as blood, semenSemen or ejaculate is the fluid discharged from the penis during ejaculation, usually at the time of orgasm. Like blood, semen consists of two compartments, the cellular compartment spermatozoa , and noncellular compartment seminal plasma . Thus, it conta, breast milkBreast milk usually refers to the milk produced by a human female which is usually fed to infants by breastfeeding. It provides the primary source of nutrition for newborns, before they are able to digest more diverse foods. Production Under the influence, and vaginal secretions. It causes disease by infecting CD4+ T cellT cells are a subset of lymphocytes that play a large role in the primary immune response. The abbreviation "T" stands for thymus, the organ in which their final stage of their development occurs. There are many types of T cells: Cytotoxic T cells (CD8+)s, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell) that normally coordinates the immune response to infectionInfection" is also the title of an episode of the television series Babylon 5; see Infection (Babylon 5). An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. The colonizing organism interferes with the normal functioning and cancerFor other meanings of Cancer: see Cancer (disambiguation . apoptosis; cancer cells, however, avoid apoptosis. Cancer is a group of related diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell division. Currently, it is believed that cancers arise from both genetic. When a person's CD4+ T cellT cells are a subset of lymphocytes that play a large role in the primary immune response. The abbreviation "T" stands for thymus, the organ in which their final stage of their development occurs. There are many types of T cells: Cytotoxic T cells (CD8+) count decreases sufficiently he or she is prone to a range of diseases that a healthy person's body is normally able to fight. These diseases include cancers and opportunistic infections, which are usually the cause of death in persons with AIDS. HIV also infects brain cells, causing some neurological disorders.
Originally AIDS was diagnosed based on the opportunistic diseases affecting the patient. Today, diagnosis is based on CD4+ T cell counts. This allows for earlier diagnosis and better representation of women.
Many opportunistic diseases are associated with AIDS:
- Candidiasis, disseminated or of the oesophagus and/or lungs
- Coccidiodomycosis, disseminated or extrapulmonary
- Cryptococcosis, extrapulmonary
- Cryptosporidiosis, chronic intestinal
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease, disseminated or CMV retinitis
- Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, chronic or HSV bronchitis, pneumonitis or esophagitis
- Histoplasmosis, either disseminated or extrapulmonary
- HIV-related dementia or encephalopathy
- Chronic intestinal isosporiasis
- Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)
- AIDS-related lymphoma, Burkitt's or primary lymphoma of the brain
- Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection or M. kansasii infection, disseminated or extrapulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis, disseminated, any site
- Mycobacterium, other species, disseminated or extrapulmonary
- Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP)
- Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML)
- Recurrent salmonella septicaemia
- Neurological toxoplasmosis.
