Understanding Opportunistic Infections

Understanding Opportunistic Infections

The opportunistic infections associated with HIV disease can affect every system in the body, such as:

• Pneumocystis carinii (nu-mo-SIS-tis kah-RIH-neeeye) pneumonia (PCP): pneumonia caused by an organism that has both parasite and fungus properties. It leads to fever, cough, and trouble breathing and can spread to the liver, spleen, and bone marrow. Untreated, the infection causes death.
• Cryptosporidiosis (krip-toh-spo-rid-e-O-sis) and isosporiasis (eye-so-spuh-RYE-uh-sis): intestinal infections caused by parasites that can cause diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps.
• Cytomegalovirus (sye-tuh-meh-guh-lo-VY-rus): member of the herpesvirus family. Can cause severe infections in people with weakened immune systems. In people with HIV, it can cause an eye infection that may lead to blindness.
• Histoplasmosis (his-toh-plaz-MO-sis): a fungal infection that usually begins in the lungs and causes symptoms such as fever and cough. In people with HIV infection, it can spread throughout the body and lead to problems such as nausea (NAW-zeeuh) and vomiting, joint pain, rash, and sores on the skin.
• Cryptococcal meningitis (krip-toh-KAH-kul mehnin-JY-tis): an infection of the membranes lining the brain and spinal cord caused by a fungus-like organism found in soil. It can cause fever, vomiting, and hallucinations, and can eventually lead to coma or death.
• Cerebral toxoplasmosis (suh-REE-brul tox-oplaz-MO-sis): an infection caused by an organism that affects the brain, heart, lungs, and other vital organs. It can cause headaches, blurred vision, seizures, and brain damage in people with HIV infection.
• Disseminated mycobacterium avium (my-ko-bak-TEER-e-um A-vee-um) complex (MAC): an infection caused by bacteria found in food, water, and soil. Though these germs usually do not make people sick, in those with weakened immune systems they can cause lung disease, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and diarrhea.

For pregnant women infected with HIV, taking antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy and delivering the infant by cesarean section can greatly reduce the risk of a woman passing the infection to her baby. When treatment is given to both mother and infant, the risk of HIV transmission drops by about 75 percent. Doctors also advise that HIV-infected mothers feed their infants formula to prevent passing the virus through breast milk.