HIV Positive

Before going to learn about the term HIV positive, it would be better to know about HIV and AIDS. HIV stands for Human deficiency Syndrome. The virus causes AIDS. On the other hand AIDS stands for Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is the advanced stage of the HIV infection. HIV can be spread out through various ways. These ways include through contaminated blood, sexual fluids like semen, vaginal fluids etc. Though HIV can transmitted through bodily fluids, tears and sweat are exceptional for that as no documented case exists relating to this. Kissing may be cause for the HIV infection if a person has any cuts or sores in the mouth. So it is suggested to avoid kissing. Unprotected sex (vaginal, anal, or oral) can transmit the HIV. If you are having sex without condom it may lead you to get infected with HIV if your sex partner is infected. It can be spread out through the breastfeeding. Injecting drugs is also one of the ways of getting infected with HIV. If you are using shared needles then you may be at high risk of getting infected with HIV. HIV starts the replication process after entering in the body. It damages the immune system gradually. CD4 cells are the key elements that form the immune system. HIV attacks on CD4 cells. It hides and reproduces itself till the whole immune system gets damaged. CD4 cells can not resist the virus as they fail to identify the existence of the virus. Once the HIV takes hold of the immune system HIV converted itself in AIDS. The virus takes many years to develop itself. The period between HIV infection to the development of AIDS can be described as stages of HIV infection. After getting infected with HIV, HIV symptoms appear on the scene. In some of the cases the early symptoms of HIV may not visible.

Let us see what HIV positive means:

A person who is infected with HIV infection leads to develop AIDS and this is called as HIV positive. However, there are some standard HIV blood tests and by performing them one can get the results of HIV. At the early stage of HIV infection some of these tests can be performed. However, if you are infected with HIV, it does not mean that you have AIDS. CDC has determined the definition of AIDS and according to that it is decided whether a person has AIDS or not. It has been decided on the CD4 cells' count. If your CD4 cells count is below 200 it means you are classified as AIDS patient.

At the beginning of the HIV infection the results of the HIV test will be negative even though the person is actually infected with the HIV. Infected person can experience the symptoms like flu-like illness, fever, and headache as well as weight loss etc. So if you think that you might be infected with HIV then you should go through the further tests. There are some confirmatory tests that can be performed for knowing about your medical status. You can go thorough the tests like ELISA, Western Blot test etc. There are some home test kit that may be useful for you to know if you are infected or not. However it is advisable to purchase FDA approved tests. Some rapid tests are also available for that reason.

The term HIV positive indicates that a person has been infected with HIV virus that leads to develop AIDS. However, it does not mean that you have AIDS because AIDS is the advanced stage of HIV infection. If you are HIV infected and your CD4 cells' count is below 200 it means that you have AIDS.