What Is HIV/AIDS?

What Is HIV/AIDS?

You may have heard about HIV and AIDS, but many people don't know the basic facts about them.

HIV causes AIDS. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It breaks down the immune system — our body's protection against disease. HIV causes people to become sick with infections that normally wouldn't affect them.

AIDS is short for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. It is the most advanced stage of HIV disease.

In the United States, more than 980,000 cases of AIDS have been reported to the government. About 40,000 women and men in the United States get HIV each year.