An AIDS diagnosis

An AIDS diagnosis

AIDS itself does not have symptoms and there is no test for AIDS. The doctor will look for the specific illness causing the person's symptoms. If they are caused by one of the AIDS-defining illnesses, and if the patient has HIV, then he or she is said to have AIDS.

Examples of illnesses which will result in an AIDS diagnosis, if HIV is present:

• pneumocistis carinii pneumonia (PCP), a rare form of pneumonia common in people with HIV
• cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the herpes family which can cause blindness and serious gastrointestinal, brain and lung problemGs in people with HIV

Someone with AIDS is likely to enjoy periods of comparatively good health between bouts of serious illness. Some people have lived for several years with an AIDS diagnosis.

People taking combination therapy successfully will be less likely to develop AIDS-defining illnesses.

Treatments for HIV and AIDS

Increasingly, it is possible to prevent or treat opportunistic infections using new drugs. For example, PCP was a frequent cause of death in people with AIDS in the early years of the epidemic. Doctors are now able to prevent PCP with drugs, or to treat it quickly if it occurs. Death from PCP is now rare among people with HIV in the UK.

Research studies show that the most effective way to attack HIV is with a combination of anti-HIV drugs. Combination therapy is a huge advance in the treatment of HIV, and many people have done very well on it.

Combination therapy is not easy to take (the various drugs have to be taken at different times according to a strict timetable), and there are side effects. It does not work for everyone, and where it does work we do not know how long that will last. Sometimes the drugs stop working because people develop resistance to them.

Research is continuing all the time to make combination therapies more effective and easier to take.

Some people with HIV and AIDS use complementary treatments to help with their symptoms. Examples are acupuncture, aromatherapy and homeopathy.

There is no vaccine or cure available yet, but scientists' understanding of how the virus works continues to improve. However, drug treatments and vaccines are expensive to develop, and it is not likely that people in some countries will be able to benefit from new discoveries for the foreseeable future.