Advanced HIV disease/clinical AIDSa

Advanced HIV disease/clinical AIDS

During advanced HIV disease, people experience more severe symptoms, including opportunistic infections and diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has two different sets of criteria for diagnosing AIDS. Both sets of criteria include the presence of HIV or HIV antibodies in the blood or tissues. The first set of criteria also specifies the number of CD4+ cells that signals AIDS. The second set of criteria specifies the 26 opportunistic diseases that signal AIDS.

An HIV infection, confirmed by testing, plus a CD4+ T-cell count of less than 200 per cubic millimeter of blood (healthy adults usually have CD4+ T-cell counts of 1,000 or more) (CDC, 1992).

An HIV infection, confirmed by testing, plus one of 25 clinical conditions, primarily opportunistic infections that do not normally affect healthy people, including certain kinds of pneumonia or tuberculosis (CDC, 2003a). In people with AIDS, these infections are often severe and sometimes fatal because of the people's compromised immune systems.

Opportunistic infections are infections that are caused by bacteria, funguses, or viruses that may not cause illness in people with normal immune systems. In people with HIV, however, these disease-causing agents take the "opportunity" to flourish in the absence of a normal immune response.

Opportunistic diseases that—accompanied by a positive HIV test—indicate AIDS include