HIV disease occurs in discrete stages with specific symptoms. The figure below shows how CD4+ cell count and plasma viral load changes over the course of HIV disease. As the graph shows, the natural progression of HIV disease (in the absence of treatment) is fairly slow, taking a decade or more from infection to the development of severe immunodeficiency (NIAID, 2003). The line with triangles on it charts the average number of CD4+ cells (the immune cells that HIV attacks) over time in the bodies of people with HIV. The line with diamonds on it charts the average number of HIV particles over time in the bodies of people with HIV.
Click on an area of the figure below to be taken to a more detailed description of that stage.
CD4+ T-cell count, viral load, and HIV disease symptoms over time (Pantaleo, Graziosi, & Fauci, 1993).
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