HIV Treatment

HIV Treatment
What is HIV?
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the body's immune system. A healthy immune system is what keeps you from getting sick.

Because HIV damages your immune system, you are more likely to get sick from bacteria and viruses. It is also harder for your body to fight off these infections when you do get them, so you may have trouble getting better. HIV is the condition that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

HIV can only be passed from person to person through body fluids, such as blood, semen and vaginal fluid. Children born to infected mothers can also become infected during pregnancy. The most common ways HIV is passed are:

* By having unprotected anal, vaginal or oral sex with an infected person.
* By sharing needles and syringes for injecting drugs with an infected person.

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How can my doctor tell if I have HIV or AIDS?
First your doctor tests to see if you have HIV infection. Your blood is tested with an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test. If this test is positive for HIV, your blood is tested again with the Western blot test. If both tests are positive, you are diagnosed with HIV infection.

Three things show that a person who has HIV infection has developed AIDS. If any one or more of the following are present, the person has AIDS:

* A CD4 cell count (discussed below) of less than 200
* A CD4 cell percentage of less than 14%
* An AIDS-indicator illness

An AIDS-indicator illness is a physician-diagnosed medical problem that occurs in people who have advanced HIV infection. About 25 medical problems are considered AIDS-indicator illnesses. They include conditions like Pneumocystis pneumonia, Kaposi's sarcoma and wasting syndrome. If a person who is infected with HIV gets an AIDS-indicator illness, that person has AIDS.

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