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    Ma Christina Rovillos
    The document discusses what HIV is, how it attacks immune cells and can lead to AIDS if left untreated. HIV is transmitted through bodily fluids and there are effective treatments that can suppress the virus and prevent transmission. Prevention methods also exist like PrEP and PEP.

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    Ma Christina Rovillos
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    The document discusses what HIV is, how it attacks immune cells and can lead to AIDS if left untreated. HIV is transmitted through bodily fluids and there are effective treatments that can suppress the virus and prevent transmission. Prevention methods also exist like PrEP and PEP.

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    The document discusses what HIV is, how it attacks immune cells and can lead to AIDS if left untreated. HIV is transmitted through bodily fluids and there are effective treatments that can suppress the virus and prevent transmission. Prevention methods also exist like PrEP and PEP.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    6 views2 pages

    13

    Uploaded by

    Ma Christina Rovillos
    The document discusses what HIV is, how it attacks immune cells and can lead to AIDS if left untreated. HIV is transmitted through bodily fluids and there are effective treatments that can suppress the virus and prevent transmission. Prevention methods also exist like PrEP and PEP.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    What Is HIV?

    HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection,
    making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. It is spread by contact with certain
    bodily fluids of a person with HIV, most commonly during unprotected sex (sex without a condom or HIV
    medicine to prevent or treat HIV), or through sharing injection drug equipment.

    If left untreated, HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

    The human body can’t get rid of HIV and no effective HIV cure exists. So, once you have HIV, you have it
    for life.

    Luckily, however, effective treatment with HIV medicine (called antiretroviral therapy or ART) is
    available. If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine can reduce the amount of HIV in the blood (also called
    the viral load) to a very low level. This is called viral suppression. If a person’s viral load is so low that a
    standard lab can’t detect it, this is called having an undetectable viral load. People with HIV who take
    HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can live long and healthy lives
    and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex.

    In addition, there are effective methods to prevent getting HIV through sex or drug use, including pre-
    exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent getting HIV from sex or
    injection drug use, and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), HIV medicine taken within 72 hours after a
    possible exposure to prevent the virus from taking hold. Learn about other ways to prevent getting or
    transmitting HIV

    What Is AIDS?

    AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection that occurs when the body’s immune system is badly damaged
    because of the virus.

    In the U.S., most people with HIV do not develop AIDS because taking HIV medicine as prescribed stops
    the progression of the disease.

    A person with HIV is considered to have progressed to AIDS when:

    The number of their CD4 cells falls below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood (200 cells/mm3). (In
    someone with a healthy immune system, CD4 counts are between 500 and 1,600 cells/mm3.) OR

    They develop one or more opportunistic infections regardless of their CD4 count

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