Understanding AIDS: A Comprehensive Overview of HIV and Immune Deficiency

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the fourth (and last) stage of HIV disease, which occurs as a result of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Identification

• HIV leads to a severely weakened immune system by targeting immune cells called CD4 T-cells. AIDS is diagnosed in people with HIV when they have fewer than 200 CD4 cells per cubic ml of blood.

Features

• AIDS is not itself a disease. It is a syndrome, which is a medical term for a group of conditions with the same root cause.

Opportunisitic Infections

• People with AIDS experience opportunistic infections--viruses, bacteria, fungi and other infectious agents that do not cause disease or cause less serious disease in healthy individuals.

Other Effects

• AIDS is also characterized by severe weight loss (wasting), cancers (cervical cancer, lymphomas and a skin cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma) as well as neurological conditions like dementia

Figures

• Worldwide, 25 million people have died of AIDS. Estimates suggest that 33 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS.