HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It harms your immune system by destroying a type of white blood cell that helps your body fight infection. This puts you at risk for serious infections and certain cancers. If the infection is not treated, it becomes a chronic HIV infection. Often, there are no symptoms during this stage. If it is not treated, eventually the virus will weaken your body's immune system. Then the infection will progress to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). This is the late stage of HIV infection. With AIDS, your immune system is badly damaged. You can get more and more severe infections. These are known as opportunistic infections (OIs).
HIV is not passed on easily from one person to another. The virus does not spread through the air like cold and flu viruses. HIV lives in the blood and in some body fluids. You can get it from infected blood, semen or vaginal secretions that must enter your body. This can happen in several ways: By having sex. You may become infected if you have vaginal, anal or oral sex with an infected partner whose blood, semen or vaginal secretions enter your body.
Enlarged or swollen lymph nodes
common
Pain, scratchiness or irritation of the throat
common
History of Sexually Transmitted Infections
If you're diagnosed with HIV, you'll have regular blood tests to monitor the progress of the HIV infection before starting treatment.
2 important blood tests are:
1-HIV viral load test – a blood test that monitors the amount of HIV virus in your blood
2-CD4 lymphocyte cell count – which measures how the HIV has affected your immune system
Treatment can be started at any point following your diagnosis, depending on your circumstances and in consultation with your HIV doctor.
HIV is treated with antiretroviral medicines, which work by stopping the virus replicating in the body. This allows the immune system to repair itself and prevent further damage.
A combination of HIV drugs is used because HIV can quickly adapt and become resistant.
Some HIV treatments have been combined into a single pill, known as a fixed dose combination, although these often cost more to prescribe.
Usually, people who have just been diagnosed with HIV take between 1 and 4 pills a day.
Different combinations of HIV medicines work for different people, so the medicine you take will be individual to you.
If you have HIV Infection, then visit an infectious disease specialist as soon as possible.
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Infectious disease specialist