From HIV infection to HIV - AIDS symptoms

It is possible to be infected and yet to have no HIV symptoms for years. A positive result on an HIV test only means that you have HIV infection, but not necessarily AIDS. Some of AIDS symptoms are caused by damage from the disease itself. Severe side effects may be caused or made worse by drugs used to treat HIV infections. The things with hiv - aids symptoms can get complicated.

Since the symptoms of HIV infection are the same as those of many other illnesses or combinations of illnesses, it is important to avoid self-diagnosis. If you suspect that you might be infected with HIV, make sure to be tested by a doctor. This is the only reliable way to know whether you are infected.

The first recorded case of HIV infection dates back to 1959. A man living in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa provided a blood sample that later tested positive for the virus. (This is called being “HIV positive.”) It is still not known how he became infected. Tests done on the blood sample show that HIV might have come from a single source in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

In the United States, HIV and AIDS appeared in the mid- to late 1970s. Between 1979 and 1981, doctors in Los Angeles and New York reported finding higher rates of illnesses among homosexual male patients. These illnesses included certain types of pneumonia and cancer. Until this time, these conditions were rare in people with healthy immune systems. Illnesses such as a type of cancer known as Kaposi’s sarcoma also started to appear in men who had been quite healthy. In 1982, physicians used the term “acquired immune deficiency syndrome” to refer to such cases. The same year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started to track these cases.

By 1983, scientists were able to identify the virus that caused the disease. They eventually called it the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV-1. In 1986, HIV-2 was identified as the virus that caused AIDS in people who lived in West Africa. Scientists suspected even then that HIV-2 had been present in that region for decades. In the United States, most infected people have HIV-1; there are very few cases of HIV-2 infection in this country. Although the two strains of the virus differ, both HIV-1 and HIV-2 can lead to AIDS. The AIDS epidemic is growing worse every year.

How does the HIV virus attack a person’s immune system? This section will describe how a healthy immune system works, what a virus is, how it spreads, and how HIV is different from other viruses. Every day of our lives we come into contact with a large variety of tiny organisms called microbes that can cause disease. When harmful microbes, or pathogens, enter the body, they can multiply and cause disease. This is called infection.

Your body’s defenses can usually fight off these harmful invaders, but sometimes germs multiply faster than the body can handle—and you get sick. Most of the time we do not get sick from an infection, and when we do, the illness is usually short lived. The reason we are able to fight off these microbes is because of our body’s natural defenses, which together are known as the immune system. This system manages to get rid of most incoming pathogens, often without us even realizing we have been infected.

Your body’s defenses against pathogens include your skin, mucous membranes in your nose and throat, tears, the tiny hairs in your nose, bleeding, peeing, and sweating. These defenses either block harmful microbes from entering your body or wash them away. If the microbes succeed in entering your bloodstream, your immune system takes over the fight. Germs entering the bloodstream are attacked by white blood cells that gobble up and dissolve any foreign microbes. Our bodies also produce antibodies that attack specific diseases. For example, if you have already had chicken pox, then your body’s chicken pox antibodies will protect you from catching that disease again. If your doctor gives you a vaccine for a particular disease, it helps your body create antibodies against that disease.

The way that the body’s immune system works is not completely understood. Scientists do know, however, that a healthy immune system works to fight off infections that are caused by diseaseproducing organisms, such as viruses and bacteria. The immune system also works to repair any damage done by organisms that cause infection, such as viruses like HIV.

HIV, like all viruses, is made up of genetic material that is wrapped in a thin coat of protein. A virus cannot live on its own. This means that, in order to multiply, a virus needs to be supported by what is called a host cell. When a virus enters your body and takes over a host cell, the virus immediately begins to duplicate itself by using the cell’s genetic material and cell machinery. Thousands of copies of the virus are made. In the process, the virus will cause the host cell to rupture (or break apart).

When the cells break, the immune system starts repairing them and leading the charge to fight against invading germs. The damage to a cell caused by viruses gives a signal to the immune system that there is an infection to fight. An army of white blood cells gathers in the area where the host cell ruptured. These white blood cells begin to battle the virus. The battle causes many of the symptoms that are associated with illness—pain, swelling, redness, rash, and fever.

Thus, the immune system springs into action to protect the body from “invaders.” Pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites are often described as “invaders” because they enter into the body uninvited to cause sickness and diseases. These invaders can be transmitted into your body from the outside environment, another person, an animal, or an insect. Although disease-producing organisms are already in your body, they usually do not cause infection in a person with a healthy immune system.

Whatever the means of transmission, when an invader’s presence is detected by your immune system, a battle begins. The invading microbes carry foreign proteins called antigens into your body. Once in the body, these proteins enter your bloodstream. When your immune system recognizes that antigens are present, it begins to produce antibodies to fight them.

Three main factors determine whether you can fight off an infection: (1) the strength of the disease-producing organism (or invader), (2) the total number of invaders, and (3) the strength of your immune system to fight infection. Even some healthy immune systems require extra help to fight infection. Rabies is an example of an infection that is so powerful that it cannot be stopped by a healthy immune system alone. Rabies is always fatal without treatment, even in people who were healthy before they were infected. The use of rabies vaccines is the only way to help the body’s immune system fight off the rabies infection.

Another example of the need for immune system boosters are flu shots. Many people get flu shots every year. These vaccines can help prevent infection or lessen the length of time and decrease the  symptoms if someone does get the flu. A person who has HIV or the end stages of HIV, also known as AIDS, has an immune system that is unable to work in a completely healthy way. The immune system has been weakened or practically destroyed during the progression from HIV to AIDS. Therefore, the flu, or even a common cold, can take longer to run its course or may even become a life-threatening illness for  people living with AIDS.