HIV is CAUSED by a virus called the
Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
This virus is spread from person to person
through blood exchange of any type from an infected person
to a non-infected person. This can be from sex, blood transfusion,
and shared needles in drug use. It is not spread by mosquitoes
or touching.
There is no cure!
It is not the HIV virus which actually does
the killing. What it does is weaken your immune system - the
cells which fight invading infections - a little bit everyday until
you are no longer to put up resistance to even the lowliest infection.
At this point the infection turns into AIDS which stands for Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Full blown AIDS happens about 8 to 10
years after getting the HIV virus. At this point every bacteria and
fungi around you take advantage of your weakness and attack you. When
your immune system is exhausted you die.
So HIV and other infections act like two bullies
beating up on you. HIV holds you down while the others deliver the
blows.
Infection with HIV is diagnosed by a blood
test which measures antibodies in blood against the virus. AIDS
is also diagnosed by a blood test, but by measuring the level of your
immune cells called CD4+ Tcells; when they fall to less than 200 this
is AIDS.
Recap: for the first 8 to 10 years of an HIV infection, you
feel well. It is after this period that your immune system becomes
so weakened that you begin to suffer constant miserable infections
from other bacteria, fungi, and viruses. From this point on to death
is called AIDS.
