Source: World Health Organization

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an infection that attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the white blood cells called CD4 cells. 37.7 million people in the world were living with HIV in 2020, over two thirds of whom (25.4 million) are in the WHO African Region. The condition was first reported on in a CDC report in 1981, and in 1983 researchers at the Pasteur Institute discovered the retrovirus that was identified as the cause of the disease. As in the height of the AIDS epidemic, HIV continues to disproportionately affect marginalized groups, including black, hispanic, and LGBTQ populations.

About

Diagnosis

Prognosis

HIV can be transmitted via the exchange of a variety of body fluids from infected people, such as blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal secretions. HIV can also be transmitted from a mother to her child during pregnancy and delivery. HIV is fully preventable and through effective antiretroviral treatment (ART), also manageable. ART prevents HIV transmission from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding. Someone who is on antiretroviral therapy and virally suppressed will not pass HIV to their sexual partners. Condoms prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and prophylaxis use antiretroviral medicines to prevent HIV.

HIV tests are very accurate, but no test can detect the virus immediately after infection. How soon a test can detect HIV depends upon different factors, including the type of test being used. There are three types of HIV diagnostic tests: nucleic acid tests (NAT), antigen/antibody tests, and antibody tests.

HIV destroys these CD4 cells, weakening a person’s immunity against opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis and fungal infections, severe bacterial infections and some cancers. At the moment, there is no cure for HIV, but HIV medicine, called antiretroviral therapy (ART), helps reduce the amount of HIV in a person. Most people can get the virus under control within six months. ART Treatment should start as soon as possible after diagnosis.