HIV Causes

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. To get HIV, one of these fluids from someone with HIV has to get into your blood.

The body fluids that contain enough HIV to infect someone are:

• Semen
• Vaginal fluids, including menstrual blood
• Breast milk
• Blood
• Lining inside the anus

Other body fluids, like saliva, sweat or urine, do not contain enough of the virus to infect another person.

The main ways the virus enters the bloodstream are:

• 1) Thin lining on or inside the anus and vagina
• 2) Thin lining of the mouth and eyes

You cannot catch HIV from an infected person from:

• 1) Spitting
• 2) Contact with unbroken, healthy skin
• 2) Being sneezed on
• 3) Sharing baths, towels or cutlery
• 4) Using the same toilets and swimming pools
• 5) Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
• 6) Contact with animals or insects such as mosquitoes

If someone with HIV has bleeding in their mouth, such as from open ulcers or sores, there is a very low chance that this could lead to transmission during kissing.

HIV infects cells of the immune system, the body’s defense system, making it unable to fight off infections. The virus enters the immune system’s CD4 cells, which protect the body against various bacteria, viruses and other germs. It uses the CD4 cells to make thousands of copies of itself. These copies then leave the CD4 cells, killing them in the process. This process continues until eventually the number of CD4 cells, also called your CD4 count, drops so low that your immune system stops working. This can take about 10 years, during which time you will feel and appear well.

HIV - Common Symptoms

HIV may not cause symptoms early on. People who do have symptoms may mistake them for the flu or mono. Common early symptoms include:

The body fluids that contain enough HIV to infect someone are:

• 1) Fever
• 2) Sore throat
• 3) Headache
• 4) Muscle aches & joint pain
• 5) Swollen lymph nodes
• 6) Skin rashes

Symptoms may appear from a few days to several weeks after a person is first infected. The early symptoms usually go away within couple of weeks.

After the early symptoms go away, an infected person may not have symptoms again for many years. Without treatment, the virus continues to grow in the body and attack the immune system. After a certain point, symptoms reappear and then persist.

A doctor may suspect HIV if these symptoms last and no other cause can be found. Treatment usually keeps the virus under control and helps the immune system stay healthy.

HIV Causes

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the immune system, the body’s natural defense system. Without a strong immune system, the body has trouble fighting off disease. Both the virus and the infection it causes are called HIV.

White blood cells are an important part of the immune system. HIV invades and destroys certain white blood cells called CD4+ cells. If too many CD4+ cells are destroyed, the body can no longer defend itself against infection.

The last stage of HIV infection is AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). People with AIDS have a low number of CD4+ cells and get infections or cancers that rarely occur in healthy people. These can be deadly.

But having HIV does not mean one has AIDS. Even without treatment, it takes a long time for HIV to progress to AIDS-usually 10 to 12 years. If HIV is diagnosed before it becomes AIDS, medicines can slow or stop the damage to the immune system. With treatment, many people with HIV are able to live long and active lives.