Patient education: HIV and AIDS (The Basics)

What is HIV? — This is a virus that can affect the body's "immune system," which is responsible for fighting infections. When a person has untreated HIV, they can become sick easily. That's because their immune system cannot work as well to fight off infections or cancer. But people with HIV can take medicines to control the virus, keep their immune system strong, and stay healthy.

People can get infected with HIV if blood or body fluid from a person with HIV enters their body. Body fluids include semen and vaginal fluids. For example, a person can get HIV if they:

●Have sex without using a condom with someone who has HIV – This includes vaginal, anal, and oral sex.

●Share needles or syringes with someone who has HIV

What is AIDS? — This is the stage of HIV infection when the immune system is at its weakest.

What are the symptoms of HIV? — When a person first gets infected with HIV, they can have a fever, sore throat, headache, muscle pain, and joint pain. These symptoms usually last about 2 weeks. In some cases, these symptoms are very mild. Many people with HIV infection do not even remember having them.

In the first few years after infection, most people with HIV have no symptoms or only mild symptoms. Some people have swelling of the lymph nodes, which are small bean-shaped organs under the skin. When this happens, it is usually in the neck, armpit, or groin. Lymph node swelling can also happen in people who have HIV for a long time.

People who have had untreated HIV for many years might have other problems, such as:

●Fever, diarrhea, and weight loss

●Other infections, including:

•Yeast infections in the mouth that can cause soreness and raised, white patches

•Lung infections

•Brain infections

•Eye infections that cause trouble seeing

Is there a test for HIV? — Yes. You can have HIV testing done in your doctor's office or clinic. The test is done on a sample of blood, or sometimes, saliva (spit). Results from some tests take a few days to come back. But results from rapid HIV tests can be ready within minutes.

Most pharmacies also sell test kits you can use at home. For 1 type, you use a special strip to collect a tiny bit of your blood, and mail the strip to a lab for testing. Another type of kit comes with a test strip that you wipe along your gums. If you take a home test that says you are HIV positive, see your doctor and ask for a follow-up test to make sure.

How is HIV treated? — Doctors can prescribe different combinations of medicines to treat HIV. These are called "antiretroviral medicines." They work very well to keep HIV infection controlled in most people. You and your doctor should work together to decide which medicines are right for you.

Here are some things you should know about treatment:

●Follow all of your doctor's instructions, and take your HIV medicines as prescribed. This is important because your HIV can get worse if you skip or stop taking your medicines. Tell your doctor if you have any side effects or problems with your medicines.

●You will get regular tests to check the amount of virus in your blood. This is called the "viral load." The goal of treatment is to get your viral load to very low levels. In some people, the viral load might even be "undetectable." This means that there is so little virus in your blood that the test cannot even pick it up.

●Some people with HIV also take medicines to prevent HIV-related infections. For example, most doctors recommend that people with a low "T cell count" take an antibiotic to keep from getting a lung infection called PCP. (T cells are a special type of white blood cell.)

What if I am pregnant or want to get pregnant? — If you have HIV and are not taking HIV medicines, your baby can become infected with HIV during pregnancy, during birth, or through breastfeeding. If you are pregnant or want to get pregnant, talk with your doctor about ways to reduce the chance of passing HIV on to your baby.

How can I prevent spreading HIV to other people? — The best way to reduce the chance of spreading HIV to other people is to get tested and start treatment as soon as possible. Taking medicine to lower the amount of virus in your blood can help prevent spreading HIV to others. But you must take the medicine exactly as instructed. If tests show that your HIV medicines are working, for example, there is no "detectable" virus in your blood, then you cannot spread HIV to others.

There are other ways to lower the risk of spreading HIV, too. These include:

●Use a condom every time you have vaginal, anal, or oral sex.

●Do not share razors or toothbrushes with others.

●Do not share drug needles or syringes with others.

More on this topic

Patient education: Starting treatment for HIV (The Basics)
Patient education: Tests to monitor HIV (The Basics)
Patient education: Taking medicines to prevent HIV before exposure (The Basics)
Patient education: Preventing HIV after a possible exposure (The Basics)
Patient education: Vaccines for adults with HIV (The Basics)
Patient education: Sexually transmitted infections (The Basics)
Patient education: Anogenital warts (The Basics)
Patient education: Pneumocystis pneumonia (The Basics)
Patient education: Kaposi sarcoma (The Basics)

Patient education: Symptoms of HIV (Beyond the Basics)
Patient education: Testing for HIV (Beyond the Basics)
Patient education: Initial treatment of HIV (Beyond the Basics)
Patient education: Tips for taking HIV medications by mouth (Beyond the Basics)
Patient education: HIV and pregnancy (Beyond the Basics)