HIV Basics

AIDS was first reported in the United States in 1981 and has since become a major worldwide epidemic. AIDS is caused by HIV, and results when HIV has severely damaged a patients immune system. By destroying or harming cells of the body's immune system, HIV eventually destroys the body's ability to fight off infection. People who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS can get dangerous infections called opportunistic infections. These infections are caused by microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make healthy people sick.

HIV Causes AIDS

Since 1981, more than 980,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC reports that 1 million Americans are likily infected with HIV, 1/4 of which are unaware of their infection. The HIV epidemic is increasing the most amoung minority populations and is leading killer of black males between age 25 and 44. According to CDC, AIDS affects nearly seven times more African Americans and three times more Hispanics than whites. In recent years, an increasing number of African-American women and children are being affected by HIV/AIDS.

HIV kills CD4 + cells, which are white blood cells that help maintain the immune system. As the virus kills those cells, the patient infected with HIV is less able to fight off new infections and diseases, this ultmately results in AIDS.

Generally people who are infected with HIV can have the viruses for a realtively long period before the immune system starts to fail. However, there is a strong connection between high levels of HIV in the blood and the decline in CD4+ T cells and the development of AIDS. Antiretroviral medicines can reduce the amount of virus in the body, preserve CD4+ T cells and dramatically slow the destruction of the immune system.