HIV NEWS

WHAT IS HIV?

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection, making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. It is spread by contact with certain bodily fluids of a person with HIV, most commonly during unprotected sex (sex without a condom or HIV medicine to prevent or treat HIV), or through sharing injection drug equipment.

If left untreated, HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

The human body can’t get rid of HIV and no effective HIV cure exists. So, once you have HIV,
you have it for life.

Luckily, however, effective treatment with HIV medicine (called antiretroviral therapy or ART)
is available. If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine can reduce the amount of HIV in the blood
(also called the viral load) to a very low level. This is called viral suppression. If a person’s viral
load is so low that a standard lab can’t detect it, this is called having an undetectable viral load.
People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral
load can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative
partners through sex.

In addition, there are effective methods to prevent getting HIV through sex or drug use,
including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent
getting HIV from sex or injection drug use, and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), HIV medicine
taken within 72 hours after a possible exposure to prevent the virus from taking hold. Learn
about other ways to prevent getting or transmitting HIV.

WHAT IS AIDS?

AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection that occurs when the body’s immune system is badly
damaged because of the virus.

In the U.S., most people with HIV do not develop AIDS because taking HIV medicine as prescribed stops the progression of the disease.

A person with HIV is considered to have progressed to AIDS when:

the number of their CD4 cells falls below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood (200 cells/mm3). (In someone with a healthy immune system, CD4 counts are between 500 and 1,600 cells/mm3.) OR
they develop one or more opportunistic infections regardless of their CD4 count.

Without HIV medicine, people with AIDS typically survive about 3 years. Once someone has a dangerous opportunistic illness, life expectancy without treatment falls to about 1 year. HIV medicine can still help people at this stage of HIV infection, and it can even be lifesaving. But people who start HIV medicine soon after they get HIV experience more benefits—that’s why HIV testing is so important.

HELP FIGHT TO END THIS EPIDEMIC!

TO LEARN MORE, go to www.hiv.gov