What is AIDS?
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is the final stage of the disease caused by HIV, a virus that causes serious damage to the immune system.
HIV virus
HIV is also an acronym originating in English, which means the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, a virus belonging to the class of retroviruses.
This virus attacks the body’s defense cells, leaving the body vulnerable to all sorts of diseases, from flu to more serious infections like tuberculosis or cancer. The cells most affected by HIV are CD4 + T lymphocytes.
Being HIV-positive is not the same as having AIDS. Many HIV-positive individuals go through years without symptoms and without developing the disease, although they can transmit the virus to others through unprotected sex, sharing contaminated syringes, or even mother to child during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Healing AIDS
AIDS has no cure. However, HIV patients today have a treatment that can prolong survival and improve quality of life by reducing viral load and reconstituting the immune system.
The drug antiretroviral used to treat delays the onset of AIDS and allows better quality of life to the carrier of the virus.