AIDS is an infectious disease caused by the HIV virus that destroys the immune system. Though effective treatments exist, they don't cure the disease, they just slow its progression. Complications of AIDS can be caused by the direct effect of the HIV virus on tissues. Other complications arise from the deficient immune response, which allows certain microorganisms to infect AIDS patients much more easily than people with healthy immune systems.
Dementia
AIDS Dementia Complex, or ADC, is thought to be caused by the HIV virus itself. According to the University of San Francisco's HIV InSite, symptoms include cognitive difficulties, motor abnormalities and behavioral changes. Initially, patients have mild forgetfulness and difficulty planning and completing complex tasks. As the dementia progresses, day-to-day functioning becomes difficult. Symptoms include difficulty with fine motor movements, clumsiness, abnormal gait and abnormal deep tendon reflexes. Dementia causes significant disability. ADC can progress at different rates in different patients, but when it is advanced, the patient's life span is limited.
Infections
AIDS can lead to a wide array of opportunistic infections that don't often occur in healthy adults. According to the Mayo Clinic's website, tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic infection in AIDS patients. It is also among the leading causes of death in AIDS patients.
Pneumocystis carinii causes severe pneumonia, known as PCP, with shortness of breath, fever and chills. Treatment with antibiotics must be started immediately once a patient exhibits symptoms of the disease, even before laboratory confirmation, as delay can be fatal.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains, cryptococcal meningitis is caused by a fungus found in soil contaminated by bird droppings. Symptoms include fever, headache, aversion to light and changes in the patient's mental state. Toxoplasmosis, a potentially fatal infection, is caused by a parasite transmitted by cats. It can infect the brain, causing headache, confusion and seizures. These infections, according to the book "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine," can occur in otherwise healthy people but are far more prevalent in AIDS patients, in whom they also follow a far more aggressive course.
Tumors
Several malignancies have a strong association with AIDS. As the American Cancer Society explains, Kaposi's sarcoma is a growth that develops from cells that line lymph and blood vessels. According to "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine," until the 1980s, it was very rare. With the spread of HIV, it was seen with increasing frequency in infected patients, and it behaves more aggressively than in people with healthy immune systems. Growths can appear in several places at once, most often on the skin and in the mouth. Involvement of the intestines and lungs can lead to life-threatening complications.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the most common cancer in AIDS patients. Symptoms include fever, weight loss and enlarged lymph nodes.
References
- UCSF: HIV InSite--AIDS Dementia Complex
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Toxoplasmosis-Immunocompromised Patients
- Mayo Clinic: HIV/AIDS Complications
- National Cancer Institute--CCR Clinical Trials: HIV and Aids Related Cancers
- "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th edition"; Antoni Fauci et al.; 2008
