HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is the causative agent of AIDS. The virus weakens the immune system by attacking helper T-cells, which signal the other cells involved in the immune response to start producing antibodies or attacking infected cells in the body. By attacking the helper T cells, HIV exposes the body to opportunistic infections, and patients usually die from the inability to battle these infections.
Features
Early symptoms of HIV are nonspecific. These flu-like symptoms include headache, fever, body aches and swollen lymph nodes.
Significance
After the initial primary infection, the virus can remain latent for years. Eventually the virus reactivates, causing the next stage of the disease, active HIV infection. In this stage, the patient starts suffering from opportunistic infections like Pneumocystis pneumonia. Other opportunistic infections include mouth and throat infections with a yeast called Candida and brain infections, such as toxoplasmosis or cryptococcal meningitis.
Effects
The next stage is full-blown AIDS, when the patient's immune system is completely overwhelmed. This late stage features weight loss or HIV wasting syndrome, recurrent severe infections and development of cancers, like Kaposi sarcoma (a type of skin cancer) and lymphomas (cancer of the lymph nodes).
Considerations
Patients die during this late stage of AIDS from overwhelming infections and other complications of AIDS, including cardiac and kidney disease, or central nervous system infections.
Warning
Symptoms of HIV like diarrhea, dry cough, shortness of breath, fevers and weight loss can be mistaken with other illnesses.
