HIV-positive peopleHIV-positive people, seropositive people or people who live with HIV are people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus which if untreated may progress to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 38.4 million people were infected with HIV at the end of 2021.
Management of HIV/AIDSGap to reaching the target of ARTThe management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the replication cycle of HIV. The use of multiple drugs that act on different viral targets is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
Immune systemThe immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites, as well as cancer cells and foreign objects, such as wood splinters—distinguishing them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Many species have two major subsystems of the immune system.
HIVHuman retrovirus, cause of AIDSHuman immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs) are two species of Lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Without treatment, the average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.Viral loadViral load, also known as viral burden, is a numerical expression of the quantity of virus in a given volume of fluid, including biological and environmental specimens. It is not to be confused with viral titre or viral titer, which depends on the assay. When an assay for measuring the infective virus particle is done (Plaque assay, Focus assay), viral titre often refers to the concentration of infectious viral particles, which is different from the total viral particles.
VaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins.
Diagnosis of HIV/AIDSHIV tests are used to detect the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that can lead to AIDS, in serum, saliva, or urine. Such tests may detect antibodies, antigens, or RNA. AIDS diagnosisAIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is a clinical condition characterized by severe immunosuppression that can occur when HIV is untreated.
Preventive healthcarePreventive healthcare or prophylaxis is the application of healthcare measures to prevent diseases. Disease and disability are affected by environmental factors, genetic predisposition, disease agents, and lifestyle choices, and are dynamic processes that begin before individuals realize they are affected. Disease prevention relies on anticipatory actions that can be categorized as primal, primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.
CureA cure is a substance or procedure that resolves a medical condition. This may include a medication, a surgical operation, a lifestyle change, or even a philosophical shift that alleviates a person's suffering or achieves a state of healing. The medical condition can be a disease, mental illness or genetic disorder. An incurable disease is not necessarily a terminal illness, and conversely, a curable illness can still be fatal.
RetrovirusA retrovirus is a virus that inserts a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. After invading a host cell's cytoplasm, the virus uses its own reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome, the reverse of the usual pattern, thus retro (backward).
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDSThe Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS; French: Programme commun des Nations Unies sur le VIH/sida, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Life expectancyHuman life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth (LEB, or in demographic notation e0, where ex denotes the average life remaining at age x). This can be defined in two ways.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.