What is hiv?

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks your immune system. This makes it hard for your body to fight infection and disease. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). But having HIV doesn't mean that you have AIDS. AIDS is the last stage of HIV infection, and with treatment, you can avoid it.

Medicines called antiretrovirals are the main treatment for HIV. By fighting the virus, these medicines can help your immune system stay healthy and can prevent AIDS. And they can help you live about as long as someone without HIV.

HIV often causes flu-like symptoms soon after a person gets infected. These early symptoms go away in a few weeks. After that, you may not have signs of illness for many years.

But the virus is still in your body. If you don't get treated, symptoms come back and then remain. Common symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fever, night sweats, diarrhea, swollen lymph nodes, and mouth sores. If HIV progresses to AIDS, your symptoms get worse and your body is less and less able to fight infections like pneumonia and tuberculosis.

After the early symptoms of HIV go away, you may have no symptoms for years. But then symptoms return. As HIV destroys certain white blood cells, your body can't defend itself against infections. AIDS is the last stage of HIV infection. Treatment can prevent AIDS and help you live about as long as someone without HIV.

HIV may not cause symptoms early on. People who do have symptoms may mistake them for the flu or mono. The symptoms may include:

• Fatigue.
• Muscle aches.
• Skin rash.
• Headache.
• Sore throat.
• Enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, and groin.
• Joint pain.
• Night sweats.
• Diarrhea.

These first symptoms can range from mild to severe. They usually go away on their own after 2 to 3 weeks. But many people don't have symptoms, or they have such mild symptoms that they don't notice them at this stage.

Later symptoms

After the early symptoms go away, a person who has HIV may not have symptoms again for years. But if HIV isn't treated, symptoms will come back, be more severe, and remain. These symptoms usually include:

• Extreme fatigue.
• Night sweats.
• Loss of appetite or unexplained weight loss.
• Swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, and groin.
• Diarrhea or other bowel changes.
• Dry cough or shortness of breath.
• Nail changes.
• Pain when swallowing.
• Repeated outbreaks of cold sores or genital herpes sores.
• Mouth sores or a yeast infection of the mouth (thrush).

HIV is treated with a mix of medicines called antiretroviral therapy (ART). Often the medicines are combined into a single pill. ART can reduce the amount of virus in your body. Taking the medicine can prevent AIDS and help you stay healthy.

HIV is usually spread by people who don't know they have it. That's why it's important to get tested and to have regular testing if you're at high risk of getting infected. It's also important to take other steps to protect yourself and others.

• Use a condom every time you have sex.
• Don't have sex when you are using alcohol or drugs. This makes it less likely that you'll use a condom.
• Limit the number of sex partners you have.
• If you inject drugs or steroids, don't share needles, syringes, or other injection supplies.
• If you have a sex or injection partner who has HIV, encourage them to get treated. HIV medicines can greatly reduce the chance that they will pass the infection to others.
• Take medicine to prevent HIV if you're at high risk. This is called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP is very good at preventing HIV when it's taken as prescribed.
• If you think you've been exposed to HIV, talk to a doctor right away. There is medicine called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) that can prevent HIV, but it needs to be started within 72 hours of exposure.

HIV is usually diagnosed with a blood test. Some tests use saliva or urine.

An HIV test checks for HIV antibodies or antigens. If HIV antibodies or antigens are found, the test is considered positive. If the test is positive, another test, such as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, may be done to be sure. Sometimes a PCR test is done at the same time as the first test.

Even if HIV antibodies or antigens aren't found, you may need to be tested again, especially if you think you have been recently exposed. This is done to make sure that HIV antibodies or antigens don't appear at a later time.

Medicines used to treat HIV are called antiretrovirals. Usually two or three are combined into one pill. This is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). There are many possible combinations.

Taking ART can prevent AIDS and help you live a healthy life. And it can help prevent the spread of HIV to others. But ART doesn't cure HIV, so you will need to keep taking it.

When choosing medicine for you, your doctor will think about:

• How well the medicines reduce HIV in your blood.
• How safe the medicines are.
• Other medicines you take and your health history.
• The cost of medicines.
• Helping your treatment fit into your schedule.

Over time, ART medicines might stop working to control the virus. This is called resistance. Taking your medicine as directed can help prevent it. If resistance happens, your doctor will look for another mix of medicines that will work.

You're at greater risk of getting infected with HIV if you:

• Are a man who has sex with other men.
• Have unprotected sex with more than one partner.
• Inject drugs or steroids, especially if you share needles, syringes, cookers, or other supplies used to inject drugs.
• Have unprotected sex with a high-risk partner. This means any partner who has multiple sex partners or who injects drugs, or who is a man who has sex with other men.
• Have or recently had a sexually transmitted infection (STI), such as syphilis or genital herpes.

Being born to someone who has HIV increases the risk of infection. But with treatment, the risk is very low.

Living with a chronic illness like HIV can affect your mental health. Having HIV can be stressful and isolating. Depression is common in people who have HIV. Some medicines for HIV increase the risk of depression. And having a mental health condition or substance use disorder may make it hard to take your medicine every day as directed, which is important for your long-term health.

Counseling can help you feel better. Working with a counselor, you can learn ways to cope with stress and stigma. It may help you improve relationships with loved ones. If you have a mental health condition or substance use disorder, counseling may help you stick with your treatment. Your doctor can connect you with a counselor.

People can get HIV when they come in contact with infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluid. This usually happens through:

• Sexual contact. The virus may get in through the lining of the rectum, vagina, urethra, or mouth. Most cases of HIV are spread this way.
• Infected blood. HIV can be spread when a person:
  • Shares needles, syringes, or other tools used to inject drugs or steroids.
  • Is poked with a needle or other sharp item that has infected blood on it.

If you have HIV, you can spread it to your baby during pregnancy, during birth, or when breastfeeding.

A lot of people who have HIV don't realize that they're infected, so they can spread it without knowing it.

HIV infection is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. People can get HIV when they come in contact with infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluids. This is usually through sexual contact or sharing needles. If you have HIV while you're pregnant, the virus can be passed to your baby during birth.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the immune system. Without a strong immune system, the body has trouble fighting off disease. Even if you don't have symptoms, the virus is still in your body. Treatment can help prevent HIV infection from getting worse and becoming acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).