Retroviral diseases are typically characterized by restricted viral gene expression, latency, and lifelong persistence of virus in the face of substantial host immune responses. From cohort studies of individuals infected with HIV-1 at known points…

The first cases of what has become known as the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were reported in mid-1981 from Los Angeles, California. One month following these five reports of Pneumocystis carinii…

The HIV-1 genome, like other retroviral genomes, is diploid, consisting of two identical viral RNA molecules assembled in a hydrogen-bonded 70S complex. These genomic subunits are plus strands of viral RNA…

Trends in reported AIDS cases do not provide a complete picture of the prevalence of the public health problem that HIV infection poses for a population group,…

By December 1997, 641,086 cases of AIDS in adults and children had been reported to the CDC; and >390,000 were reported to have died, including >80% of those…

Through December of 1997, the United Nations AIDS Programme (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that over 30 million people are living with HIV infection worldwide, with…

HIV is transmitted primarily through sexual contact, parenteral exposure to blood or blood products, and perinatally from infected mothers to their infants.

Sexual Transmission

The predominant mode of HIV transmission throughout the world…

Recent studies in persons with long-term non-progressing infection suggest that the immune response to HIV may be of sufficient magnitude, in rare cases, to successfully contain the virus and prevent the development of…

The initial phase of HIV-1 infection is characterized by high-level viremia, associated with the ability to detect the viral core protein p24 in the serum. However, soon after infection the level of viremia…

The clinical consequences of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are due to the ability of this retrovirus to disarm the host immune system, a process that occurs by virtue of the fact that…

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by the diabolically unique human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), has profoundly changed contemporary society and medical practice. The chapters in this part enable the physician to…

“Drug holidays” or structured treatment interruptions (STI)
Antiretroviral therapy improves the health of persons with HIV by suppressing the virus and thus slowing the progression of the disease to Aids. On the other hand,…

New drugs as well as new categories of drugs are being developed all the time.

One of the latest developments reported at the Aids conference in Barcelona, is to target the first step…

Although there are other factors that can help to keep a person with HIV infection well for many years, eventually it becomes necessary to take antiretroviral drugs in order to lengthen a person’s life.

Antiretroviral…

Once HIV infection is diagnosed, a person has a life-long condition which will go through several stages and has many consequences. The disease needs to be managed by people with…

You won’t get HIV/Aids if you sleep with a fat woman, HIV can be transmitted through hugging, mosquitoes can infect you with HIV. These are all preposterous and dangerous myths surrounding…

HIV/Aids is often called the “silent epidemic” due to its very long incubation period - meaning that a person can be infected for many years without showing any symptoms.…

Aids stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. We say that this disease is acquired because it is not an infection that is inherited. It is caused by a virus (the human immunodeficiency virus or…

Description

 
• AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is caused by HIV (the Human Immunodeficiency Virus).  
• HIV is mainly transmitted through sexual intercourse.  
• Once a person is infected, the virus remains in…

The first recognised cases of Aids occurred in America in the summer of 1981, and soon afterwards in Africa. In the beginning doctors did not know what caused this disease, and it…

There are three ways in which HIV infection can be transmitted from one person to another:

 
1. Unprotected sexual intercourse;  
2. Contaminated blood;  
3. From an HIV+…

HIV has been identified in various body fluids but it is especially highly concentrated in blood, sexual fluids (semen and vaginal fluids), and in breast milk.

Although HIV is present…

HIV has changed the face of our world completely. Even the doomsday prophets could not have foreseen the destruction that HIV/Aids would leave in its wake.

Let us have a look at…