The HIV epidemic claimed more than 700,000 lives in 2018.
In 2018 there were 37.9 million people affected by AIDS or HIV, with about 1.7 million new infections among the world’s population. More than 700,000 people died from this disease.
In this articlewe will talk about AIDS and HIV and how they differ, to better understand one of the largest viral epidemics of recent decades.
What is AIDS?
AIDS is the acronym of the name of the disease: the “Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome”, in English AIDS. This disease occurs due to a long-lasting viral infection and today, practically incurable, HIV virus infection (also acronym, in this case they are “Human Immunodeficiency Virus”).
AIDS occurs when the infection caused by the HIV virus has progressed widely, over a period of approximately 10 years, during which the carrier of the virus may not know that he is infected, due to the lack of symptoms. At this stage of infection, HIV attacks the cells of the immune system – such as CD4 – in a very aggressive way, causing their numbers to drop well below normal:
- A healthy adult has about500-1600 CD4in each cubic mm of blood.
- A person who has developed AIDS will haveless than 200 CD4per cubic millimeter of blood.
These low levels of immune cells cause many complicationsfor those affected by AIDS. This immunodeficiency facilitates the appearance of the so-called “opportunistic infections”, caused by pathogens such as tuberculosis bacteria or the herpes virus, which are more dangerous and frequent in those affected by AIDS.
Not only that, AIDS is also capable of causing, in its most advanced stages, the appearance of certain types of cancer, such as lymphomas or some types of sarcomas. Luckily, not everyone infected with HIV today goes on to develop AIDS.
Differences between AIDS and HIV
As we have mentioned, AIDS is a condition caused by HIV infection, whichtakes between 5 and 10 years after the initial infectionbefore it begins to show clear symptoms of AIDS. HIV is a retrovirus that can be transmitted in several different ways, such as:
- Contaminated blood transfusions.
- Sharing intravenous needles.
- Exchange of fluids such as semen, breast milk, or vaginal fluids.
Being infected with HIV is a practically incurable condition, but it does not mean that you have AIDS or that you will necessarily develop it, as long as you take proper medical precautions, such as screening, monitoring levels of viral particles and the use of antiretroviral treatments.
In summary: HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, but AIDS is a disease derived from infection by the virus, which occurs when this infection has not been controlled for a long period of time. Not all those infected with HIV have AIDS, but all AIDS patients have an HIV infection, which is the one that reduces the immune defenses of the affected.
How to avoid AIDS?
HIV produces an infection that, today, is virtually incurable in a safe, effective and feasible way on a large scale. Even so, there are currently some cases of people “cured” ofHIV infection, after the replacement of infected bone marrow and transplantation of healthy bone marrow, resistant to HIV infection. This is not a safe or scalable treatment at a practical level, due to its high cost.
We have commented thatnot everyone affected by HIV develops AIDS. This happens because, due to the long incubation time of the disease, early detection of HIV infection greatly increases the effectiveness of AIDS preventive treatment and control of HIV infection and its levels in the body, mainly through the use of antiretrovirals, medication that prevents the reproduction of the virus.
Treatments and prevention
Today, HIV treatments are so effective that cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV have plummeted: More than 90% of HIV-infected pregnant people in 2018 received antiretroviralsthat prevented their child from being born with the infection. If the levels of HIV in your blood are not detectable, the risk of transmission of the virus is virtually zero.
Even so, foresight is the best way to avoid HIV infection , or at least its progression to AIDS. We need to be especially careful if we are intravenous drug users or if we have a high frequency of sexual encounters with different people, especially if these encounters occur within the group of men who have sex with men, who are 27 times more likely to contract HIV than other groups.
Today, the vast majority of HIV infections currentlyoccur in low- or lower-middle-economic countries, where prophylactic methods and information about the disease are not available to everyone. Access to antiretroviral treatment is also more accessible in more affluent countries, but great efforts are being made to make it available in less advantaged countries.
References
- WHO (2019). HIV and AIDS. Retrieved from www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids 05/09/2019.
- Weiss RA (1993). “How does HIV cause AIDS?”. Science. 260 (5112): 1273–9. Bibcode:1993Sci… 260.1273W. doi:10.1126/science.8493571.
- Rodger, Alison J.; Cambiano, Valentina; Bruun, Tina; Vernazza, Pietro; Collins, Simon; Degen, Olaf; et al. (2019). “Risk of HIV transmission through condomless sex in serodifferent gay couples with the HIV-positive partner taking suppressive antiretroviral therapy (PARTNER): final results of a multicentre, prospective, observational study”. The Lancet. 393 (10189): 2428–2438. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30418-0.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.