AIDS

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AIDS	Antibodies	Canker sore (aphthous ulcer)	Dermatitis, seborrheic - close-up
Dermatitis, seborrheic on the face	Herpes zoster (shingles), disseminated	Histoplasmosis, disseminated in HIV patient	HIV
Kaposi's sarcoma - close-up	Kaposi's sarcoma - lesion on the foot	Kaposi's sarcoma on the back	Kaposi's sarcoma on the thigh
Kaposi's sarcoma - perianal	Molluscum contagiosum on the face	Molluscum on the chest	Mycobacterium marinum infection on the hand
Primary HIV infection	STDs and ecological niches	Tuberculosis in the lung

It is not transmitted to a person who DONATES blood or organs. Those who donate organs are not in direct contact with those who receive them. Likewise, a person who donates blood is not in contact with the person receiving it. In all these procedures, sterile needles and instruments are used.

However, HIV can be transmitted to a person RECEIVING blood or organs from an infected donor. This is why blood banks and organ donor programs screen donors, blood, and tissues thoroughly.

Those at highest risk include:

• Persons engaging in unprotected sex
• Sexual partners of those who participate in high-risk activities (such as anal sex)
• Intravenous drug users who share needles
• Infants born to mothers with HIV who don't receive HIV therapy during pregnancy
• People who received blood transfusions or clotting products between 1977 and 1985 (prior to the beginning standard screening for the virus in the blood)

AIDS begins with HIV infection. People infected with HIV may have no symptoms for ten years or longer, but they can still transmit the infection to others during this symptom-free period. Meanwhile, if the infection is not detected and treated, the immune system gradually weakens, and AIDS develops.

Acute HIV infection progresses over time to asymptomatic HIV infection and then to early symptomatic HIV infection. Later, it progresses to AIDS (defined as very advanced HIV infection with T-cell count below 200).

Most individuals infected with HIV, if not treated, will develop AIDS. There is a small group of patients who develop AIDS very slowly, or never at all. These patients are called non-progressors, and many seem to have a genetic difference that prevents the virus from attaching to certain immune receptors.

Review Date: 05/26/2006
Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.