Information about HIV/AIDS

As reported by the Mayo Clinic and the U.S. Government HIV/AIDS information, the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is both chronic and life-threatening, an illness caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV disrupts your body’s ability to fight off other disease-causing viruses, bacteria, and fungi by slowly killing or damaging the white blood cells of the immune system. It also makes your body more susceptible to certain cancers and other infections a healthy person could resist and/or recover from such as pneumonia. AIDS is the term used to describe final stage of HIV infection. When a person reaches this point in the infection, the virus has weakened the immune system to such an extent that the individual has one of more infection, difficulty fighting off additional infections, and a low count of white blood cells. There is not yet a cure for this disease and because it is life-threatening, preventing transmission is crucial.