Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS is a life-threatening deadly disease that is yet to be cured by modern medical science. It is not a curable disease. It is barely even manageable by medication. So far, death is the only outcome this fatal disease can bring. But scientists and researchers are working years after year to find a break-through. Many new findings are getting revealed every year. So, we can hope to see the end of HIV related deaths soon.
- What is AIDS?
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS is caused by a retrovirus called human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. This virus is one of the deadliest viruses on earth that makes the human body suffer until it’s last breath. AIDS is basically the final and most vulnerable stage of HIV infection.
- What is HIV?
Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV is a virus that spreads from human to human, and if someone gets infected, the virus starts attacking the immune system of the human body. It attacks the CD4 immune cells. The human body is not yet capable of fighting off the virus like other viruses that cause diseases. HIV infection slowly compromises the immune system of the body and makes it extremely vulnerable to diseases.
- How does HIV cause AIDS?
As stated above, the HIV virus attacks the immune cells of the human body. At the same time, the virus replicates itself to hundreds of thousands of times. So at this point, the human body does not have the artillery of white cells to fight off the viruses. Slowly the immune system is shut down. When that happens, even a common cold can kill a person easily. That extreme stage of HIV infection is called AIDS. When AIDS happens, the chance of getting cancer multiplies by infinite numbers. Any simple injury can lead to death. The body can’t fight any infection or unwanted substance.
- How does it spread?
Fortunately, HIV does not spread by air or water itself. The main medium of its transfer is bodily fluids. Blood transfer, breast-feeding, injections, unprotected sex, almost all bodily fluids can transmit HIV to a healthy person from an infected person. If an HIV infected woman gives birth to a child, that child will be born with HIV infection. But to get infected, the virus must not be invisible. That means it must not be so low in the infected person’s body that it does not show up in a test.
- Treatments
As we said earlier, there are no cures for AIDS to this day. But promising research progress is happening at a steady pace. Researchers all over the world are working day and nights to find a cure. Antiretroviral medications and therapy can reduce the pace of the HIV virus’s life cycle. But it does not kill the virus. It can buy the patient some time. Recently a team of researchers found a way to completely remove HIV viruses from a mice’s body by two consequent procedures. We are hoping to see human trials very soon in the future.
No person in the world wants to get infected with HIV. But not everything is controllable. The treatment of HIV could be sky-high. But if you are covered by the Medicare Supplement plans 2019, the cost could be manageable to some extent!
