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The presumptive criteria are designed for use where access to confirmatory diagnostic testing for HIV infection by means of virological testing (usually nucleic acid testing, NAT) or P24 antigen testing for infants and children aged under 18 months is not readily available. Conditions where confirmatory diagnostic testing is necessary:
Main symptoms of AIDS. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is defined as an HIV infection with either a CD4 + T cell count below 200 cells per μL or the occurrence of specific diseases associated with HIV infection. [32] In the absence of specific treatment, around half of people infected with HIV develop AIDS within ten years. [32]
The latency stage involves few or no symptoms and can last anywhere from two weeks to twenty years or more, depending on the individual. AIDS, the final stage of HIV infection, is defined by low CD4+ T cell counts (fewer than 200 per μL), various opportunistic infections, cancers, and other conditions.
WHO Disease Staging System for HIV Infection and Disease was first produced in 1990 by the World Health Organization [1] and updated in 2007. [2] It is an approach for use in resource limited settings and is widely used in Africa and Asia and has been a useful research tool in studies of progression to symptomatic HIV disease .
The WHO recommends treating all children less than 5 years old, and starting all children older than 5 with stage 3 or 4 disease or CD4 <500 cells/ml. [44] DHHS guidelines are more complicated but recommend starting all children less than 12 months old and children of any age who have symptoms. [61]
Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), [1] [2] a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. [3] Without treatment, the average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype. [4]
Although the symptoms of immunodeficiency (characteristic of AIDS) do not appear for years after a person is infected, the bulk of CD4 + T cell loss occurs during the first weeks of infection, especially in the intestinal mucosa, which harbors the majority of the lymphocytes found in the body. [4]
Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS) is an extremely common disease that arises in AIDS patients and HIV-infected individuals. The condition is characterized by large purple lesions on the skin and mouth. KS presents itself differently for everyone affected by it, and its symptoms and progression varies from person to person as well. [5]