[ Up ] [ Introduction ] [ How Hiv infect ] [ How Does Hiv Spread ] [ How Hiv is Not Transmitted ] [ What are Symptoms of Aids ] [ How Hiv Can be Detected ] [ Care of Hiv / Aids Patient ] [ How can Hiv be Prevented ] [ Conclusion ]
How
Hiv infect
AIDS is
caused by HIV, a very fragile RNA type of retrovirus, which like any other
microorganism lives inside the living cells of the body. Outside body it
doesn’t survive for more than half and hour.
There are
two types of HIV virus, i.e. HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is present all over
the world and in India more than 80% people are affected by it. HIV-2 is
mainly found in Africa and also presents in India. Some people are
infected with both the viruses. People only infected with HIV-2 live
longer than those infected with HIV-1 and chances of transmission of HIV-2
from mother to child are very rare.
Once in
body, HIV attacks CD4 type of White Blood Cells (WBCs) in blood and
gradually kills them.
These CD4 type of WBC helps us to fight against
various infections.
 
Once they are destroyed our body’s resistance to
fight infections goes down and person suffers from lots of infections.
This end stage of HIV infection is called AIDS. It takes many years for
AIDS to develop and till that time infected person usually remains
healthy.
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