Many modern people wonder whether it is possible to completely cure AIDS, because the number of HIV-infected people is constantly increasing. According to statistics, more than 600 thousand people with HIV infection currently live in Russia, but even more frightening is the fact that for every diagnosed case, there are 4 infected who do not even know it.

The fact is that the spread of HIV infection is facilitated by people’s ignorance of their health status. A person who is a carrier of HIV may not notice any symptoms for 1 to 10 years, continuing to infect their sexual partners. The answer to the question of whether AIDS is curable is especially important for the patients themselves, as well as their relatives and friends.

The main differences between HIV and AIDS

AIDS is the terminal stage of damage to the human body by HIV infection. The problem of treating AIDS is that at this stage the body’s protective functions are already seriously failing, that is, a person can no longer fight with his own strength the various pathogenic microflora that surrounds him everywhere. In the final stages of AIDS, a person may die from a common cold. The fact that AIDS is diagnosed even when there is almost no immunity significantly complicates the situation.

People who suffer from AIDS can be compared to those who have undergone aggressive radiation therapy and lost white blood cells due to radiation. However, patients who have undergone radiation therapy are placed in special sterile rooms until a bone marrow transplant is performed, and in the case of AIDS, such measures do not have the desired effect. The fact is that even conditionally pathogenic microflora, which is located in the human intestine, in the absence of a normal immune status, gets out of control and develops into a full-fledged infection.

HIV can be controlled quite easily with the help of special antiretroviral therapy and a healthy lifestyle. At this stage, the body still has a defense system, and the person can feel healthy, because the disease has not yet manifested itself. If detected early, HIV carriers can live as long lives as those who are not carriers of this dangerous virus.

AIDS is diagnosed when the body's immune status is already significantly compromised. Often, this condition is determined in cases where a person has been infected with HIV throughout his life, but did not know about it, and therefore did not receive the necessary treatment.

In addition, AIDS is often diagnosed in people who lead an antisocial lifestyle or abuse alcohol or drugs, since people who fall into this category are negligent about their health and the need to regularly take medications.

In fact, the disease can be stopped with the help of properly selected drug therapy, even when it has progressed to the AIDS stage, but not all patients can achieve positive dynamics. You should not assume that this disease can be cured with medications alone.

When HIV turns into AIDS, the patient must do everything possible to prolong his life and improve his immune status, which requires a lot of effort on himself. In this case, it is necessary not only to take medications as scheduled, but also to observe certain personal hygiene measures, perform a complex of physical therapy, as well as a proper balanced diet and complete abandonment of all bad habits.

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Modern drugs for the treatment of AIDS

The answer to the question whether AIDS can be cured is currently clearly negative. However, despite the fact that this disease is potentially dangerous, it is not uncontrollable, because even if the disease progresses to the AIDS stage, there is still a chance to reverse the process and return the person to normal immune status, which will give him the opportunity to lead a full life.

At the same time, it must be remembered that the AIDS stage is dangerous precisely because the body loses the ability to fight pathogenic microflora, therefore, not in all cases it is possible to save the patient’s life even with the use of modern medicines, as a result of which the person dies from organ infection.

With the right approach and comprehensive treatment, it is often possible to reverse the stage of AIDS into the asymptomatic course of the disease, which occurs in HIV-infected people.

The main manifestation of AIDS is the increased incidence of viral and bacterial infections, including tuberculosis, cytomegalovirus, pneumonia, herpes, etc.

When HIV passes into the AIDS stage, patients may complain of such symptomatic manifestations as:

• prolonged diarrhea;
• red rashes on the mucous membranes and skin;
• exacerbation of oral infections;
• the appearance of sore throat;
• enlargement of several lymph nodes;
• increase in body temperature to 38°C.

Symptoms of AIDS include dementia, prolonged fever, significant weight loss, cough and subacute encephalitis. In addition, in severe cases, there may be serious disruption of brain function. Complications in the form of cancerous tumors may also occur, including Kaposi's sarcoma, brain lymphoma, and viral damage to neurons.

In the presence of symptomatic manifestations of exacerbation of infectious and viral diseases, first of all, therapy is carried out aimed at reducing the load on the immune system. Drugs aimed at eliminating existing infections can greatly alleviate the problem of immunity. The patient must follow a certain daily routine and constantly monitor hygiene.

Among other things, to transfer AIDS back to the HIV stage, targeted antiretroviral therapy is required, including drugs such as:

1. Zidovudine.
2. Stavudin.
3. Zalcitabine.
4. Didanosine.
5. Ganciclovir.
6. Pentamidine.
7. Fluconozole.
8. Foscarnet.
9. Trimethoprim.
10. Nevirapine.
11. Indinavir.
12. Nelfinavir.
13. Ritonavir.
14. Saquinavir.

The treatment regimen with these drugs is selected on an individual basis. After a certain period of time, the virus may become resistant to drugs, so doctors recommend taking several drugs at once to suppress the existing virus.

• difficulty swallowing;
• dry cough;
• memory and coordination impairment;
• convulsions;
• prolonged fever and diarrhea;
• blurred vision;
• nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain;
• significant weight loss;
• headache with meningeal signs;
• coma.

Patients with AIDS often develop cancer. One of them is Kaposi's Sarcoma. It is expressed by round-shaped skin tumors that are purple or reddish in color.

Does HIV always turn into AIDS?

HIV develops into AIDS very slowly. For many years a person feels practically healthy, which once again confirms that the human immunodeficiency virus is not AIDS. But you should also understand that health in the presence of a retrovirus in the body depends on how carefully the recommendations of the attending physician are followed. Taking modern antiretroviral drugs can provide decades of healthy existence with the disease before the onset of acquired immunodeficiency. It will come in any case, but properly selected treatment will help delay AIDS by decades.

Thus, the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are related concepts, but it is worth remembering that the latter can occur not only under the influence of a retrovirus, but also for other reasons.

It is worth noting that AIDS is the last stage of damage to the body by the immunodeficiency virus, and at this time most carriers already know about its presence and can adequately assess the existing symptomatic manifestations of deteriorating health.

Currently, it is impossible to completely cure acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, so any man who is a carrier of HIV needs to know all the symptoms of AIDS, since his future life and its duration depend on it. The thing is that only at the first manifestations of AIDS can the disease be driven back to the stage of HIV carriage.

First manifestations

In fact, AIDS itself is not capable of killing a person, but the virus that provokes its development completely destroys a man’s immune system, making him vulnerable even to simple infections. When HIV progresses to the AIDS stage, certain signs of deterioration of the immune system immediately appear.

The thing is that the human body and skin are home to millions of opportunistic microorganisms that do not cause diseases, since their numbers are controlled by the immune system. When the immune system of a man who has transitioned from HIV to AIDS begins to malfunction, the number of pathogenic organisms grows quite rapidly, which provokes the appearance of certain symptoms. The first signs of AIDS in men may be as follows:

• increased sweating;
• slight chills;
• fever;
• weakness;
• weight loss;
• fast fatiguability;
• decreased appetite;
• slight swelling of the lymph nodes.

Considering that all of the listed symptoms of AIDS are usually quite mild and do not cause a man much discomfort, he can attribute them to signs of a cold or ordinary hypothermia. Of course, if a man knows about his HIV status, the existing manifestations should definitely alert him. The first symptoms of the disease transitioning to the AIDS stage can persist for quite a long time.

For example, a fever with an increase in body temperature to 38-39°C can persist for 1 month. Despite the fact that the first symptoms of the development of AIDS can easily be confused with a cold, it must be borne in mind that no medications intended to combat ARVI can in this case alleviate a man’s condition.

Signs of the acute phase

In the absence of targeted treatment, as well as in cases where the use of available antiviral drugs does not suppress AIDS in a man, symptoms can begin to increase extremely rapidly. All manifestations that were observed before are significantly intensified. A man experiences frequent headaches. The lymph nodes, which are located on the neck, under the arms and in the groin, become very enlarged. Lymph nodes usually feel hard to the touch. The manifestations of infectious diseases are becoming more intense, and cases of deterioration in health are becoming more frequent.

Infectious diseases begin to give way to one another. The patient has an infection of the mucous membranes of the oral cavity. Infections of the genitourinary system often occur.
Considering that a man becomes more and more sick every day, since his immunity cannot cope with bacteria and viruses attacking his body, additional symptoms may be suppressed.

Often, when AIDS enters the acute phase, rashes appear throughout the body, and the wounds hardly heal in the future.

Considering that constant attacks of pathogenic microflora on the human body completely deplete it, the problem becomes significantly worse in the future. Ulcers and purulent foci may appear on the human body, as well as on internal organs, which are not amenable to drug therapy. Gradually, an increase in cough and shortness of breath is observed. A person can no longer breathe fully.

A lot of bacteria live in the human intestine, which are safe only if the immune status is normal, but in a man with AIDS, these organisms can provoke the development of severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. It also promotes rapid weight loss.

Against the background of various infectious and viral diseases that quickly affect a man suffering from AIDS, the appearance of seizures, frequent but short-term episodes of memory loss, and increased anxiety are often observed. Under certain circumstances, diseases that begin to develop rapidly against the background of AIDS in a man can lead to septic shock and the development of a coma.

If a person has AIDS, how long does it take for symptoms of the disease to appear? This question cannot be called idle, since, despite the lack of effective treatment for the pathology today, its early detection contributes to a significant increase in life expectancy. And every year gives a terminally ill person hope for the appearance of drugs that can save him from the disease.

The insidiousness of AIDS makes it the most dangerous infectious disease. For a long time, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not manifest itself in any way, but meanwhile it gradually undermines the health of its carrier. The last stage of HIV infection is AIDS, in which death is already predictable. According to statistics, in the first year of the disease more than 50% of people die from it, in the second – 80%, in the third year the mortality rate reaches 100%.

Stages and symptoms of HIV

Depending on the symptoms, HIV infection is divided into 4 main stages:

• incubation period;
• primary manifestations;
• secondary manifestations;
• thermal stage.

Primary manifestations include acute infection, generalized lymphadenopathy, and asymptomatic infection. Secondary manifestations are expressed in lesions of the mucous membranes, skin and internal organs. Generalized diseases occur, characterized by multiple lesions of the body.

From the moment the virus enters the human body, quite a long time can pass, while one person may develop AIDS within a year, and another – after 20 years. Scientists have not yet figured out what factors cause the acceleration of pathology. On average, the first manifestations of AIDS occur within 10 years.

General symptoms of HIV are characteristic of any infectious pathology: inflamed tonsils, sore throat, enlarged lymph nodes (usually in the neck), body temperature rises to above 38°C. A person feels weak, sleep and appetite are disturbed, and a headache appears. Small papular-spotty rashes in the form of pinkish pimples are detected on the skin, merging into larger formations. Prolonged diarrhea often occurs.

In other cases, infection manifests itself as encephalitis or serous meningitis. At the same time, there are often cases of asymptomatic HIV, in which antibodies to the virus are not detected. The primary manifestations of the pathology subside after 2 months, and for a long time a person may not be aware of his illness.

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Abruptly occurring secondary manifestations already openly signal the presence of a fatal disease. The most common symptoms of AIDS:

1. Pneumocystis pneumonia. Accompanied by increased body temperature, cough (first dry, then with sputum), shortness of breath when moving, and later at rest. It is difficult to treat with traditional antibiotic therapy.
2. Kaposi's sarcoma. It is a malignant neoplasm that affects the lymphatic vessels. It appears as many small dark red tumors on the limbs, head, torso or in the mouth.
3. Infectious diseases (cytomegalovirus infection, candidiasis, tuberculosis, herpes, etc.).
4. Memory loss and other damage to the central nervous system.

Some of the symptoms of AIDS in women are menstrual irregularities, acute salpingitis, cervical dysplasia or carcinoma and other diseases of the pelvic organs.

But even when these symptoms appear, not all people associate them with AIDS. The most important thing here is to conduct a high-quality examination in order to clarify not only the secondary, but also the primary pathology.

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Conditions required for HIV activation

To answer the question of how long it takes for AIDS symptoms to appear, it is necessary to consider how the human immunodeficiency virus behaves in the body.

Once in the blood, the virus strives to meet T-cells (a special type of lymphocyte), which become the site of infection for a long time. Penetrating into cells, HIV changes their genetic program, as a result of which T-lymphocytes turn from helpers of the immune system into nuclear-free forms that imitate the virus itself.

Several main factors can contribute to the activation of HIV infection, including:

• high activity of T cells responding to immune system reactions;
• the presence of lymphocytes not involved in immunological processes;
• the presence of chronic infections in the active phase, forcing the immune system to constantly produce antibodies.

Any of the above factors can give impetus to HIV taking active action, reducing the asymptomatic course of the disease from a period of more than 10 years to 2-3 weeks. But, as noted above, the general processes of HIV activation have not yet been fully studied.

It is also assumed that the long-term “hibernation” of the virus is caused by the low aggressiveness of T-lymphocytes, which may not pay attention to HIV due to:

• insufficient quantities of them in the body;
• fight against other pathogens.

There is no direct contact of the virus with immune cells, which means that antibodies are not produced.

There are groups of people already infected with HIV who are included in a certain risk zone. As a rule, the asymptomatic period during the development of the virus in their body does not exceed 7-14 days.

The speed of the process is explained by the constant production and sufficient number of T cells of the immune system.

The risk group includes:

• drug addicts;
• newborns and infants.

In the former, all processes occurring in the body have a maximum load, which requires constant production of lymphocytes. In the second, T cells are in the growth stage. In both cases, HIV is immediately attacked by the immune system.

Hello everyone, Olga Ryshkova is with you. Why know how HIV differs from AIDS? You should know about the existence of this virus, ways to prevent infection, and, if it has already happened, about treatment. And everything else is terminological subtleties and they do not solve the problem. But when I come across questions like “which is worse - AIDS or HIV?”, “Is AIDS transmitted through saliva, a kiss?”, I see how poorly many of us understand this problem. Let's briefly understand the difference between these concepts.

• HIV is a human immunodeficiency virus; it is only a pathogen that may or may not enter the body.
• HIV infection is already a disease; the virus entered the body and began its dirty work - to multiply and destroy cells of the immune system. A person feels healthy for a long time. He is simply an infectious carrier, his immunity is strong for several years and he resists diseases.
• AIDS is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and is the last stage of HIV infection. What does it mean? That the virus has already destroyed the immune system, it can no longer protect the body and for humans the time has come for severe infections, fungal infections and oncology. AIDS is no worse or better than HIV infection, this is its final part. The transition from the infection stage, when a person felt healthy, to the disease stage. That’s why the abbreviation contains the word “immunodeficiency”; this is the stage when there are very few cells of the immune system left.

It’s ignorant to say that.

From what has been said it is clear that it is wrong to say:

• AIDS-infected people are infected with a virus, not a syndrome.
• You cannot become infected with AIDS, you can only get it from a virus or infection.
• AIDS is transmitted - the stage of the disease cannot be transmitted, but a virus or infection can.
• The causative agent of AIDS is only the causative agent of HIV infection.
• AIDS is transmitted through blood - it is the virus that can be transmitted, not the stage of the disease.

Again, I agree that the difference between HIV and AIDS is the terminology and it does not change the essence of the matter, but it’s nice when people ask questions correctly and understand what they are talking about.

How to understand that AIDS has begun?

When HIV infection turns into AIDS, symptoms of the following diseases appear - fungal infections of the lungs, candidiasis, tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, herpes, cytomegalovirus, lymphoma, Kaposi's sarcoma. Their manifestation, together with changes in laboratory parameters, indicates that AIDS has begun. The clinical picture does not depend on gender; in men and women, this stage occurs in the same way with the predominance of certain pathologies. Many people have infections and normally the body copes with them. But when he cannot fight them due to a destroyed immune system, they become deadly.

How many years does it take for HIV infection to develop into AIDS?

A person has a certain number of immune system cells. On average, it takes the virus 8-10 years to destroy them. If left untreated, after so many years, HIV infection will reach its final stage.

That was the case, but now everything has changed.

In the eighties and nineties of the last century, this was the case; the transition directly to the stage of an advanced disease took as long as it took to destroy the immune system; there was no effective treatment. Today's treatment is so effective that the average life expectancy of an HIV-infected person may be practically no different from any of us. Treatment reduces the number of complications and delays the onset of AIDS.

Moreover, treatment reduces the likelihood of transmission of the pathogen from an HIV-infected person to a healthy person by 90%. That is, an infected person who takes treatment sharply reduces the ability to infect another person, and this is very important. Authoritative experts say that current antiviral therapy allows those infected to live, if not up to 80 years, then up to 75, because they will not necessarily have infections and oncology when HIV infection turns into AIDS.

I appeal to HIV-infected people.

Doctors will cope with the onset of AIDS if you do not refuse treatment. But now I want to talk about something else. The infection puts you at higher risk of developing heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Even if treated conscientiously, this risk will always be higher than that of others. What does it mean? Stop smoking, your heart is at risk, monitor your cholesterol levels and effectively reduce it under the supervision of a doctor. Move a lot and watch what you eat.

You must understand and accept that some things are not for you. For example, you should not eat undercooked meat, because there is a risk of contracting toxoplasmosis, which is dangerous for you. Eggs that are not hard-boiled, but soft-boiled or in a bag, are a danger of salmonellosis. Liver pates and hot dogs are a risk of getting listeriosis. You must block all ways for infections to enter your body. Even the simplest thing - don’t forget to wash your hands. What passes by healthy may turn out to be dangerous for you.