You’ve heard of HIV positive and may have thought it’s someone with AIDS. In fact, a person can test positive for the HIV virus and still not have the disease.
The difference is that the simple presence of the virus in a person’s body does not mean that he is sick. And this condition of having the virus but not getting sick can last for a lifetime.
Continue reading and discover the difference between HIV-positive and AIDS.
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What is HIV positive?
Microorganisms can cause a series of infections (fungi, bacteria, viruses) and transmit essentially through sexual intercourse. They are known by the acronym IST, for Sexually Transmitted Infections. One such infection is known to be HIV positive.
HIV is the acronym in English for Human Immunodeficiency Virus or Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In turn, the expression HIV positive refers to the condition of detection of the presence of this virus by a person’s blood test. This presence, however, can increase the chances of other conditions.
Technically, the term seropositive is used to indicate that the test was positive for the presence of the virus. It is not a disease, but a condition of infection, that is, the presence of the virus in the body.
In this sense, depending on the reaction capacity of the infected person’s immune system, this condition may or may not become a disease. If the virus wins the battle with the body’s defenses, AIDS can appear. It is important to maintain a quality of life with healthy eating and regular physical activity.
What is AIDS?
The HIV virus, once in a person’s body, targets one of the types of cells in the immune system known as T-CD4+ lymphocytes. This lymphocyte is a defense cell produced by the gland called the thymus and plays a very important role in the protection system against infections.
In fact, this lymphocyte is at the forefront of organizing and commanding defense actions against microorganisms that have ever infected the body. As it has the ability to “memorize” these previous attacks, it is able to recognize when they come back and then go into defensive combat.
The HIV virus can bind to the T-CD4+ lymphocyte cell and invade it. As most viruses do when they invade a cell, they alter the lymphocyte’s DNA, forcing it to produce thousands of copies of new viruses, weakening the body’s ability to recognize and defend against other invading microorganisms.
AIDS, in turn, is the acronym in English for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, sometimes also referred to as AIDS. It is a chronic disease resulting from the success of the HIV virus in invading the person’s body.
As it weakens and practically knocks down the body’s immune defenses, the body becomes susceptible to the presence of numerous microorganisms that find it easy to settle. Therefore, AIDS is a disease that opens the door to countless other infections that, in fact, are the ones that do the damage.
How is the treatment today?
AIDS is a disease for which there is still no known cure. However, the treatments available today have proven to be quite efficient in terms of the results they achieve, allowing for a better quality of life.
In general, for diseases caused by viruses, the amount of these microorganisms present in the blood of the infected person is called the viral load. As a result, the person in charge measures the amount by viral load tests.
An efficient medical treatment, even if it does not achieve a cure, reduces the patient’s viral load to levels so low that the test cannot measure it. In this case, the organism is said to have reached an undetectable viral load.
AIDS treatment
The treatment of AIDS is done with the use of antiretroviral medication (it fights retroviruses, such as that disease). When treatment begins early, that is, as soon as the condition is noticed, and followed appropriately, it can guarantee a better quality of life for the person.
In this sense, research and solid scientific studies in various parts of the world have already shown that adhering to antiretroviral treatment promotes a significant reduction in the viral load of people living with HIV. This reduction allows for reaching the undetectable viral load stage.
In this condition, people with HIV positive stop transmitting, which is known by the expression “undetectable = non-transmissible”. That is, to be considered without transmission, this condition of undetectable viral load must be present for at least 6 consecutive months.
How does the specialist recognize the presence of the virus?
When the organism is infected by a virus, there is an immediate phase of recognition and production of defense antibodies. The presence of these antibodies, which are specific to the causative agent of each disease, can be detected by rapid tests and laboratory tests.
So, for example, while a blood glucose test detects blood glucose levels, the test to check for the presence of HIV looks for antibodies in the body itself. The recognition of this presence is done through analysis performed on a sample of blood or oral fluid.
For reasons of ethics and confidentiality, it is possible to take the exams even if anonymously. So, in the Testing and Counseling Centers (CTAs), there is a counseling process with a view to facilitating the understanding of the test result by the interested party.
immune window
There is a period that elapses from the infection of the organism with the HIV virus until the antibody production reaction. When a sufficient amount of these antibodies is considered for detection by the applied tests, this interval is called the immunological window.
In the case of an HIV infection, it takes about 30 days after the date of possible infection for there to be enough antibodies for detection by tests. This information is essential for the doctor to avoid false negatives when performing tests ahead of time.
