World AIDS Day: Symptoms, prevention, treatment and more

Due to public misconception, AIDS and HIV were confused as just one affliction. However, they are not the same and those with HIV do not always have AIDS.

HIV is a virus or a small infectious agent passed from one person to another. The virus multiplies itself by taking control of cells inside a host and destroying the CD4 cells or T cells in the immune system that help to protect a person from infections.

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AIDS, on the other hand, is a syndrome or a group of connected symptoms that is caused by the damage that HIV does to your immune system. It is the most serious stage of HIV and over time leads to the death of the person.

While the HIV virus can be transmitted from one person to another, AIDS cannot.

In the early period, most people get a short flu-like illness 2 to 6 weeks after the HIV infection. The flu lasts for a week or two. Soon these symptoms disappear and the HIV may not cause any other symptoms for many years even though the virus continues to damage your immune system. For this reason, many people with HIV do not know they're infected.

When HIV remains untreated, it typically turns into AIDS in about 8 to 10 years. AIDS occurs when the immune system had been severely damaged. As a result, the person is likely to develop diseases that a person with a healthy immune system is unlikely to have. These are called opportunistic cancers or opportunistic infections. Some of the symptoms of these infections may include sweating, chills, chronic diarrhoea, recurring fever, weakness, fatigue, weight loss, and skin rashes.

There are many effective ways to reduce the risk or prevent contracting HIV infection. These include abstinence from sex, using condoms, never sharing needles and screening for HIV during pregnancy.

Doctors also prescribe pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medicine to those who are HIV-negative to reduce the risk of getting the virus.

Those with HIV can go for effective treatment which reduces their viral load to undetectable levels. This reduces the level of HIV virus in the blood to such levels that they cannot be detected by a test.

Those who have been exposed to the virus can take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) medicine to prevent becoming infected.

There is no cure for HIV even though effective treatments can help people with the virus live a long and healthy life. Those with the infection can be treated with antiretroviral medicines. These medicines stop the virus from replicating in the body, allowing the immune system to repair itself and prevent further damage.