HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS: Introduction

HIV is a sexually transmitted virus and AIDS is the life-threatening immune failure that occurs late in the progression of HIV. AIDS was once in the top ten cause of death in the USA but has dropped out owing to better treatments and reduced transmission.

Very early stages of HIV just after infection resemble the flu or another viral infection. There then follows a latent stage (often years) with no symptoms, and then an early AIDS stage (also often years) with various symptoms, many of them non-specific and easy to misdiagnose. AIDS becomes much more characteristic in the latter stages of the disease where immune failure becomes almost total.

Symptoms of HIV/AIDS

• The initial phase of HIV infection occurs briefly, usually a month or two after exposure:
  • No early symptoms - some people notice no early infection symptoms
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Fever
  • Headache
• more symptoms...»

See full list of 87 symptoms of HIV/AIDS

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to HIV/AIDS:

• Home STD Testing
  • Home HIV Tests
  • Home Chlamydia Tests
  • Home Hepatitis Tests
  • Home Herpes Tests
  • Home Trichomonas Tests
• Sexuality & Libido: Home Testing:
  • Home Hormone Tests
  • Home Libido Tests
  • Home Menopause Testing
  • Home Andropause Tests
• Liver Health & Hepatitis: Home Testing
  • Home Hepatitis Tests
  • Home Liver Tests
  • Sexually Transmitted Disease Tests
• more tests...»

HIV/AIDS: Complications

Review possible medical complications related to HIV/AIDS:

• Abscess
• Kaposi's Sarcoma
• Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC)
• Encephalitis
• Meningitis
• Nerve damage
• HIV encephalopathy (see Brain symptoms)
• more complications...»

Medical Textbooks Online about HIV/AIDS

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for HIV/AIDS

• HIV antibody blood test - though the test sometimes cannot detect HIV for 6 months; sometimes not till 15 months for infected infants.
• Immune tests
• PAP smears - needed more often to check for cervical cancer in women.
• more tests...»

Read more about tests for HIV/AIDS

Wrongly Diagnosed with HIV/AIDS?

• Misdiagnosis of HIV/AIDS
• Failure to diagnose HIV/AIDS
• Hidden causes of HIV/AIDS (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS: Medical Mistakes

• STDs -- Health Mistakes
• more mistakes...»

HIV/AIDS: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available for HIV/AIDS:

• Sexual Health
• more product offers...»

HIV/AIDS: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:

• Sexual Disorders & STDs -- serious diseases often undiagnosed:
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases -- Undiagnosed
  • Chlamydia -- Undiagnosed
  • Gonorrhea -- Undiagnosed
  • HIV -- Undiagnosed
  • Genital Herpes -- Undiagnosed
  • Hepatitis -- Undiagnosed
  • more ...»
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Misdiagnosis and HIV/AIDS

Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases are difficult to diagnose. Even the well-knowns conditions such as asthma or lung cancer often fail to be diagnosed early. Some of the...read more »

Painful throat- look for infectious mononucleosis: Infectious mononucleosis must be considered in 15- 25 year old patients presenting with a painful...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research related physicians and medical specialists:

• Immune-Related Disease Specialists (Immunology):
  • Allergy & Immunology (Allergies & Immune Diseases)
  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (Child Allergies & Immune Diseases)
  • Immunopathology
  • Dermatological Immunology / Diagnostic Laboratory
  • Clinical & Laboratory Immunology
• more specialists...»

Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:

• Rate Your Doctor Online
• Research Your Doctor Online
• Review Patient Surveys About Your Doctor
• Research local specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Hospitals & Clinics: HIV/AIDS

Research quality ratings and patient safety measures for medical facilities in specialties related to HIV/AIDS:

• Urinary Health (Urology) -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• more hospital ratings...»

Hospital & Clinic quality ratings » »

Choosing the Best Hospital: More general information, not necessarily in relation to HIV/AIDS, on hospital performance and surgical care quality:

• 50 Best Hospitals Report
• Outstanding Patient Experinece Award Winning Hospitals
• Women's Health Best Hospitals
• Patient Safety
• Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study (2009)

Causes of HIV/AIDS

Read more about causes of HIV/AIDS.

More information about causes of HIV/AIDS:

• HIV/AIDS as a complication caused by other conditions
• HIV/AIDS as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of HIV/AIDS
• Cause statistics for HIV/AIDS

Treatments for HIV/AIDS

• Nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors - also called nucleoside analogs
  • Zidovudine (AZT) - also called ZDV
  • Zalcitibine (ddC)
  • Didanosine (ddI)
  • Stavudine (d4T)
• more treatments...»

See full list of 33 treatments for HIV/AIDS

News Archives for HIV/AIDS

Medical news articles related to HIV/AIDS include:

• HIV Can Penetrate a Woman's Healthy Genital Skin
• Fewer HIV-Infected Americans Passing the Virus On
• Special Immune Cells May Be Key to HIV Resistance
• Experimental Vaginal Gel Doesn't Ward Off HIV
• Way to Rescue Tired Immune Cells Fighting HIV Found
• Medicinal Marijuana Eases Neuropathic Pain in HIV
• HIV Drug Might Spur Resistant Strains of Virus
• more health news...»

Source: HealthDay News

Videos for HIV/AIDS

Patient Surveys for HIV/AIDS

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your HIV/AIDS
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for HIV/AIDS

More about prognosis of HIV/AIDS

Reseach about HIV/AIDS

Visit our research pages for current research about HIV/AIDS treatments.

Clinical Trials for HIV/AIDS

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for HIV/AIDS include:

• Gallium Nitrate in Treating Patients With AIDS-Related Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - gallium nitrate
• Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With AIDS-Related Lymphoma - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - cyclophosphamide,cytarabine,doxorubicin HCl liposome,filgrastim,methotrexate,prednisone,vincristine
• Gene Therapy, Chemotherapy, and Peripheral Stem Cell Transplantation in Treating Patients With HIV-Related Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - RevM10 gene,RevM10/polAS gene
• Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With AIDS-Related Lymphoma - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - bleomycin,cisplatin,co-trimoxazole,cyclophosphamide,cytarabine,doxorubicin,etoposide,filgrastim,fluorouracil,ifosfamide,leucovorin calcium,mesna,methotrexate,methylprednisolone,pentamidine,prednisone,vincristine,zidovudine
• Liposomal Doxorubicin Plus Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With AIDS-Associated Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - doxorubicin HCl liposome,methotrexate,prednisone,sargramostim,vincristine
• more trials...»

See full list of 4848 Clinical Trials for HIV/AIDS

Prevention of HIV/AIDS

Prevention information for HIV/AIDS has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of HIV/AIDS.

• Avoid unprotected sex
• Avoid multiple sex partners
• Avoid needle sharing
• Treatments to prevent mother-infant transmission include:
  • AZT
• more preventions...»

Read more about prevention of HIV/AIDS

Statistics for HIV/AIDS

• Medical statistics for HIV/AIDS
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for HIV/AIDS
• Death and Mortality statistics for HIV/AIDS
• Society statistics for HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS: Broader Related Topics

• Viral diseases
• Immune disorders
• Immune deficiency conditions
• Adolescent conditions
• more types...»

Types of HIV/AIDS

Curable Types of HIV/AIDS

Possibly curable types of HIV/AIDS include:

• Pneumocystitis carinii pneumonia related HIV
• Tuberculosis related HIV
• Toxoplasmosis related HIV
• Herpes zoster related HIV
• Hemophiliacs related HIV
• more types...»

Rare Types of HIV/AIDS:

Rare types of HIV/AIDS include:

• Pneumocystitis carinii pneumonia related HIV
• Tuberculosis related HIV
• Toxoplasmosis related HIV
• Kaposi sarcoma related HIV
• Cryptosporidiosis related HIV
• Herpes zoster related HIV
• more types...»

Stories from Users Related to HIV/AIDS

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• Be gone twitching!! Any ideas on what to search to aid in a Dx?
• Could I have HIV???
• MAC-do not have aids
• advice very scared hiv
• symptoms like HIV, but not
• HIV?AIDS am i worrying too much, please help
• What type of STD did I get, did I get HIV or what ?
• HIV mis diagnosis
• Theobromine poisoning in humans?
• Chlamydia or HIV
• is it HIV
• could i have HIV?
• im scared i have hiv
• Could I get HIV
• hiv / std's from dry humping ?
• Can Cats Transfer Infections Like Uti's To Humans?
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• Hiv Risk Help!!
• Could I have HIV/AIDS?

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about HIV/AIDS, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about HIV/AIDS

HIV Infection and AIDS, An Overview, NIAID Fact Sheet: NIAID (Excerpt)

The term AIDS applies to the most advanced stages of HIV infection. CDC developed official criteria for the definition of AIDS and is responsible for tracking the spread of AIDS in the United States. (Source: excerpt from HIV Infection and AIDS, An Overview, NIAID Fact Sheet: NIAID)

Sexually Transmitted Diseases, NIAID Fact Sheet: NIAID (Excerpt)

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) was first reported in the United States in 1981. It is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a virus that destroys the body's ability to fight off infection. (Source: excerpt from Sexually Transmitted Diseases, NIAID Fact Sheet: NIAID)

Definitions of HIV/AIDS:

A syndrome resulting from the acquired deficiency of cellular immunity caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is characterized by the reduction of the Helper T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood and the lymph nodes; opportunistic infections (usually pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections, tuberculosis, candida infections, and cryptococcosis); and the development of malignant neoplasms (usually non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Kaposi's sarcoma). The human immunodeficiency virus is transmitted through sexual contact, sharing of contaminated needles, or transfusion of contaminated blood. Generalized lymphadenopathy, fever, weight loss, and chronic diarrhea are common symptoms of AIDS. The patients usually die either of opportunistic infections or malignant neoplasms. -- 2004 - (Source - Diseases Database)