What’s the Difference Between HIV and AIDS?
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Let’s break it down:
| Human – Meaning only humans can contract this strain of the virus. |
| Immunodeficiency – Affecting the immune system and causing it to weaken. |
| Virus – A microorganism that replicates inside a host organism’s cell. |
HIV is a virus that we know causes AIDS. It enters the body and infects immune system cells, as well as other cells in the body -- causing more copies of the virus to be produced. By contrast, AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome:
| Acquired – It happens in people who already have been infected with HIV |
| Immune – Affecting the immune system |
| Deficiency – Weakening |
| Syndrome – A collection of symptoms that indicate a disease. |
AIDS is a diagnosis given by a doctor. People get an AIDS diagnosis only when they meet a specific set of criterion. For example, their white blood cell (CD4+ cells) count is below 200 or they have been diagnosed with an opportunistic infection or cancer. Here is a full explanation of how doctors make AIDS diagnoses.
Not everyone with HIV has AIDS. But everyone diagnosed with AIDS has HIV. This distinction is critical – an AIDS diagnosis can have huge implications when it comes to accessing benefits such as housing, insurance, legal services and more.
In San Francisco...
• Roughly 1 in 4 gay, bisexual, and transgender men in San Francisco have HIV.
• Of these, 20% are unaware that they are HIV-positive.
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