Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the final stage of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. To be diagnosed with AIDS, a person must test positive for HIV, have a low white blood cell count, and suffer from a range of opportunistic infections that take advantage of the immune deficiency caused by HIV. Any questions remaining about this association are due to out dated terminology from before retrovirus research discerned the mechanism of infection and disease. Those who argue against the HIV/AIDS definition are referred to as "AIDS deniers" and are considered the fringe of scientific thought, propagating misinformation and using outdated sources to reinforce their philosophical ideas about the origin of HIV infection. The International AIDS Society, representing more than 11,000 professionals worldwide that work on HIV, publicly opposes the efforts of AIDS-deniers, which are hindering the effort to educate people about HIV and AIDS, get treatment to those who cannot afford it, and prevent further spread of the disease.
The anti-HIV/AIDS movement blames homosexuals and drug-users for the disease, even though heterosexuals are the largest growing subpopulation of newly diagnosed HIV-positive patients. AIDS denier groups, such as Alive and Well, teach that anal sex, stress, and long-term drug use results in AIDS, and that HIV infection has nothing to do with the disease. The major problem with this idea is that AIDS patients are defined (by the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization) as being HIV-positive with the presence of opportunistic infections that occur after the immune system is destroyed by HIV replication, which is shown by the white blood cell count. The group has gone so far as to sign on popular musicians to their cause, which endangers young people by propagating the idea that HIV prevention is unnecessary and that the anti-retroviral medications are not necessary, or even the cause of the disease themselves. The truth is that these medications are necessary for staving off the fatal immune deficiency resulting from HIV infection. Some argue that they cause illness, but patients were found 20 years ago to succumb to AIDS within 5 years unless treated. Treatment increases the lifespan of HIV positive individuals by 10 years, or more in most cases.
HIV Testing
Another idea that is touted by AIDS-deniers is how HIV infection is determined. The most common testing process tests for anti-HIV antibodies, not the actual virus. When a foreign particle, such as a virus, enters the body, the immune system processes the particle into pieces that create a response specifically targeting that type of particle. These specific attack molecules are antibodies. When a person is infected, they express infection-specific antibodies, such as anti-HIV when infected with HIV. However, in HIV, these antibodies cannot attack the virus because it hides within the immune cells themselves. These antibodies are used as a way to detect the virus; they will not be present unless a person has been exposed to HIV.
However, there is now an RNA test to determine the presence of HIV by testing for its genetic material directly. Regardless of which test is used, a positive test is always followed by another for confirmation of infection. Those who are found to be HIV-positive are started on anti-retroviral medications as soon as possible to prevent the infection from spreading. The sooner treatment is started, the longer before a person develops immune deficiency.
The Course of HIV Infection
HIV attacks the T cells (a type of white blood cells), a component of the immune response and the maintenance cells of the immune system. Because of this, the virus destroys the T cells as it replicates, causing an exponential explosion of HIV infection if it is not kept in check by anti-retroviral medications. The outer envelope of the virus, the part recognized by antibodies, also mutates relatively fast, resulting in a lack of success to cure and vaccinate for the virus. This is also why the same patient is often found to have a different strain at diagnosis and death.
Once the virus has destroyed the T cells, the immune system is crippled and a number of infections can take hold of the patient. Opportunistic infections are rather weak infections that are usually fended off without disease occurring. HIV-positive patients often succumb to such infections because the body cannot defend itself. A syndrome is a set of diseases seen in the presence of infection. AIDS is the description given to the opportunistic diseases seen in HIV patients. This is why medical researchers are certain HIV causes AIDS, because without HIV, there wouldn't be AIDS. In the absence of HIV infection, pneumonia is simply pneumonia and fungal infections are simplyy fungal infections, but in the presence of HIV infection, it is called AIDS.