What is Aids?
We use the term Aids when someone's infection is severe enough that they have become quite sick. This is when the virus has made
the body's defence system so weak that it is unable to protect itself sufficiently. At this stage, various diseases attack the weakened
body, and these are called opportunistic infections. Aids stands for:
Acquired (get from somewhere)
Immune (defence mechanism of the body)
Deficiency (not enough)
Syndrome (a group of diseases)
What are the symptoms of Aids?
A person may experience some mild symptoms when the immune system starts to weaken. These may include a fever, tiredness, rash,
sore throat, muscle and joint pain, weight loss, diarrhoea and some swollen lymph glands. At this stage of infection, these can usually
all be treated or prevented, but as the virus progresses, the symptoms will become more severe. Once the immune system is too
weak to protect itself, and a person has full-blown Aids, he or she may experience skin rashes, respiratory infections, oral and genital
thrush, on-going diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, headaches, tiredness, and opportunistic infections such as TB.
Explaining CD4 cells
Normally, when we get an infection like diarrhoea or a chest infection, we have cells in our body that fight the germs that cause those
infections. These are the cells that make up our defence system (immune system). HIV attacks and destroys these cells, so after a
few years the number of cells becomes too low and there are not enough to fight infections like diarrhoea or chest infections. The
cells t