What Is The Body’s Initial Reaction To The Hiv Virus

How Is Hiv Treated

Treatments for HIV typically involve antiretroviral therapy. This isnt a specific regimen, but instead a combination of three or four drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has currently approved nearly 50 different medications to treat HIV.

Antiretroviral therapy works to prevent the virus from copying itself. This maintains immunity levels while slowing the progression of HIV.

Before prescribing medication, a healthcare provider will take the following factors into consideration:

• a persons health history
• the levels of the virus in the blood

HIV doesnt cause a lot of outward or noticeable symptoms until the disease has progressed. For this reason, its important to understand how HIV is transmitted and the ways to prevent transmission.

HIV can be transmitted by:

• having sex, including oral, vaginal, and anal sex
• sharing needles, including tattoo needles, needles used for body piercing, and needles used for injecting drugs
• coming into contact with body fluids, such as semen, vaginal fluid, blood, and breast milk

HIV is not transmitted by:

• breathing the same air as a person living with HIV
• getting bitten by a mosquito or other biting insect
• hugging, holding hands with, kissing, or touching a person living with HIV
• touching a door handle or toilet seat thats been used by an HIV-positive person

Keeping this in mind, some of the ways a person can prevent HIV include:

Symptoms can take years to appear, which is why its so important to get tested regularly.

What Is The Body’s Initial Reaction To Hiv

4.5/5symptomsinfection

two to four weeks

Additionally, what happens after HIV infection? Acute HIV infection is the earliest stage of HIV infection, and it generally develops within 2 to 4 weeks after infection with HIV. During this time, some people have flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, and rash. The virus attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells of the immune system.

People also ask, how does the immune system react to HIV?

HIV attacks a specific type of immune system cell in the body. This is because the body has difficulty responding to new infections. Not only does HIV attack CD4 cells, it also uses the cells to make more of the virus. HIV destroys CD4 cells by using their replication machinery to create new copies of the virus.

How long can you stay undetectable?

A person’s viral load is considered durably undetectable when all viral load test results are undetectable for at least six months after their first undetectable test result. This means that most people will need to be on treatment for 7 to 12 months to have a durably undetectable viral load.

What Is The Body’s Initial Reaction To The Hiv Virus

symptomsinfection

two to four weeks

Likewise, where did the HIV virus begin? HIV crossed from chimps to humans in the 1920s in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was probably as a result of chimps carrying the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus , a virus closely related to HIV, being hunted and eaten by people living in the area.

how does the HIV virus attack?

HIV attacks a specific type of immune system cell in the body. It’s known as the CD4 helper cell or T cell. When HIV destroys this cell, it becomes harder for the body to fight off other infections. HIV destroys CD4 cells by using their replication machinery to create new copies of the virus.

What happens after HIV infection?

Acute HIV infection is the earliest stage of HIV infection, and it generally develops within 2 to 4 weeks after infection with HIV. During this time, some people have flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, and rash. The virus attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells of the immune system.

You May Like: What Are The Signs Of Hiv After 3 Months

Stage : Clinical Latency

In this stage, the virus still multiplies, but at very low levels. People in this stage may not feel sick or have any symptoms. This stage is also called chronic HIV infection.

Without HIV treatment, people can stay in this stage for 10 or 15 years, but some move through this stage faster.

If you take HIV medicine every day, exactly as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load, you can protect your health and have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to your sexual partner.

But if your viral load is detectable, you can transmit HIV during this stage, even when you have no symptoms. Its important to see your health care provider regularly to get your viral load checked.

How Are Hiv And Aids Treated

Medicines can help people with HIV stay healthy. They can also prevent HIV from progressing to AIDS.

Health care providers prescribe a combination of different medicines for people with HIV and AIDS. They must be taken exactly as prescribed or they won’t work. These medicines:

• help keep the number of CD4 cells high
• reduce the viral load of HIV

Regular blood tests will check the number of CD4 cells in the body and the viral load.

If an HIV-positive person’s CD4 count gets low, doctors prescribe daily antibiotics. This prevents pneumocystis pneumonia, which happens in people with weakened immune systems.

Also Check: What Percentage Of The Population Has Hiv

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

, MD, MAS, University of California, San Diego

• HIV is transmitted through close contact with a body fluid that contains the virus or cells infected with the virus .

• HIV destroys certain types of white blood cells, weakening the bodys defenses against infections and cancers.

• When people are first infected, symptoms of fever, rashes, swollen lymph nodes, and fatigue may last a few days to several weeks.

• Many infected people remain well for more than a decade.

• About half of untreated people become ill and develop AIDS, defined by the presence of serious infections and cancers, within about 10 years.

• Eventually, most untreated people develop AIDS.

• Blood tests to check for HIV antibody and to measure the amount of HIV virus can confirm the diagnosis.

• HIV drugs two, three, or more taken togethercan stop HIV from reproducing, strengthen the immune system, and thus make people less susceptible to infection, but the drugs cannot eliminate HIV, which persists in an inactive form.

HIV infections may be caused by one of two retroviruses, HIV-1 or HIV-2. HIV-1 causes most HIV infections worldwide, but HIV-2 causes many HIV infections in West Africa.

Is It Safe For Children With Hiv To Receive Routine Immunizations

• MMR, or measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, is safe to give to children with HIV, unless they have a severely weakened immune system.

• DTaP/Td vaccine is safe to give to infants and children with HIV.

• Hib and Hep B vaccines are safe to give to children with HIV.

• Hepatitis A and B vaccines are safe to give to HIV-positive children.

• VZIG should be considered for known HIV-positive children, depending on their immune status.

• A yearly influenza vaccine is recommended for children with HIV, as well as any individual living in the same household as a child with HIV. There are two types of influenza vaccine children and adults with HIV should receive the “shot” form of the vaccine–not the nasal spray form, as it contains a live virus. Pneumococcal vaccine can be safely administered to age-appropriate HIV-infected children.

Always consult with your child’s doctor regarding immunizations for an HIV-infected child.

Recommended Reading: How Long Does It Take For Hiv To Become Aids

What Are The Factors That Affect Disease Progression

The most important factor affecting HIV progression is the ability to achieve viral suppression. Taking antiretroviral therapy regularly helps many people slow the progression of HIV and reach viral suppression.

However, a variety of factors affect HIV progression, and some people progress through the phases of HIV more quickly than others.

Factors that affect HIV progression can include:

• Ability to achieve viral suppression. Whether someone can take their antiretroviral medications and achieve viral suppression is the most important factor by far.
• Age when symptoms start. Being older can result in faster progression of HIV.
• Health before treatment. If a person had other diseases, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis C, or other sexually transmitted diseases , it can affect their overall health.
• Timing of diagnosis. Another important factor is how soon a person was diagnosed after they contracted HIV. The longer between their diagnosis and treatment, the more time the disease has to progress unchecked.
• Lifestyle. Practicing an unhealthy lifestyle, such as having a poor diet and experiencing severe stress, can cause HIV to progress more quickly.
• Genetic history. Some people seem to progress more quickly through their disease given their genetic makeup.

Some factors can delay or slow the progression of HIV. These include:

Living a healthy lifestyle and seeing a healthcare provider regularly can make a big difference in a persons overall health.

Innate Immune Response To Hiv

Innate immune cells are the first line of defence which HIV encounters upon entry to the body.

Macrophages. Tissue macrophages are one of the target cells for HIV. These macrophages harbour the virus and are known to be the source of viral proteins. However, the infected macrophages are shown to lose their ability to ingest and kill foreign microbes and present antigen to T cells. This could have a major contribution in overall immune dysfunction caused by HIV infection.

Dendritic cells . DCs are large cells with dendritic cytoplasmic extensions. These cells present processed antigens to T lymphocytes in lymph nodes. Epidermal DCs, expressing CD1a and Birbeck granules, are probably among the first immune cells to combat HIV at the mucosal surfaces. These cells transport HIV from the site of infection to lymphoid tissue. The follicular DCs, found in lymphoid tissue, are also key antigen-presenting cells that trap and present antigens on their cell surfaces. In the lymph node follicles, DCs provide signals for the activation of B lymphocytes.

Don’t Miss: How Is Hiv And Aids Diagnosed

Symptom : Nausea Vomiting And Diarrhoea

Many people experience digestive system problems as a symptom of the early stages of HIV. However, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea can also appear in later stages of infection, usually as the result of an opportunistic infection.

It is important to stay hydrated. Diarrhoea that is unremitting and not responding to usual therapy might be an indication of HIV.

Researchers Make Surprising Discoveries About The Body’s Initial Responses To Hiv Infection

Researchers at UC Davis have made some surprising discoveries about the body’s initial responses to HIV infection. Studying simian immunodeficiency virus , the team found that specialized cells in the intestine called Paneth cells are early responders to viral invasion and are the source of gut inflammation by producing a cytokine called interleukin-1 beta .

Though aimed at the presence of virus, IL-1ß causes breakdown of the gut epithelium that provides a barrier to protect the body against pathogens. Importantly, this occurs prior to the wide spread viral infection and immune cell killing. But in an interesting twist, a beneficial bacterium, Lactobacillus plantarum, helps mitigate the virus-induced inflammatory response and protects gut epithelial barrier. The study was published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

One of the biggest obstacles to complete viral eradication and immune recovery is the stable HIV reservoir in the gut. There is very little information about the early viral invasion and the establishment of the gut reservoir.

In the study, the researchers detected a very small number of SIV infected cells in the gut within initial 2.5 days of viral infection however, the inflammatory response to the virus was playing havoc with the gut lining. IL-1ß was reducing the production of tight-junction proteins, which are crucial to making the intestinal barrier impermeable to pathogens. As a result, the normally cohesive barrier was breaking down.

You May Like: Can You Get Hiv If Someone Spits In Your Eye

What Are The Symptoms Of Hiv/aids

Some people may develop a flu-like illness within a month after exposure to the HIV virus. But many people do not develop any symptoms at all when they first become infected. In addition, the symptoms that do appear, which usually disappear within a week to a month, are often mistaken for those of another viral infection. These may include:

• Fever

• Malaise

• Enlarged lymph nodes

Persistent or severe symptoms may not surface for 10 years or more after HIV first enters the body in adults, or within 2 years in children born with an HIV infection. This “asymptomatic” period of the infection is highly variable from person to person. But, during the asymptomatic period, HIV is actively infecting and killing cells of the immune system. Its most obvious effect is a decline in the blood levels of CD4+ T cells a key immune system infection fighter. The virus initially disables or destroys these cells without causing symptoms.

As the immune system deteriorates, complications begin to surface. The following are the most common complications, or symptoms, of AIDS. However, each individual may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:

Some people develop frequent and severe herpes infections that cause mouth, genital, or anal sores, or a painful nerve disease known as shingles. Children may have delayed development or failure to thrive.

How Is Hiv Diagnosed

Diagnosis of HIV infection during infancy depends on the detection of the virus. Since all infants born to HIV-infected mothers have a positive antibody test at birth because of the passive transfer of the HIV antibody across the placenta, virological testing is used to confirm the diagnosis.

For infants born to HIV-infected mothers, viral diagnostic testing is usually performed within the first 2 days of life, at 1 to 2 months of age, and at 4 to 6 months of age. A diagnosis of HIV infection can be made with two positive virologic tests obtained from different blood samples.

For children over 18 months, adolescents, or adults, diagnosis is made by testing the blood for the presence of HIV antibody.

You May Like: How Is Hiv Test Done

Hiv Effects On The Immune System

Your immune system has many types of white blood cells that fight infection. HIV gets inside a kind called CD4 cells and makes copies of itself. The virus kills the cell, and the new viruses go off to find more.

Your body responds by making more CD4 cells, but after a while, it canât keep up with the virus. This makes your immune system weak. Youâre more likely to get sick, even from common germs. Infections last longer, are more severe, and might come back more often.

If you follow your doctorâs directions with ART, it knocks out HIV, stopping it from infecting more CD4 cells and from weakening your immune system.

Treating The Rash At Home

You May Like: How Long Should I Wait To Get Tested For Hiv

How Antiretroviral Drugs Affect The Body

While there is no cure for HIV, antiretroviral therapy can reduce the amount of the virus in the blood to very low levels. By doing this, it keeps the person healthy and prevents the transmission of the virus to other people.

A very low, or undetectable, viral load means that the risk of transmission to others is virtually zero, which has led to the phrase: undetectable = untransmittable .

Experts encourage all people with HIV, regardless of their CD4 T-cell count, to start taking antiretroviral drugs as soon as possible after their diagnosis. Early treatment is key to a good outcome.

As with other medications, antiretroviral drugs can cause side effects in some people. However, modern drugs tend to produce fewer and less severe side effects than older drugs.

Possible side effects of antiretroviral drugs include:

• fatigue
• dizziness
• pain

Some side effects may last for a few days or weeks after the person starts treatment. Others may start later or last longer.

If a person experiences severe side effects that make them consider stopping treatment, they can talk to their healthcare provider. Stopping treatment or skipping doses can lead to drug resistance and limit a persons treatment options.

Some people can reduce some side effects by taking the medication 2 hours before going to bed. Other people may prefer to take it in the morning to prevent sleep disturbances.

Certain HIV drugs may also lead to less obvious changes, such as:

What Is The Bodys Initial Reaction To The Hiv Virus

Answer: The body tries to fight the virus by creating special antibodies that target the virus.

The HIV virus can remain dormant in the human body for up to ten years after primary infection during this period the virus does not cause symptoms. Alternatively the integrated viral DNA may be transcribed producing new RNA genomes and viral proteins using host cell resources that are packaged and released from the cell as new virus particles that will begin the replication cycle anew.

HIV is commonly transmitted via unprotected sexual activity blood transfusions hypodermic needles and from mother to child.Upon acquisition of the virus the virus replicates inside and kills T helper cells which are required for almost all adaptive immune responses.There is an initial period of influenza-like illness and then a latent asymptomatic phase.

During the integration process the HIV integrase enzyme performs two key catalytic reactions. First is the 3 processing of the HIV DNA followed by strand transfer of the HIV DNA into the host DNA.

Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus a retrovirus. Following initial infection a person may not notice any symptoms or may experience a brief period of influenza-like illness. Typically this is followed by a prolonged period with no symptoms.

The innate branch

You May Like: What Is The Average Life Expectancy Of Hiv Patients