The Human immunodeficiency virus hiv was discovered in by a group of French and American scientists. Treatment for the virus became available in and today we know that the virus cant be passed on by people on treatment. Hiv is a retrovirus which mainly make use of CD4 cells, a type of immunecells, to replicate and reproduce. The role of the CD4 cells is to function as a cleaner of sort, eradicating cancerous cells, viruses, toxins or other pathogens in the body.
However, the immune system is composed of a whole range of different cells, and the CD4 cells are just one type, but without them or with too few, the body will be missing a critical part of its defense against diseases. When the hiv virus has infected a human, its the CD4 cells role to clean out hiv, but instead of eradicating the virus, the virus is gaining entrance into the CD4 cell. Inside the cell, the hiv virus reprogram the cell to start producing virus copies of itself.
These copies are being released into the blood and becomes new targets for other CD4 cells. Paradoxically this chain of events just increases the amount of virus. In the end it leads to a depletion of CD4 cells, and the host human falls ill and develops aids, and finally dies if not treatment is started. In Sweden, AIDS is primarily seen in people unaware of their hiv status and with an undiagnosed hiv infection. Having developed AIDS, the risk for opportunistic infections are higher, but with treatment the progression of the disease can be stopped and even turned around, even for someone who have fallen severly ill.
Globally AIDS is still a significant threat. The treatment is supervised by a doctor whom also orders tests and sets up a treatment proctocol. Most people living with hiv in Sweden take one or two pills a day to treat hiv.
Today there are more than 30 substances in 7 different classes, usually these are combined into various single tablets. Quiz your knowledge and attitude towards hiv at hivkunskap. Today its possible to live a normal life with hiv and with all the medical success hiv ought to be no big deal, but is that really true? Only one out of 10 living with hiv in Sweden are open about their status and a majority are also dissatisfied with their sex life.
