ETIOLOGY OF HIV INFECTION

HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, is a virus that spreads via certain body fluids and specifically attacks the CD4⁺, or T cells, of the immune system. As time passes, the virus can destroy so many of these specialized cells that the immune system no longer is able to fight off infections and disease.

HIV is unable to grow or reproduce on its own and depends on a host cell for the raw materials and the energy necessary for all the biochemical activities that allow the virus to reproduce. In order to accomplish this, it must locate and bind to a specific type of cell, a CD4⁺ T cell.

HIV is unique among many other viruses because the body is unable to destroy the HIV completely, even with treatment. As a result, once a person is infected with the virus, the person will have it for the remainder of their life (CDC, 2019a).

STAGES OF HIV INFECTION

Stage 1: Acute HIV infection, the earliest stage during which large amounts of HIV are being produced, the CD4⁺ cell count is reduced, and seroconversion (detectable presence of antibodies) takes place. Persons may be asymptomatic, unaware they are infected, but very contagious.
Stage 2: Clinical latency (chronic HIV infection) may last 10 or 15 years, while the virus continues to multiply and immunosuppression gradually develops. The person may be asymptomatic during this stage but can transmit the virus.
Stage 3: AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is the final, severe stage of HIV when the immune system is severely damaged and certain opportunistic infections or cancers begin to appear.
(Sax, 2019; USDHHS, 2020)