Is HIV contagious and not AIDS?!


Question: Is HIV contagious and not AIDS?
Since AIDS isn't a virus or bacteria, it's just a name of a condition where your immune system is ruined, would that make AIDS in and of itself not contagious? I realize HIV is contagious and that it causes AIDS, but wouldn't that make AIDS non-contagious, just HIV?

Answers:

Pretty good answers so far, just to add my two cents,


HIV is a virus you get from numerous different exposures to contaminated bodily fluid infected with HIV.
As HIV progresses it can cause you to suffer from AIDS, in layman's terms, AIDS is a progression of HIV. AIDS is a syndrome, which means it is diagnosed from different symptoms, therefore AIDS itself is not contagious, but the virus that causes AIDS is.

Hope this helps.



Acquired means you can catch it; Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body's system that fights diseases.

Syndrome means a group of health problems that make up a disease.

AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If you get infected with HIV, your body will try to fight the infection. It will make "antibodies", special molecules that are supposed to fight HIV.
When you get a blood test for HIV, the test is really looking for these antibodies. If you have them in your blood, it means that you have HIV infection. People who have the HIV antibodies are called "HIV-Positive".

Being HIV-positive, or having HIV disease, is not the same as having AIDS. Many people are HIV-positive but don't get sick for many years. As HIV disease continues, it slowly wears down the immune system. Viruses, parasites, fungi and bacteria that usually don't cause any problems can make you very sick if your immune system is damaged. These are called " opportunistic infections".

http://www.jis.gov.jm/special_sections/aids/default.html



Here's a simple explanation:
AIDS is basically HIV, but a more progressed stage. Everyone talks about getting AIDS, but when you first get it you have HIV. When you don't treat it is when you get AIDS.



there is no scientific evidence that HIV causes AIDS!

http://www.hivwave.gr/pages/en/




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