HIV-1 & HIV-2
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus responsible for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in people.
There are 2 types of HIV:
- HIV-1 and
- HIV-2
HIV-1 is the most common of the two. There are three possible routes of transmission for HIV:
- sexual contact,
- contact with infected blood, and
- vertical transmission – from mother to child.
Sexual contact is nowadays responsible for 80% of infections worldwide and men who have sex with men (MSM) are at the highest risk of HIV infection. In regards to HIV infection through contact with blood, the most common way is by sharing needles in IV drug users. A mother can pass HIV on to her child during labor but also after, through breast milk.
Once inside the human body, HIV infects certain cells of the immune system. As a result, there is acute HIV infection that can be asymptomatic or can manifest as:
- fever,
- fatigue,
- headache,
- swollen lymph nodes,
- rash etc.
After the acute immune response, the virus stays latent in those cells where it slowly replicates, killing the cells in the process. This latent phase can also be asymptomatic or present with:
- low fever,
- chronic diarrhea,
- oral candidiasis,
- vaginal infections,
- HPV infections etc.
HIV / AIDS
Over time, during the 8-10 year period of HIV latency, there is decline in the count of these important immune cells which eventually leads to the state of immunodeficiency. This means that the immune system fails to react to various infections and tumors. Therefore the (HIV/AIDS positive) host develops infections and malignancies that are very unlikely to happen in people with a good immune system.
The best initial method to diagnose HIV infection is an antigen/antibody combination test. This test detects HIV antigen and anti-HIV antibodies. Moreover, it can detect HIV 14 days after transmission.
If an HIV antigen/antibody test is positive a second test is needed to confirm the infection. This is HIV-1/HIV-2 antibody differentiation immunoassay which can tell what kind of HIV virus is the cause of infection.
Patients with acute HIV infection have a lot of HIV virions in their blood, hence the probability of HIV transmission is high. Patients should start special therapy against HIV as soon as possible in order to reduce the risk of HIV transmission.
Fortunately, if diagnosed early, HIV infection can be easily treated. In the last decade, there have been substantial improvements in the management of this disease. Many drugs and regimens called combined antiretroviral therapy (CART) are available to suit every patient. In addition, therapy can be so effective that the HIV + person can have undetectable viral load (virus in the blood), so that there is no more chance of transmission
