Is AIDS a terminal illness?

Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
Updated on December 18, 2024
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AIDS is not a terminal disease. AIDS patients undergoing systematic and standardized long-term antiretroviral therapy can suppress the virus to undetectable levels over the long term, preventing damage to the immune system or allowing an already damaged immune system to gradually recover to a state close to normal. Long-term antiviral therapy can maintain the body's indicators at essentially normal levels, making it unlikely to experience opportunistic infections or opportunistic tumors, and it is possible to live a normal lifespan. It is crucial for AIDS patients to receive timely and correct treatment, including long-term antiviral therapy.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Can people with AIDS get married?

Patients with AIDS, after receiving standardized anti-tuberculosis treatment, suppressing the virus, and largely restoring normal immune function and physical state, can actually marry and have children normally. Legally, there is no prohibition against people with HIV/AIDS from getting married. AIDS is not a disease that prevents marriage. Therefore, people with HIV/AIDS can marry normally once the condition and virus are under control, but they should engage in sexual activity and pregnancy under the guidance of an experienced infectious disease doctor.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Is AIDS yin or yang?

If HIV is contracted, after the window period, screening through HIV antibody tests or HIV nucleic acid tests will mostly yield positive results. If the HIV antibody test is positive, an HIV infection can be diagnosed. Once an HIV infection is confirmed, systematic and standardized antiretroviral therapy should be initiated. Systematic and standardized antiretroviral therapy can effectively suppress the virus to undetectable levels, eliminate infectiousness, gradually enhance immunity, and allow one to live a normal lifespan.

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Written by Xie Ming Feng
Dermatology
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AIDS is divided into several stages.

AIDS is clinically divided into four stages: acute infection, asymptomatic infection, pre-AIDS stage, and AIDS stage. The acute infection stage refers to the period starting about half a month after the human body is infected with HIV, during which symptoms similar to the common cold appear, and these symptoms generally disappear after a month. Around two months, HIV antibodies can appear in the human body, at which point these antibodies can be detected through blood testing. Thereafter, the individual enters the asymptomatic infection stage, which typically lasts 7-8 years, though some people may reach 10 years. Afterwards, the pre-AIDS stage begins due to the decline in immune function, with symptoms such as fatigue, night sweats, and weight loss appearing, eventually progressing to the AIDS stage.

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Written by Yang Chun Guang
Gastroenterology
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Is dizziness and nausea a symptom of AIDS?

Symptoms such as dizziness and nausea are not directly related to AIDS, and AIDS is generally not considered in such cases. Instead, conditions like insufficient blood supply to the neck or brain, which might cause dizziness and nausea, are considered. The diagnosis of AIDS must rely on laboratory tests because AIDS is an autoimmune deficiency disease, and various symptoms may occur. The most common and likely symptoms of AIDS are prolonged fever and diarrhea, but these symptoms cannot be used as the basis for diagnosis; they are only auxiliary. Therefore, to confirm AIDS, one must undergo laboratory testing at an accredited hospital.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
44sec home-news-image

initial symptoms of AIDS

People infected with HIV may experience a series of symptoms in the early stages of the disease, about two to three weeks after being infected with the virus. At this time, due to the virus's rapid growth and reproduction in the body, symptoms such as viral viremia can occur, including rash, fever, sore throat, and swelling of lymph nodes throughout the body. These symptoms are reversible and can subside after one to two weeks. Many people infected with HIV may not show any symptoms. The diagnosis of HIV is mainly confirmed through tests such as HIV antibodies, and it is not possible to infer HIV infection based merely on external symptoms.