Stages of HIV, complete description based on different classifications. Stages of HIV infection What is the last stage of HIV

The stages of HIV infection are the main stages of the course of the disease, during which the body is gradually destroyed and the immune system ceases to function. HIV infection is a real epidemic that the whole world is fighting, so a person simply needs to know all the features of the disease and protect themselves.

The human immunodeficiency virus is a dangerous phenomenon that became known to mankind not so long ago. In recent years, the number of infected people is increasing every day in the world, and in some countries (for example, Congo) AIDS is recognized as an epidemic.

HIV is transmitted in several ways:

through blood (through injections, blood transfusions, when the blood of a sick person gets into small cuts on the skin);
from mother to child (during pregnancy, breastfeeding);
sexually (after unprotected sexual intercourse).

Infection and onset of disease development. At this stage, the virus only enters the human body, after which the development of the disease begins, which has several stages. Typically, infection occurs through sexual contact and blood, less commonly from mother to child.
Incubation stage. This stage takes from 3 weeks to 6 months. At this time, the infection in the body cannot be detected: antibodies are produced in insufficient quantities. Patients often make the mistake of being examined immediately after a suspected infection - the tests in most cases turn out to be incorrect.
Stage of primary manifestations. At this stage (during the first year), antibodies are gradually produced. A person may begin to suffer from diseases such as influenza or acute respiratory viral infections. Vomiting, nausea, and fever are observed.
Latent stage. Lasts from 3 to 20 years. At this time, a person is practically not bothered by the disease, he does not tolerate serious illnesses, but the immune system gradually weakens and collapses.
Stage of secondary diseases. At this time, serious diseases begin to actively manifest themselves, which clearly indicate a serious HIV infection in the body. The subclinical stage is characterized by complete destruction of body systems.
AIDS. The final stage, after which death occurs. Typically this period lasts from several months to 2 years. The patient becomes completely helpless, the prescribed medications no longer help him. The last help that can be shown to a person is the use of strong painkillers.

Symptoms of HIV infection

After infection, a person does not immediately begin to experience unpleasant symptoms indicating the disease. They begin to appear only in the middle of the disease, or when the terminal stage occurs. It is impossible to cure HIV, but it is possible to find drugs that will prolong the life of the patient.

Here are some symptoms to watch out for:

temperature increase;
vomiting, dizziness;
you start getting sick too often;
the flu lasts a long time and is very difficult to recover from;
there is severe diarrhea and dehydration.

The stages of AIDS are divided into several stages, so the patient observes different manifestations at each of them.

During the development of AIDS, there may be relief, remission, the person begins to feel better and even forgets about the symptoms. However, this is very deceptive.

How to avoid HIV infection?

Infection can be avoided in only one way: take care of your own health and undergo testing on time, which does not take much time. If you notice the slightest symptoms of infection, immediately contact your doctor, who will prescribe the necessary tests and tell you where else you can go for more information. In each city, special centers are created that work with both young people and adults. Volunteers or immunologists can help you in consultation departments.

The most common way of contracting HIV is through sexual intercourse. Every year, an acute infection takes the lives of thousands of young people. The main recommendation that experts give is the use of a condom (protected intercourse) and monogamy (relationship with only one partner). If you don’t trust a random “suitor,” it’s better to abandon the dangerous relationship altogether. This will save life and health.

It is always easier to prevent any disease than to cure it.

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus is the starting point at the onset of the disease. After infection with the virus, a long journey begins in 5 stages. They are divided into active and passive, some of them last for weeks, while others may not be diagnosed by doctors for a long time. Let's look at these stages in more detail.

Are the stages of HIV infection always identical?

In 2001 V.I. Pokrovsky proposed the famous classification, which includes 5 stages:

First manifestations.
Latent.
Secondary diseases.
Ultimate (AIDS).

Graphically, these stages can be designated as follows:
As can be seen from the example, the progression of HIV infection directly depends on T-lymphocytes. The fewer there are, the faster the infection develops and the more seriously it affects the human body.

T lymphocytes play a fundamental role in the body's immunity. They are the main lymphocytes that recognize cells with foreign antigens and additionally perform the function of instantly destroying them.

The classification of the stages of HIV infection proposed by Pokrovsky very accurately describes any type of virus. Considering that one HIV cell can create up to a billion copies of itself every 24 hours, and the ability to undergo multiple mutations only adds to the complexity, one thing remains the same: HIV infection absolutely always has exactly 5 stages. Each of them is the same in its structure and effect on the human body, regardless of the strain of the virus, its mutations and other features.

The first 3 stages of HIV infection

First of all, we will consider only 3 stages of this disease, since they are quite close in their effect on the human body as a whole, and they also have low life activity limitation:

Incubation stage

It reports from the moment of infection with the virus (actual or expected) until the appearance of complications characteristic of HIV infection or the production of antibodies in the body. Often, this stage lasts from 21 to 90 days.

Depending on the speed of passage of the first stage, we can assume the speed of development of all subsequent ones. This is not always an indicator that HIV infection will spread quickly, but, nevertheless, a connection between these processes exists and is confirmed in medical practice.

Acute infection stage

During this process, various kinds of exacerbations, physiological changes, etc. begin to occur. This stage is divided into three forms:

2-A, complete absence of any;
2-B, acute infection (difficult to diagnose symptoms, very similar to those of other types of infection);
2-B, acute infection in the presence of secondary diseases (fever, pharyngitis, rash, diarrhea, weight loss, thrush, etc.).

It is difficult to indicate the exact timing of this stage: they can last several days or last up to 2 months. It all depends on a huge number of different factors, characteristics of the body, etc., so that even highly qualified specialists cannot predict the duration of the stage. On average, the entire stage lasts no more than one month, but this is “on average”, and exceptions are not uncommon.

Latent

The longest stage of HIV infection. Its duration in most cases ranges from 2-3 to 20+ years.

During this stage, the gradual but extremely long-term effect of the disease on the body is diagnosed. In particular, there is a decrease in the total number of CD4 lymphocytes in the blood. As for clinical manifestations, there is only one thing - enlarged lymph nodes (however, it may not exist). When comparing the minimum and maximum duration of the stage, doctors allocate 6-7 years. This is the statistical duration of the 3rd stage of the disease. After its completion, complications begin that can be treated with great difficulty and inevitably lead to the gradual death of a person - these are the final stages of the disease.

Stages 4 and 5 of HIV infection

It is not without reason that we divided the stages, because during the following changes in the patient’s body, the most life-threatening processes begin. If the first 3 stages are the time during which or acts on it and takes root, then now the virus begins to destroy literally everything around it. And this process begins from the 4th stage.

Let's look at the last stages in more detail.

Secondary diseases

During these processes, the human immune system is rapidly destroyed, and the infection develops many times faster, with corresponding consequences. The following diseases appear:

permanent (oral cavity, genitals,);
leukoplakia of the tongue;
candidiasis of the genitals and mouth;

In rare cases, it is possible:

rapid weight loss;
inflammation of the respiratory tract;
lesions of the peripheral nervous system;
others that are life-threatening and require immediate treatment of the disease.

On average, this stage lasts no more than two years.

AIDS

The pre-mortem stage of the disease is also called terminal. Its maximum possible duration does not exceed 3 years.

It makes no sense to describe the processes that occur during this stage of HIV infection. Due to the fact that their number is, to put it mildly, enormous. It would be redundant to mention them all. However, among the features of this stage, it is worth highlighting the following consequences that are characteristic of each carrier of the disease:

the appearance of opportunistic infections;
lesions of internal organs and corresponding systems in the body are no longer treatable, even with the most powerful drugs and any other types of therapy it is impossible to influence the spread of the disease and help the dying;
HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) has no effect.

Thanks to taking 3-4 medications at once aimed at combating HIV infection (this is the essence of HAART), most people can lead a natural lifestyle and even die if they have the disease without reaching stages 4-5. But once AIDS is diagnosed, nothing can help a dying person.

The disease is incurable and occurs in several stages. Several decades may pass from the moment of infection to the death of the patient. Although it affects the immune system, immunodeficiency itself does not kill a person. Deprived of immunity, the body becomes defenseless against other infections, which for a healthy person are practically harmless.

Forms of the disease

Now science knows several forms of immunodeficiency:

HIV I was the very first to be discovered in 1983. The virus is most widespread throughout the globe;
HIV II - studied almost as well, identified in 1986. The virus's genetic information makes it less infectious. More often, this form of infection occurs in people who already have type I virus circulating in their blood.
HIV III and IV are almost unstudied and are rare.

There is an opinion among researchers that the combination of several forms of HIV infection (AIDS) in the blood of patients leads to accelerated progression of the disease. Known rapid tests that determine the presence of a retrovirus are configured to detect only the first and second forms.

How are HIV stages determined?

The causative agent of AIDS is an RNA virus that infects lymphocytic immune cells. Not all lymphocytes are susceptible to the immunodeficiency virus, but only those that contain CD4 receptors on the membrane. T-helpers have the most of them, and they help the entire immune system develop a specific effective response to each specific infection.

Over time, infected people have fewer and fewer T-helper cells, and even harmless infectious agents begin to pose an increasing danger. Gradually, HIV moves into the AIDS stage. To find out exactly what stage the patient’s infection is at, you need to ask him what preceded the onset of the disease, check for the presence of clinical symptoms and conduct several laboratory tests.

Stages of HIV infection

At different stages, the clinical manifestations of HIV infection are different. The duration of the stages of HIV directly depends on the initial state of immunity, lifestyle and concomitant diseases.

First: incubation period

This stage begins when the virus enters the bloodstream through damaged skin or mucous membranes. During this period, it is impossible to detect the presence of infection in a person: there are no symptoms, and antibodies are not yet present in the blood. This stage lasts from three to twelve weeks from the moment of infection. The person is visually practically healthy, despite the presence of a retrovirus in his body.

Second: primary manifestations

After a sufficient number of viral copies have accumulated in the patient’s body, antibodies to them begin to be produced. This usually (but not always) leads to the appearance of the first symptoms. This stage is characterized by several course options:

Asymptomatic variant. It is characterized only by the fact that antibodies accumulate in the patient’s blood. The disease can only be determined by laboratory methods. There are no clinical signs.
Acute phase without secondary diseases. The most common option. Obvious signs of the HIV stage in this case will be: skin rash, fever, enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, groin, diarrhea, sore throat. An enlarged liver and spleen, as well as the appearance of mononuclear cells in blood tests, makes this stage of HIV infection similar to mononucleosis. A differentiated approach to the patient is important here. Mononucleosis-like and rubella-like syndromes can confuse inexperienced physicians. Therefore, it is better to carry out several additional tests than to miss a serious disease. Diagnosis is complicated by the fact that the presence of all of these signs is observed only in a small proportion of infected people. Usually no more than two symptoms are combined together.
Acute stage with the presence of secondary diseases. A decrease in immune status in some patients entails the addition of other infections. Clinically, the stage of HIV infection with secondary diseases is expressed by bacterial tonsillitis, pneumonia, herpetic infection (including herpes zoster). Timely treatment at this stage helps to cope with such infections quickly enough. The symptoms and stages of HIV infection (photo) during this period are quite pronounced, so it is difficult to miss them.

Third: subclinical manifestations

Immunity continues to decline under the influence of the virus. Stage 3 of AIDS has one single symptom - enlarged lymph nodes. But it must be taken into account that in some patients the lymph nodes remain intact, that is, they do not react to the presence of the retrovirus in the blood. At this stage of the disease, HIV infection can last up to twenty years, the average period is six to seven years. Blood tests for immunodeficiency clearly show a progressive decrease in CD4. After crossing the mark of 200-300 cells per milliliter, signs of the fourth stage of the disease begin to appear.

Fourth: the addition of secondary diseases

This stage of AIDS is characterized by a division into phases (4A, 4B, 4C) depending on the severity of pathological processes.

Phases:

4A. The patient's weight is slightly reduced (up to 10%) or unchanged. The skin and mucous membranes are affected by herpetic and fungal infections. Upper respiratory tract infections such as laryngitis, pharyngitis and tonsillitis become common. One of the most striking symptoms is seizures in the corners of the mouth. Women develop intractable thrush. The same disease sometimes affects men with AIDS.
4B. Weight is reduced by more than 10%. Unreasonable diarrhea and fever last more than one month. Whitish spots with threads (“hairy” leukoplakia) appear on the oral mucosa, and cytomegalovirus and fungal infections of internal organs develop. There may be tumors, the most common being Kaposi's sarcoma - roundish brownish-purple formations on the skin. At this stage of HIV, women may experience cervical cancer as a result of uncontrolled papillomavirus infection.
4B. Severe exhaustion of the patient up to cachexia. Concomitant infections become generalized. Pneumocystis pneumonia, tuberculosis, atypical mycoses and protozoal diseases are common. Characteristic of this stage is damage to the nervous system and brain.

It should be noted that very often symptoms are mixed between phases. For example, the same patient may have a slight weight loss in combination with deep atypical mycosis, etc. Therefore, regardless of the phase of HIV, antiretroviral therapy should be started or adjusted. In the fourth stage of development of HIV infection (AIDS), patients need immediate treatment not only with antiretroviral drugs, but also with antibiotics and antifungal drugs. Symptomatic supportive therapy remains important. This approach helps to cope with concomitant pathologies and improve the patient’s condition. In the photo, the clinical stages of HIV can be found in various Internet sources.

Fifth: disease outcome

At this stage of AIDS, the signs of the third phase of HIV infection intensify so much that any treatment is ineffective. Most patients at this stage suffer from malignant neoplasms with distant metastases.

Damage to the nervous system leads to severe encephalopathy. Within a few months, death occurs from cerebral edema or failure of internal organs against the background of extreme exhaustion of the body. Sometimes patients can live in the terminal stage of HIV-AIDS (see photo) for only a few days.

Another classification system for immunodeficiency

The World Health Organization defined in 2002 a slightly different clinical description of the stages of HIV infection. Based on the fact that the symptoms and stages of HIV listed above have blurred boundaries, a classification was developed based on the dysfunction and capabilities of the patient.

The stages of AIDS and HIV infection according to WHO are also numbered from I to IV. In addition to the presence of certain symptoms, an important addition to this classification is the assessment of the patient’s capabilities:

stage I involves the absence of symptoms and impairment of function;
stage II is expressed by mild clinical manifestations without impairment of activity;
Stage III means that the patient will be incapacitated for less than half of the day;
stage IV - the patient spends more than half the day in bed.

At all clinical stages of HIV infection, the psychological state of patients should be monitored. Accordingly, the appearance of new symptoms of AIDS in stages can provoke depression or other mental disorders in patients. Anorexia is a common disorder in women.

At what stage are HIV-infected people contagious?

To become infected with immunodeficiency, a sufficient concentration of the virus in the patient’s blood is required - the viral load. This figure is not always higher in the last periods of the disease. Therefore, it would be correct to consider an infected person to be equally contagious at all stages of the course of HIV infection. All patients must use condoms during sexual intercourse. It is also necessary to warn doctors about your status during proposed surgical interventions. An infected person should not donate blood.

At what stages of the manifestation of HIV (AIDS) should one sound the alarm and begin treatment? WHO recommends taking CD4 count and viral load test results into account. Antiretroviral therapy is indicated when the CD4 count drops below 350 per milliliter. If the viral load exceeds 10*10*4 copies, then treatment should be started even earlier. You should know that antiretroviral treatment is taken for life, so it is imperative to order repeat blood tests after two weeks to exclude laboratory errors.

Any doctor can tell you how many stages HIV (AIDS) has, but this concept remains conditional. Most often, specific symptoms do not indicate a real threat to the patient's life. To select the correct treatment, you need to take blood tests for viral load and CD4 count at least once every six months, and be examined by an oncologist.

It is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, characterized by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which contributes to the occurrence of secondary infections and malignancies due to the profound inhibition of the body's protective properties. HIV infection has a varied course. The disease can last only a few months or last up to 20 years. The main method for diagnosing HIV infection remains the identification of specific antiviral antibodies, as well as viral RNA. Currently, patients with HIV are treated with antiretroviral drugs that can reduce viral reproduction.

General information

It is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, characterized by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which contributes to the occurrence of secondary infections and malignancies due to the profound inhibition of the body's protective properties. Today, the world is experiencing a pandemic of HIV infection; the incidence of the disease in the world's population, especially in Eastern Europe, is steadily growing.

Characteristics of the pathogen

The DNA-containing human immunodeficiency virus belongs to the Lentivirus genus of the Retroviridae family. There are two types: HIV-1 is the main causative agent of HIV infection, the cause of the pandemic, the development of AIDS. HIV-2 is a less common type, found mainly in West Africa. HIV is an unstable virus, it dies quickly outside the host’s body, is sensitive to temperature (reduces infectious properties at a temperature of 56 ° C, dies after 10 minutes when heated to 70-80 ° C). It is well preserved in blood and its preparations prepared for transfusion. The antigenic structure of the virus is highly variable.

The reservoir and source of HIV infection is a person: an AIDS sufferer and a carrier. No natural reservoirs of HIV-1 have been identified; it is believed that the natural host in nature is wild chimpanzees. HIV-2 is carried by African monkeys. Susceptibility to HIV has not been observed in other animal species. The virus is found in high concentrations in blood, semen, vaginal secretions and menstrual fluid. It can be isolated from human milk, saliva, tear secretion and cerebrospinal fluid, but these biological fluids pose less of an epidemiological danger.

The likelihood of transmitting HIV infection increases in the presence of damage to the skin and mucous membranes (injuries, abrasions, cervical erosion, stomatitis, periodontal disease, etc.) HIV is transmitted using the blood-contact and bio-contact mechanism naturally (through sexual contact and vertically: from mother to child) and artificial (mainly realized through the hemopercutaneous transmission mechanism: during transfusions, parenteral administration of substances, traumatic medical procedures).

The risk of contracting HIV from a single contact with a carrier is low; regular sexual contact with an infected person significantly increases it. Vertical transmission of infection from a sick mother to a child is possible both in the prenatal period (through defects in the placental barrier) and during childbirth, when the child comes into contact with the mother’s blood. In rare cases, postnatal transmission through breast milk has been reported. The incidence among children of infected mothers reaches 25-30%.

Parenteral infection occurs through injections using needles contaminated with the blood of HIV-infected individuals, through blood transfusions of infected blood, and non-sterile medical procedures (piercing, tattoos, medical and dental procedures performed with instruments without proper treatment). HIV is not transmitted through household contact. Human susceptibility to HIV infection is high. The development of AIDS in people over 35 years of age, as a rule, occurs within a shorter period of time from the moment of infection. In some cases, immunity to HIV is noted, which is associated with specific immunoglobulins A present on the mucous membranes of the genital organs.

Pathogenesis of HIV infection

When the human immunodeficiency virus enters the bloodstream, it invades macrophages, microglia and lymphocytes, which are important in the formation of the body’s immune responses. The virus destroys the ability of immune bodies to recognize their antigens as foreign, colonizes the cell and begins reproduction. After the multiplied virus is released into the blood, the host cell dies, and the viruses invade healthy macrophages. The syndrome develops slowly (over years), in waves.

At first, the body compensates for the massive death of immune cells by producing new ones; over time, compensation becomes insufficient, the number of lymphocytes and macrophages in the blood decreases significantly, the immune system is destroyed, the body becomes defenseless against both exogenous infection and bacteria inhabiting organs and tissues. normal (which leads to the development of opportunistic infections). In addition, the mechanism of protection against the proliferation of defective blastocytes - malignant cells - is disrupted.

The colonization of immune cells by the virus often provokes various autoimmune conditions, in particular, neurological disorders are characteristic as a result of autoimmune damage to neurocytes, which can develop even before the clinical manifestations of immunodeficiency appear.

Classification

In the clinical course of HIV infection, there are 5 stages: incubation, primary manifestations, latent, stage of secondary diseases and terminal. The stage of primary manifestations can be asymptomatic, in the form of primary HIV infection, and can also be combined with secondary diseases. The fourth stage, depending on the severity, is divided into periods: 4A, 4B, 4C. The periods go through phases of progression and remission, varying depending on the presence of antiretroviral therapy or its absence.

Symptoms of HIV infection

Incubation stage (1)– can range from 3 weeks to 3 months, in rare cases it extends to a year. At this time, the virus is actively multiplying, but there is no immune response to it yet. The incubation period of HIV ends either with the clinical manifestation of acute HIV infection or with the appearance of HIV antibodies in the blood. At this stage, the basis for diagnosing HIV infection is the detection of the virus (antigens or DNA particles) in the blood serum.

Stage of primary manifestations (2) characterized by the manifestation of the body's reaction to active replication of the virus in the form of a clinic of acute infection and an immune reaction (production of specific antibodies). The second stage can be asymptomatic; the only sign of developing HIV infection will be a positive serological diagnosis for antibodies to the virus.

Clinical manifestations of the second stage occur according to the type of acute HIV infection. The onset is acute, observed in 50-90% of patients three months after infection, often preceding the formation of HIV antibodies. An acute infection without secondary pathologies has a fairly varied course: fever, various polymorphic rashes on the skin and visible mucous membranes, polylymphadenitis, pharyngitis, linear syndrome, and diarrhea may be observed.

In 10-15% of patients, acute HIV infection occurs with the addition of secondary diseases, which is associated with a decrease in immunity. These can be tonsillitis, pneumonia of various origins, fungal infections, herpes, etc.

Acute HIV infection usually lasts from several days to several months, on average 2-3 weeks, after which in the vast majority of cases it enters a latent stage.

Latent stage (3) characterized by a gradual increase in immunodeficiency. The death of immune cells at this stage is compensated by their increased production. At this time, HIV can be diagnosed using serological tests (antibodies to HIV are present in the blood). A clinical sign may be enlargement of several lymph nodes from different, unrelated groups, excluding the inguinal lymph nodes. At the same time, no other pathological changes in the enlarged lymph nodes (pain, changes in surrounding tissues) are noted. The latent stage can last from 2-3 years to 20 or more. On average it lasts 6-7 years.

Stage of secondary diseases (4) characterized by the occurrence of concomitant (opportunistic) infections of viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoal origin, malignant tumors against the background of severe immunodeficiency. Depending on the severity of secondary diseases, 3 periods of progression are distinguished.

4A – loss of body weight does not exceed 10%, infectious (bacterial, viral and fungal) lesions of the integumentary tissues (skin and mucous membranes) are noted. Performance is reduced.
4B - weight loss of more than 10% of total body weight, prolonged temperature reaction, prolonged diarrhea without an organic cause is possible, pulmonary tuberculosis may occur, infectious diseases recur and progress, localized Kaposi's sarcoma, hairy leukoplakia are detected.
4B - general cachexia is noted, secondary infections acquire generalized forms, candidiasis of the esophagus, respiratory tract, Pneumocystis pneumonia, extrapulmonary tuberculosis, disseminated Kaposi's sarcoma, and neurological disorders are noted.

Substages of secondary diseases undergo phases of progression and remission, varying depending on the presence or absence of antiretroviral therapy. In the terminal stage of HIV infection, secondary diseases that have developed in the patient become irreversible, treatment measures lose their effectiveness, and death occurs several months later.

The course of HIV infection is quite diverse; all stages do not always occur; certain clinical signs may be absent. Depending on the individual clinical course, the duration of the disease can range from several months to 15-20 years.

Peculiarities of the HIV clinic in children

HIV in early childhood contributes to delayed physical and psychomotor development. Recurrence of bacterial infections in children is observed more often than in adults; lymphoid pneumonitis, enlarged pulmonary lymph nodes, various encephalopathies, and anemia are not uncommon. A common cause of child mortality due to HIV infections is hemorrhagic syndrome, which is a consequence of severe thrombocytopenia.

The most common clinical manifestation of HIV infection in children is a delay in the rate of psychomotor and physical development. HIV infection received by children from mothers ante- and perinatally is noticeably more severe and progresses faster, in contrast to that in children infected after one year.

Diagnostics

Currently, the main diagnostic method for HIV infection is the detection of antibodies to the virus, which is carried out primarily using the ELISA technique. In case of a positive result, the blood serum is examined using the immunoblotting technique. This makes it possible to identify antibodies to specific HIV antigens, which is a sufficient criterion for final diagnosis. Failure to detect a characteristic molecular mass using antibody blotting, however, does not exclude HIV. During the incubation period, the immune response to the introduction of the virus has not yet been formed, and in the terminal stage, as a result of severe immunodeficiency, antibodies cease to be produced.

If HIV is suspected and there are no positive immunoblotting results, PCR is an effective method for detecting viral RNA particles. HIV infection diagnosed by serological and virological methods is an indication for dynamic monitoring of the immune status.

Treatment of HIV infection

Therapy for HIV-infected individuals involves constant monitoring of the body’s immune status, prevention and treatment of secondary infections that arise, and control over the development of tumors. Often, people living with HIV require psychological help and social adaptation. Currently, due to the significant spread and high social significance of the disease on a national and global scale, support and rehabilitation of patients is being provided, access to social programs is expanding, providing patients with medical care, facilitating the course and improving the quality of life of patients.

Today, the predominant etiotropic treatment is the prescription of drugs that reduce the reproductive abilities of the virus. Antiretroviral drugs include:

NRTIs (nucleoside transcriptase inhibitors) of various groups: zidovudine, stavudine, zalcitabine, didanosine, abacavir, combination drugs;
NTRTIs (nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors): nevirapine, efavirenz;
protease inhibitors: ritonavir, saquinavir, darunavir, nelfinavir and others;
fusion inhibitors.

When deciding to start antiviral therapy, patients should remember that the drugs are used for many years, almost for life. The success of therapy directly depends on strict adherence to the recommendations: timely, regular use of medications in the required dosages, adherence to the prescribed diet and strict adherence to the regimen.

Emerging opportunistic infections are treated in accordance with the rules of effective therapy against the causative agent (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral agents). Immunostimulating therapy is not used for HIV infection, since it contributes to its progression; cytostatics prescribed for malignant tumors suppress the immune system.

Treatment of HIV-infected people includes general strengthening and body-supporting agents (vitamins and biologically active substances) and methods of physiotherapeutic prevention of secondary diseases. Patients suffering from drug addiction are recommended to undergo treatment in appropriate dispensaries. Due to significant psychological discomfort, many patients undergo long-term psychological adaptation.

Forecast

HIV infection is completely incurable; in many cases, antiviral therapy gives little effect. Today, on average, HIV-infected people live 11-12 years, but careful therapy and modern medications will significantly extend the life of patients. The main role in containing the developing AIDS is played by the psychological state of the patient and his efforts aimed at complying with the prescribed regimen.

Prevention

Currently, the World Health Organization is carrying out general preventive measures to reduce the incidence of HIV infection in four main areas:

education on safe sexual relations, distribution of condoms, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, promotion of a culture of sexual relations;
control over the production of drugs from donor blood;
managing the pregnancy of HIV-infected women, providing them with medical care and providing them with chemoprophylaxis (in the last trimester of pregnancy and during childbirth, women receive antiretroviral drugs, which are also prescribed to newborn children for the first three months of life);
organization of psychological and social assistance and support for HIV-infected citizens, counseling.

Currently, in world practice, special attention is paid to such epidemiologically important factors in relation to the incidence of HIV infection as drug addiction and promiscuity. As a preventive measure, many countries provide free distribution of disposable syringes and methadone substitution therapy. As a measure to help reduce sexual illiteracy, courses on sexual hygiene are being introduced into educational programs.

The human immunodeficiency virus, which is commonly called simply HIV, is a very insidious microorganism, since it can stay in the patient’s body for a long time and gradually destroy it. Moreover, the person does not even realize that he is sick.

The clinical course of HIV infection, especially in the early stages, is not characterized by pronounced symptoms, which makes diagnosing the disease difficult. Patients attribute the first signs to fatigue or do not notice them at all for a long time. But at the same time, it has been proven that the first symptoms of HIV in women are more pronounced than in men, which makes diagnosis a little easier.

In this topic we want to tell you what HIV infection is, how to fight it and what are the methods of its prevention. We will also look in detail at the symptoms of HIV in women in the early and late stages.

HIV, as we said earlier, is a virus that enters the human body, multiplies in it and blocks the functioning of the immune system. As a result, the human body cannot resist not only pathogenic microbes, but even opportunistic microorganisms.

When a person becomes infected with HIV, he is called HIV-infected, but not sick. The disease is spoken of when symptoms of AIDS appear. It has been proven that there is a fairly long period of time between the moment of infection and the development of the disease.

The term AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

AIDS is the final stage of development of HIV infection, which is characterized by a combination of diseases and their symptoms that appear as a result of a decrease in the body’s protective properties.

HIV: characteristics and routes of transmission

HIV belongs to the retrovirus family. There are two types of HIV – 1 and 2. Let’s look at the features of HIV.

The genome of the virus, represented by double-stranded RNA. The pathogen also has a number of antigens to which the human body produces corresponding antibodies.
This virus differs from other viruses in that it has a special enzyme – reverse transcriptase, the main purpose of which is to introduce the information encoded in the RNA of the virus into the patient’s DNA.
HIV, tropic to human cells that have CD4 receptors.
Almost all disinfectant solutions and high temperatures have a detrimental effect on HIV.
The source of this infection is an HIV-infected person or a person with AIDS.
HIV circulates in all biological fluids, namely: tears, saliva, blood, semen, breast milk, vaginal secretions and others.

The largest amount of the virus is concentrated in blood, semen and vaginal secretions, as well as breast milk. That's why the disease can be transmitted in the following ways:

sexual: during sexual intercourse;
vertical: from mother to child during pregnancy, passage through the birth canal, when breastfeeding through breast milk;
blood transfusion: transfusion of infected blood;
blood-contact: through medical instruments and needles that contain remains of blood contaminated with HIV;
transplantation: during transplantation of organs and tissues from an HIV-infected donor.

HIV is not transmitted through a kiss, air, handshake, insects, clothing or shared utensils. But there is a low risk of contracting this infection through razors and manicure accessories used by a sick or HIV-infected person if there are blood residues on them after cuts.

HIV: risk groups

Given the various routes of HIV transmission, The following high-risk groups can be formed:

injection drug addicts;
sexual partners of drug addicts;
persons with a disordered intimate life who prefer sexual intercourse without the use of barrier contraceptives;
patients who received blood transfusions without prior HIV testing;
medical workers (nurses, surgeons, dentists, obstetricians-gynecologists and others);
men and women who provide sexual services for money, as well as persons who use such services.

During HIV infection, the following stages are distinguished:

Early Symptoms of HIV in women may include:

Early symptoms of HIV infection in a woman manifest on average after one month with a flu-like syndrome, so most patients rarely seek medical help and treat their “cold” on their own at home. Literally after two weeks, the above symptoms subside.

In the photo you can see what the skin manifestations of HIV infection and AIDS look like.

Symptoms of the latent stage

The latent stage of HIV infection in women is characterized by an asymptomatic latent course. Patients lead normal lives, not even suspecting that they are infected, while the virus actively multiplies and gradually destroys the immune system.

In addition, despite the fact that the disease does not manifest itself in any way, a woman can be a source of infection, especially for her sexual partner.

Stage of secondary diseases

This stage of the course of HIV is characterized by the addition of opportunistic infections, such as:

mycoses of various localizations;
skin lesions (condylomas, papillomas, pink rash, urticaria, aphthae, seborrhea, lichen psoriasis, rubrophytia, molluscum contagiosum and others);
diseases of a viral nature;
bacterial infections;
shingles;
inflammation of the paranasal sinuses;
inflammation of the pharynx;
chronic diarrhea;
increased body temperature;
pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis;
hairy leukoplakia
CNS lesions;
cancer tumors of various locations;
Kaposi's sarcoma and others.

Symptoms of AIDS in women

Symptoms of AIDS in women appear if HIV infection is not treated.

Signs of the transition of HIV infection to AIDS are the following manifestations:

If you have been experiencing fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, excessive sweating and other symptoms characteristic of HIV infection for more than a month, especially if you are in a high-risk group, we strongly recommend that you undergo free anonymous HIV testing at your nearest clinic , an anonymous HIV/AIDS diagnostic room or a center for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.

All pregnant women undergo HIV testing in the first and second trimester. In case of a positive HIV test, the woman is sent for consultation to the AIDS center, where the test is repeated and a consultation with an infectious disease specialist is held.
A child can become infected with HIV from the mother in several ways: in late pregnancy, during passage through the birth canal, or during breastfeeding.
Modern antiretroviral drugs that a woman takes during pregnancy minimize the risk of transmitting the virus to the child. All medications prescribed by a specialist at the center are dispensed at the pharmacy free of charge with a prescription.
Without treatment, every second child is born with HIV.
All children born to HIV-positive mothers or fathers are examined three times using PCR.

HIV diagnosis

What are the most accurate tests for detecting HIV? Today there are only two tests to detect HIV, namely:

immunofluorescence test (ELISA) of blood, which is carried out to detect antibodies to HIV. It takes several weeks for the formation of antibodies to the pathogen, so ELISA is recommended to be carried out 2-3 weeks after the suspected infection. Performing this test before the specified time will be uninformative;
immunoblotting reaction, which is carried out in the presence of a positive ELISA. The method is based on the detection of antibodies to HIV. The reliability of this test is close to 100%.

Also, polymerase chain reaction and rapid methods that detect the presence of the virus itself can be used to diagnose HIV.

HIV treatment

Treatment of HIV consists of systematically taking antiretroviral drugs, symptomatic therapy and prevention of concomitant diseases.

The most effective drugs against HIV today are Zidovudine, Nevirapine and Didanosine.

All antiretroviral drugs are issued free of charge at the pharmacy of the HIV/AIDS Center upon presentation of a prescription from the attending infectious disease specialist.

Unfortunately, despite the high level of development of world medicine, it has not yet been possible to find an effective medicine that could completely cure HIV. But early detection of HIV significantly affects the prognosis of the disease, since modern antiretroviral drugs, when prescribed in a timely manner, can stop the progression of the disease.