How Does Hiv Affect The Immune System – Medically Cameron White, MD, MPH – Anne Pietrangelo and Christine Cerny – June 30; Updated in 2023
HIV destroys CD4 cells, which are responsible for keeping people healthy and protecting them from disease and infection. As HIV gradually weakens the body’s natural defenses, signs and symptoms may develop.
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How Does Hiv Affect The Immune System
HIV usually targets the same types of cells that fight invaders, like HIV. When the virus replicates, it destroys the infected CD4 cell, which produces more virus to infect more CD4 cells. CD4 cells are called T cells or helper cells.
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Without treatment, this cycle can continue until the immune system becomes severely compromised, leaving the person vulnerable to serious illness and infection.
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the final stage of HIV. During this period, the immune system is significantly weakened and more susceptible to opportunistic infections.
However, not everyone who is infected with HIV will develop AIDS. The sooner a person is treated, the better. The better their results.
The immune system prevents diseases and infections from entering the body. White blood cells do not contain viruses that can make a person sick. It protects against bacteria and other organisms.
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A few days after being infected, a person with HIV may experience a flu-like illness that lasts for several weeks. This is associated with the first stage of HIV, called the acute infectious phase or acute HIV.
A person infected with HIV does not show many serious symptoms during this period, but because of the rapid replication of the virus, they often have large amounts of the virus in their blood.
The next stage is called the chronic infection stage. It can last up to 10-15 years. A person infected with HIV may not have any symptoms during this period.
A possible complication of Kaposi’s sarcoma is cancer of the vessel walls. It is rare in the general population, but more common in people with HIV.
Symptoms include red or purple sores in the mouth and on the skin. lungs It can cause problems of the digestive tract and other organs.
HIV and AIDS increase a person’s risk of developing cancer cells. An early symptom of lymphoma is swelling of the lymph nodes.
HIV makes it harder to fight respiratory illnesses like the common cold and flu. In turn, a person infected with HIV can develop related infections such as pneumonia.
Without HIV treatment; Advanced disease puts people with HIV at increased risk of infections such as tuberculosis and a fungal disease called pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP).
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The risk of lung cancer increases with HIV. This is due to many respiratory problems due to weak lungs and weak immunity.
People with HIV have high blood pressure. HIV increases the risk of developing pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). PAH is a form of high blood pressure in the blood vessels that supply blood to the lungs. Over time, PAH can damage the heart and lead to heart disease.
Tuberculosis is an airborne bacterium that affects the lungs. It is the leading cause of death in AIDS patients. Symptoms include chest pain and a cough that may contain blood or sputum. The cough may last for several months.
Because HIV affects the immune system, it makes the body more resistant to infections that affect the digestive system.
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Digestive problems reduce appetite and make it difficult to eat properly. Therefore, weight loss is a common side effect of HIV.
The most common infection associated with HIV is the oral cavity. Thrush is a fungal infection that causes inflammation and swelling of white patches on the tongue and inside the mouth.
Another viral infection that affects the mouth is oral hairy leukoplakia, which causes white sores on the tongue.
Salmonella infection can spread through contaminated food or water and cause diarrhea, which causes abdominal pain and vomiting. Anyone can get it.
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This infection affects the bile ducts and intestines and can be particularly severe. May cause chronic diarrhea in people with AIDS.
HIV does not usually infect nerve cells directly, but it can infect cells that surround nerves in the brain.
The link between HIV and nerve damage is not fully understood, but infected cells may contribute to nerve damage.
Advanced HIV can cause neurological damage; Also called neurosis. It usually causes pain and numbness in the feet and hands.
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The holes in the small openings of the nerve fibers are painful; This causes weakness and difficulty walking. This condition is called vacuolar myelopathy.
AIDS has neurological complications. HIV and AIDS can cause HIV-related dementia, which severely affects cognitive function.
A weak immune system increases the risk of encephalitis and spinal inflammation caused by this parasite. Symptoms include confusion, headaches and seizures. Seizures can also be caused by some infections of the nervous system.
In very advanced cases, hallucinations and pronounced psychosis may occur. Some people may experience headaches, balance or coordination problems, and vision problems.
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A weak immune response makes a person more susceptible to viruses such as herpes. Herpes can cause sores around a person’s mouth or genitals.
HIV also increases a person’s risk of getting the flu. Reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox in humans causes herpes. The condition causes severe bumps and blisters.
A viral skin infection called Molluscum contagiosum involves the development of a rash on the skin. Another condition called prurigo nodularis causes intense itching in addition to lumps on the skin.
HIV can cause a variety of symptoms, from mild flu-like symptoms in the early stages to neurological symptoms as AIDS progresses.
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Many of the effects described above are associated with the continued disruption of the immune system in the spread of HIV and AIDS.
However, most of these effects can be prevented by ART treatment, which can maintain and restore the immune system.
A health care provider may recommend additional treatments, such as antihypertensive drugs or skin creams, to reverse the effects of HIV and AIDS on other body systems.
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Our experts regularly monitor the health and wellness space and update our articles as new information becomes available. Helper T cells play an important role in our immune system, fighting infections caused by bacteria and fungi. They are the main cells of HIV and the loss of these important cells can lead to AIDS.
Currently, approximately 35 million people worldwide are infected with HIV/AIDS, of which more than 3 million are children. An additional 2 million people become newly infected with the virus each year. More than 1 million people in the United States are living with HIV, and one in six people do not know they have HIV.
HIV infection can occur when the HIV virus reaches a person’s mucous membranes or bloodstream. The virus recognizes and infects certain types of immune cells, specifically targeting cells called helper T cells, or CD4+ T cells. T cells play an important role in helping to protect the body against bacterial and fungal infections.
During the first phase of HIV infection, called the acute infectious phase, T cells release large amounts of the virus, destroying many cells in the process.
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People get sick. In the early stages of infection, in addition to skin rashes, flu-like symptoms such as sore throat and body aches are common. Eventually, the virus and helper T cell levels stabilize and the infected person has fewer symptoms.
Viral shedding is usually low within months of initial infection and can remain low for years without treatment.
But over time, the amount of virus increases and helper T cells decrease. People are most susceptible to opportunistic infections when T-cell counts are low enough. The stage of HIV infection is called AIDS.
Like other viruses, HIV infects host cells in order to produce more viruses. HIV targets cells of the immune system, especially T cells, a type of white blood cell. In the first stage of the HIV life cycle; After the virus enters the body, it detects the host T cell through an interaction between receptor proteins (called CD4) and viral envelope proteins (Env) on the surface of the T cell. Viral membrane. A coreceptor (specifically a second T-cell surface protein called CCR5 or CXCR4) also binds to Env proteins and induces large conformational changes in Env, leading to fusion of virus and host cell membranes. Later, the conical HIV capsid, which contains two copies of the viral genome as single-stranded RNA, is inserted into the host cell. Recently HIV
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