34.3 HIV-infected person during the latent period?

Cells are called latently infected if they are infected by HIV and are not active in producing virus but can be activated by various signals during the course of infection. Since they are not producing the virus they would not be detected by the immune system and acts as a perfect reservoir of the virus in the body. Only a small amount of cells are latently infected with HIV (around 1%). During the asymptomatic stage, the virus appears in low titers in the blood and it is counter balanced by the host immune system.

 

34.4 AIDS associated disease conditions

Several specific syndromes are associated with infection by HIV. These include:

1.  Fever and Lymphadenopathy It is characterized by loss of weight and malaise.

2. Opportunistic infections: HIV infected patients have lower immune response because of depletion of CD4+ cells. Several diseases that rarely affect normal individuals may occur in HIV positive patient. The organisms are: Pneumocystis carinii, a causative agent of pneumonia, tuberculosis, fungal infection such as candidiasis, herpesvirus, Salmonella , Shigella and Campylobacter .

3.  Cancer: Kaposi's sarcoma is a rare type of cancer that occurs in HIV-infected persons. These normally benign lesions become malignant and disseminate to involve visceral organs.

4.  Wasting disease: Disease is characterized by hide bound condition.

5.  AIDS dementia: Sometime HIV infection of the brain leads to condition that mimics Alzheimer's disease.