HIV & AIDS

Second HIV remission patient rekindles cure hope

For just the second time ever an HIV patient is in sustained remission from the virus in what was hailed by experts Tuesday as proof that the AIDS-causing condition could one day be curable.

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

Lack of sleep boosts levels of Alzheimer's proteins

Have you resolved to take better care of yourself in the new year? Here's a relatively painless way to do it: Catch a few more zzz's every night. A third of American adults don't get enough sleep, according to the Centers ...

HIV & AIDS

Research finds HIV-killing compound

(Medical Xpress) -- A powerful topical preventative for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, could soon be in the works thanks to a newly discovered molecular compound that research at Texas A&M University and the Scripps Research ...

Genetics

Glowing cats help in fight against AIDS, other diseases

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a genome-based immunization strategy to fight feline AIDS and illuminate ways to combat human HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The goal is to create cats with intrinsic immunity to the feline ...

HIV & AIDS

Scientists see an ultra-fast movement on surface of HIV virus

As the HIV virus glides up outside a human cell to dock and possibly inject its deadly cargo of genetic code, there's a spectacularly brief moment in which a tiny piece of its surface snaps open to begin the process of infection.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Modulating type 1 Interferon may expand treatment options for COVID-19

In their continuing work to limit the impact of COVID-19, Emory University researchers have, for the first time in nonhuman primates, studied how modulating the signaling of type 1 Interferon (IFN-I), one of the body's initial ...

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AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

This condition progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors. HIV is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk.

This transmission can involve anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.

AIDS is now a pandemic. In 2007, it was estimated that 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and that AIDS had killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children. Over three-quarters of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and destroying human capital.

Genetic research indicates that HIV originated in west-central Africa during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. AIDS was first recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1981 and its cause, HIV, identified in the early 1980s.

Although treatments for AIDS and HIV can slow the course of the disease, there is currently no vaccine or cure. Antiretroviral treatment reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, but these drugs are expensive and routine access to antiretroviral medication is not available in all countries. Due to the difficulty in treating HIV infection, preventing infection is a key aim in controlling the AIDS pandemic, with health organizations promoting safe sex and needle-exchange programmes in attempts to slow the spread of the virus.

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