Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is an infection that affects your immune system. When this virus enters your body, it destroys white blood cells — the cells that are usually responsible for fighting infection. This makes it harder for your body to fight off disease.
South Africa has very high HIV rates. About 14% of people in this country live with HIV.
HIV can’t be cured, but treatments can help you live a fairly normal life and avoid spreading the virus to others. If left untreated, HIV can lead to serious health problems or even death.
Signs of HIV may appear two to four weeks after you are exposed to the virus, although some people don’t have any symptoms. If you experience symptoms, they may include:
These symptoms may linger for a few days or a few weeks. Eventually, they will disappear, although you will still have HIV in your body and can spread the virus.
If HIV isn’t treated, you may eventually develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This condition develops when you have very high levels of HIV particles and very low levels of immune cells. AIDS may lead to additional symptoms such as sweating, ongoing diarrhoea, weight loss, and sores or rashes on your skin or in your mouth.
You can get HIV if you come into contact with bodily fluids from someone who is living with HIV. In most cases, HIV is spread through unprotected sex, making it a sexually transmitted disease (STD). You can also get HIV through blood transfusions or by sharing needles while using drugs. HIV can also be passed to babies during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.
A simple blood test can detect virus particles within your body. You can get this test from your doctor or a local health clinic.
You can also buy an HIV self-test. This allows you to take the test yourself and find out your HIV status from the comfort of your own home.
HIV can lead to serious infections, such as:
HIV also increases your risk of developing kidney disease, liver problems, and multiple types of cancer.
There aren’t any treatments that can completely clear HIV out of your system. However, medications can improve your health and your quality of life.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is medication that helps destroy the virus and greatly decreases the amount of HIV in your body. If you take ART as directed by your doctor, you may be able to have an undetectable viral load, which means that tests can’t find any HIV in your body. In this case, you can avoid spreading HIV to the people that you have sex with and can live a long life without experiencing major complications. However, you will need to continue taking medication for the rest of your life.