Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. Hello. I know that the HIV virus attacks the Helper T-cells but I don't know what the AIDS virus does. Can you tell me the difference between HIV and AIDS?
Hi, and thanks for asking your question.
All viruses are parasites. They cannot reproduce without taking over the reproductive machinery of a host cell.
HIV stores the information to make new viruses in the form of RNA. On infection, the virus makes viral DNA from it's viral RNA. This viral DNA is inserted into the human cell's DNA, and then, that infected cell becomes a factory for viral proteins and viral RNA. These are assembled into new viruses, which leave the infected cell and go out into the circulation, where they infect more t cells.
The actual mechanisms of destruction of T cells are complicated, but involve some destruction by the virus itself, and some destruction by the host as part of the immune response. It also seems that an "off switch" is flipped in many t-cells, signaling them to self-destruct.
The term "AIDS" means "acquired immunodeficiency syndrome." This term was invented around 1982, to describe a then strange, new collection of unusual infections and malignancies in previously health people. Only later, in 1985, was the virus that caused this syndrome discovered and called HIV. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, as Varicella zoster is the virus that causes "Chicken pox."
If a person is infected with HIV, then, they have HIV disease. "AIDS" means that the patient has advanced HIV disease, and is sick from it. The term is medically not very useful, but keeps importance for epidemiological and public policy reasons. Most people who have HIV infection do not have AIDS, and with good medical care and nutrition, they may never progress to that condition.
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