HIV / Aids
What is HIV?
HIV is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. A person’s “immune system” is the part of their body that fights off illnesses and infections. HIV attacks the body’s immune system, making it hard to fight off infections.
What is AIDS?
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. When a person’s immune system has been damaged by HIV, he or she can get other illnesses, infections or cancers, which they would not have got if they had not already had HIV. When this happened to someone, people used to say they had “AIDS”. Now there are better medicines to help people stay healthy when this happens, and doctors say they have ’late stage’ or ’advanced HIV infection’.
