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HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Being HIV positive does not mean that you have AIDS, but it does mean that you may develop AIDS.
Many people are alive and live well above fifteen years or more after testing HIV positive.
A positive result is an important medical message that may help you save or extend your life.
Whether you took the test or not, sooner or later you would have learned of your HIV disease.
There are many new treatments that help keep the disease under control, for example, anti-retroviral drugs.
If you learn by testing, you have a chance to slow or prevent some of the negative health consequences.
Even if you didn't get tested, HIV would have presented itself at some point as an infection or damage to your immune system.
And if you had waited for HIV disease to present itself, many of your best medical options would have been lost already. So being tested for HIV is always a clever move.
When you first find out that you have HIV, you will need to adjust to this change in your life.
Family members or friends might be able to help you, or you could talk with a counsellor. The real work, however, is up to you.
Given the right attitude and the right information, most people can live for a long time.
Getting informed and taking charge of your health will help you make the best out of your situation.
Take your time and don't feel pressured to tell everyone right away about your HIV status.
It helps to start learning more about the HIV disease and keep track of your immune system. It is important to note the following about the virus:
It is a virus that can multiply rapidly in your body. Your immune system helps keep your body healthy by recognizing and attacking foreign substances, like viruses or bacteria.
HIV attacks your immune system and without treatment, it can make your immune system very weak, gradually impairing how it functions.
Over time if it becomes seriously damaged or weakened your body loses its ability to fight against certain infections and cancers.
These certain infections or cancers capitalize on your weak immune system and pounce on you causing serious illness. These are called opportunistic infections (OTIs).
People with healthy immune systems can be exposed to these same opportunistic infections and not get sick.
AIDS is the most serious outcome of HIV infection. The presence of these OTIs in your body points to a significantly damaged immune system.
This gradual destruction of the immune system doesn't happen the same way in everyone, or even at the same pace. In some, it may not happen at all.
In a small percentage of people, HIV destroys their immune system very rapidly, in just a few years.
But others remain well for ten to fifteen years or longer.
On average, without using anti-HIV therapy, most people remain well for about ten years before facing their first serious symptoms.
HIV is a 'spectrum' illness, all who are infected have the same disease, but there are different stages to it. AIDS is the name given to the later, most serious stage.
In the earlier stages, people are HIV-positive, meaning they tested positive to an HIV anti-body test but they have no life threatening symptoms of illness.
If left untreated, most people generally progress along the spectrum towards AIDS.
Studies have shown that HIV is a progressive disease that leads to symptomatic illness in most people over time.
Children born with HIV and people infected through blood transfusion seem to get sick quickly.
Studies also suggest that when women have access to and seek regular care and monitoring, their progression rates are similar to and perhaps even slower than men.
Why people progress at different rates is uncertain. It may be due to differences in the strain of HIV a person gets.
Others believe it is influenced by genetic differences in people while others suspect that lifestyle factors make a difference or it could be a combination of the three.
Whatever the case maybe, the fact remains it is better to get tested and know one's status.
This helps one to lengthen one's life through taking appropriate diet and ARVs if need be.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoIf someone is HIV positive, the person has the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus weakens the body's immune system, causing the person to be more susceptible to other illnesses and infections.
Wiki User
∙ 16y agoIt means you are infected with the HIV virus.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agosomeone who's HIV negative doesn't have the HIV virus inside them, which means they won't develop AIDS.
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoBeing HIV-positive does not mean that you have AIDS since AIDS is only but the end result of HIV.
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoA positive HIV test means that the patient appears to be infected with HIV. Sometimes confirmatory testing is needed.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoit mean's that you have aids
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What does a reactive HIV test mean?
It means that the test was positive for HIV.
What is the difference beteen hiv positive and hiv negative?
There is a huge difference between them. HIV Positive means that the test found HIV-Antibodies in your blood (you can find them in the mouth sometimes). A HIV-Negative test means that the solution did not find any signs of HIV in your body and your in great shape.
What are HIV indeterminant results?
Indeterminant means that an HIV test is neither positive nor negative. Typically, if an HIV test is indeterminant, another test will be performed to confirm the results.
Do HIV carriers ever test HIV positive?
To be exposed to does not always mean that you will be infected. If contracting the disease you will still not test positive until some time afterwards.
Can HIV positive later become HIV negative?
Only if the first HIV test was false positive can the test results change.
Can you have aids negative or positive?
Not exactly. "HIV positive" means that someone's test for HIV antibodies came back positive, i.e. that the antibodies are present and that the person has at least been exposed to, and is almost certainly infected with, the virus. AIDS, however, is a syndrome, or condition. There isn't a specific test for it, so the terms "positive" and "negative" have no real meaning. AIDS means that not only is the person infected, but the infection has progressed to the point that they are showing symptoms. You can be "HIV positive" (the test showed antibodies) or "HIV negative" (the test did not show antibodies), but not "AIDS positive" or "AIDS negative". Everyone with AIDS is (or should be, since HIV is the virus that causes AIDS) "HIV positive", but it's possible to be "HIV positive" for a considerable length of time before eventually developing AIDS.
How do HIV-positive and HIV-negative differ?
HIV-positive means you are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. HIV-negative means that you are not infected with the HIV.
If you are HIV positive is there a way you can do to test negative for a job?
It would be almost impossible to test negative if a person is HIV positive.
Does the Center of disease Control contact you if you test positive for HIV?
No. The CDC will not contact you. Your doctor will inform you if you test positive for HIV.
Can you be hiv positive after six negative test and 17 years after exposure?
No; you would not be HIV positive.
When does someone have an HIV diagnosis?
As soon as they test positive for the HIV virus.
If the human get tested hiv negetiv what does it mean?
A negative HIV test means that a person is not showing evidence of infection with HIV. A negative test may also occur in the "window period" between infection and the time when the test may be expected to turn positive.
