AIDS can be described as a highly contagious disease. Once infected, there is no medication that can cure it. Moreover, the HIV virus easily attacks the human immune system, leading to weakness and making it difficult for patients to resist various diseases. To prevent AIDS, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of the disease, and also to practice safe sexual behaviors in daily life.
AIDS is a highly harmful infectious disease caused by the HIV virus. HIV is a virus that attacks the human immune system, targeting the CD4 T lymphocytes, which are crucial to the immune system. It destroys a large number of these cells, causing the body to lose its immune function. Therefore, the body becomes susceptible to various diseases and malignancies, resulting in a high fatality rate. The incubation period of HIV in the human body averages 8 to 9 years. Before developing AIDS, individuals can live and work without any symptoms for many years. It takes several years, even up to 10 years or longer, for HIV-infected individuals to develop into AIDS patients. As the body's resistance decreases significantly, various infections can occur, such as herpes zoster, oral fungal infections, tuberculosis, and severe infections caused by various pathogens like Candida and Pneumocystis carinii. In the later stages, malignancies often develop, leading to long-term consumption and ultimately death from systemic failure. Despite the tremendous efforts of medical researchers worldwide, there is still no specific medication that can cure AIDS, and no effective vaccine for prevention is available. AIDS has been classified as a Category B notifiable infectious disease in China and is also included in the national border health surveillance program.
