AIDS AWARENESS
By: Quinn Anderson and Gabrielle Bowyer
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
Have you ever known anyone with HIV? Do you know anything about HIV? Well HIV is a virus and unlike the common cold or flu it never goes away. Once a person becomes infected with HIV, that person becomes "HIV positive" and will always be "HIV positive".
HIV disease infects and kills white blood cells called CD4 Iymphoctes, or T cells.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
Did you know that HIV and AIDS can be confusing because both terms describe the same disease? AIDS is a more advanced disease then HIV. HIV weakens the immune system so much that when a person gets AIDS they usually become sick from one of several opportunistic infections or cancers. Between two and ten years AIDS can be developed by someone who has acquired HIV.