 | ||
   | ||
Email
Glossary |
|
hiv and aids Dec 9, 2004 what does HIV/AIDS do to the body? |
||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
| Response from Dr. Conway
 In general terms, HIV attacks your body's defenses reducing your ability to fight off infections and cancers that would not normally affect you if your immune system was normal. The way we measure how mcuh damage has been done is by doing a CD4 cell count. If it si 200 or lower, the individual is at risk for AIDS-related or "opportunistic" conditions. Another useful measure is the HIV plasma viral load. The higher this is, the more rapidly the CD4 cell count can be expected to decline. Taken together the CD4 cell count and HIV plasma viral load can help predict if someoen is at imemdiate risk of developing AIDS-related conditions or, if they aren't, how soon (without treatment) this is more likely to occur. | ||||||||
 Get Email Notifications When This Forum Updates or Subscribe With RSS
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Q&A TERMS OF USE
This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional.
Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material.
Review our complete terms of use and copyright notice.
