AIDS :
AIDS is a infection caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). AIDS represents the advanced stages of HIV infections whereby the immune system is attacked and destroyed by the virus and opens itself to opportunistic infections and cancer of certain types. The virus mainly spreads through unsafe sexual contact and equipment to inject drugs, and from mother to child during breastfeeding or at birth. It attacks the immune cells particularly CD4 cells, also known as T-helper cells. As it multiplies and replicates, over time the number of CD4 cells tends to decrease thus weakening the immune response. Early stages of symptoms of HIV include flu-like conditions such as chills, fever, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes. When it progresses to AIDS, the patient will begin experiencing rapid weight loss, reoccurring fever, hot flashes at night, and weak feelings from prolonged swelling of lymph glands, diarrhea, sores, and neurological diseases. Patients are highly vulnerable to infections such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and fungal infections, as well as cancers like Kaposi's sarcoma. AIDS cannot be cured, but it can be properly treated through antiretroviral therapy, or in simpler words, taking a combination of HIV medicines daily to depress the virus, meaning it cannot break down the immune system and develop AIDS. The final category is prevention. One can avoid having this disease through safe sex, regular testing for the HIV virus, and even needle exchange programs. Early diagnosis, combined with continued antiretroviral therapy, results in almost normal lifetime prospects for the living infected person by the HIV virus delay or prevention of AIDS.