AIDS is a word that everyone knows these days. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and is a medical condition. This is a disease that targets the immune system in humans, and the virus that causes this disease is called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV.
This sickness gradually brings down the functionality of the immune system, effectively reducing the body’s defense against tumors and infections in this way. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus can be transmitted by exchange of bodily fluids (breast milk, semen or blood) from an infected person.
The transmission can happen when people share hypodermic needles, or when blood transfusion is done from an infected person. It can also pass from a mother to a child during the various stages of pregnancy.
Diagnostic Measures For AIDS
AIDS is a disease that claims the highest number of deaths due to a single disease, and because of that, diagnosing AIDS/HIV quickly has become a priority amongst doctors. There are many tests to diagnose HIV or AIDS.
The World Health Organization has grouped the diseases and symptoms that are present in people who have HIV. It should be noted that everyone who is infected with HIV need not necessarily develop AIDS - this is where the WHO charts help.
- HIV Antibody Tests: The most common type of tests that are used to identify HIV is the HIV Antibody tests. Not only are these tests extremely accurate, but they are not very expensive either. In these tests, the bodies are observed and doctors look out for specific antibodies, which indicate the presence of HIV. A majority of people start producing these specific antibodies about 30 days after the infection strikes. However, this is just an approximation, as the window period for HIV antibody tests can be between three weeks up to six months.
- ELISA Test: After the previous test, all patients must undergo an ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test. This test sees a patient’s sample applied to a sample that contains the HIV antigens. Depending on the reaction of that sample, the ELISA test results are interpreted.
- Western Blot Test: Sometimes, the ELISA tests are not enough to diagnose the presence of HIV. In the United States of America, a patient is required to take a Western Blot test, which is a test that detects antibodies. This test separates viral proteins first, before being tested with antibodies.
- Antigen Test: Another kind of test is the antigen test. These antigen tests are used by doctors to detect whether the p24 HIV protein is present. Their presence can be detected by evaluating the samples response to antibodies specific to the p24 protein. These days, though, this type of test is not routinely used in the European Union or the United States of America. This is because the test is not very sensitive, and it can only be done within a specific time after a person has been infected with HIV.
- Nucleic Acid Based Tests: The Nucleic acid-based tests are more popular nowadays amongst diagnosticians. These tests are very specific, and they target certain sequences in the HIV genes. These tests can detect and amplify these specific sequences. These tests can be further divided into two types, and they help in comprehensively detecting the presence of HIV in humans.
Unfortunately, there is no effective cure for AIDS or HIV; it can be treated so that the effect of the virus goes down. This means that at this juncture, the disease cannot be stopped completely, but antiretroviral treatment can slow down its course. This points towards the importance of getting AIDS diagnosed as early as possible.
