How Does It Spread?

What Is HIV/AIDS?

Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, is an epidemic that affects people worldwide, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, age, income or social class. The virus that causes AIDS is Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, which multiplies in a person's body, attacking the cells that normally fight off disease in the immune system. An immune system weakened by HIV leaves the body open to invasion by infections, opportunistic infections, that a healthy immune system would destroy. An HIV-infected, HIV-positive, person may have few or no symptoms for seven to ten years, but if the virus is left untreated in most cases it will eventually reduce disease-fighting cells in the body from the average normal count of around 1,000 to 200 or less. At this point the body has no defense against a number of life-threatening infections and cancers, and the person has developed AIDS.

The origin of HIV/AIDS is unknown, and as yet there is no cure for AIDS and no HIV vaccine. Medical researchers are making progress toward understanding the disease, however, and developing increasingly effective treatments to delay the onset of AIDS and to alleviate symptoms. A simple test can determine the presence of HIV in the body and is highly recommended for anyone who might be at risk, so that treatment can begin as soon as possible if the person is infected.

According to United Nations data, as of the end of 2001 some 40 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS. The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 850,000 to 950,000 Americans are HIV-infected, and approximately 40,000 new cases are reported every year. More than 450,000 Americans have died of AIDS since the epidemic began in the late 1970s. Among the Latino population the HIV-infection rate has sky-rocketed within the past decade. According to the CDC, from the beginning of the epidemic through 2000 over 115,000 Latino men and 26,000 Latina women have been diagnosed with AIDS; of these nearly 80,000 people have died. AIDS is one of the four leading causes of death for Latinos and Latinas aged between 25 and 44. It is vital that Latinos and Latinas educate themselves about the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

National AIDS Hotline:
1-800-232-4636
TTY: 1-888-232-6348
Email: cdcinfo@cdc.gov