What is HIV? 

HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus, is the virus that causes AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV itself is a specific type of virus called a retrovirus, which means that the genetic information encoded in HIV is translated from RNA into DNA inside the human cells that its infects. What this means in practical terms is that the human immunodeficiency virus has a high mutation rate, meaning that the virus can naturally adapt resistance to a wide range of medications. Also, this high mutation rate means that HIV can currently not be eliminated from the human body, the best outcome is just being able to inhibit HIV's growth in a given patient.

What is HIV and how is it spread? 

Because HIV is virus, it is very small and contained within all of the bodily fluids of a person who is positive for HIV. Passage of HIV between two people occurs mostly commonly via transmission of bodily fluids.  This most commonly occurs through sexual intercourse or if an HIV-positive person's blood is introduced into another person's body (e.g. through blood transfusion or sharing of needles for IV drug use).  You can not get HIV by hugging a person or simply touching a person who is positive for HIV.

Scientists predicted that a vaccine that provides immunity against HIV would be produced within a decade after HIV was discovered to be the cause of AIDS. However, this has proven to be very difficult, mostly due to the fact that HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, actually infects many different types of cells of the human immune system, thus making the immune system less able to mount an attack against HIV. Also, because the HIV virus has a high mutation rate, it can switch between different sub-types of HIV, making a vaccine much less effective. Current trials of vaccines against HIV have been unsuccessful. Many experts highly recommend education of the public to decrease the transmission of HIV, and the use of antiretroviral medications in those infected with HIV. 

The class of medications called antiretroviral medications have had success with decreasing how the human immunodeficiency virus reproduces itself in the human body. These antiretroviral medications are specifically tailored to attack certain vulnerabilities of the HIV virus. When consistently taken in combination these medications have been proven to delay the progression from asymptomatic infection with HIV to AIDS, which has many different symptoms and may require hospitalization. If a patient does not take their antiretroviral combination consistently, and misses doses, then this gives HIV the opportunity to mutate into a strain that is not inhibited by the antiretroviral medications the patient is taking. This may lead to treatment failure in a given patient when the strain of HIV circulating in their body no longer responds to antiretroviral medication, and the progression to AIDS will be difficult to slow down.

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