HIV AIDS Medical Reference
- Weight Gain While Treating HIV: Why It Happens
Find out why some of your HIV medications might cause you to put on extra pounds.
- Managing Your Weight During HIV Treatment
Whether you're gaining pounds or dropping them, learn how to keep your weight in the healthy range when you're getting treated for HIV.
- How HIV Doesn't Spread
There are a lot of myths about how you get HIV, but science has confirmed that there are a number of ways you won’t get the virus.
- What Is HIV Status Discrimination?
HIV status discrimination is when people living with HIV face negative attitudes, discrimination, and abuse. Learn about the types of HIV status discrimination and what you can do to combat it.
- HIV: Preventing Transmission
Is it possible to prevent HIV transmission? New medication combinations can virtually block HIV transmission, but they’re not the only way to lower your risk. Find out the safest ways to enjoy sex and still prevent HIV transmission.
- HIV: Latest Research
The latest research in prevention, treatment, and living with HIV.
- Conditions That Look Like HIV but Are Not
HIV causes symptoms like fever, tiredness, muscle aches, and rash. Learn what other conditions also cause these common symptoms, and what to do if you think you've been exposed to HIV.
- The Stages of HIV
Each stage of HIV has different symptoms. It may also be easier to pass the virus to others at different stages. With treatment, the virus may not advance to the later stage and may not be as easy to spread.
- HIV: What to Know About Needle Sharing
Sharing needles can expose you to HIV and other serious infections. Using new needles and taking preventive medication can reduce your risk.
- HIV and Retinopathy
What is the link between HIV and retinopathy? Is a person with HIV at higher risk of this eye problem? What can they do to protect themselves?
- HIV and Hepatitis Co-Infection
If you’re HIV-positive, you’re more likely to get hepatitis B or C, and more likely to have serious liver damage. Find out about the link between these co-infections.
- HIV Neuropathy: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment
Neuropathy is a common complication of HIV infection, especially as you get older. Learn more.
- HIV and Your Eyes
When you have HIV, your eye health is closely linked to your overall health. You also want to be aware of these eye threats to protect your vision.
- What Is the HIV Window Period?
To get an accurate result from your HIV test, you need to know your HIV window period. Find out how long you should wait before you test.
- The History of HIV Treatment: Antiretroviral Therapy and More
AIDS, the disease caused by HIV, first emerged in the U.S. in the early 1980s. Since then, advances in HIV treatment has turned it from a deadly infection to a lifelong condition that can be managed.
- CMV (Cytomegalovirus) Retinitis
CMV (cytomegalovirus) retinitis is an eye infection that if untreated can leave you blind. That’s especially true if HIV or AIDS has weakened your immune system.
- Pap Smears and HIV Detection
Pap smears help doctors look for cervical cancer, but can they detect HIV too? Find out what happens when you get a Pap smear.
- How HIV Affects Your Bones
Bone loss is a common problem of aging. But it can happen more often and more severely in people with HIV.
- NRTIs as a Treatment for HIV
If you're getting treated for an HIV infection, your doctor may suggest a type of drug called an NRTI. It's short for "nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor." Some people just call them "nukes." Find out about the types of NRTIs and their side effects.
- HIV and CBD
Can CBD help ease HIV symptoms and side effects of treatment? Learn more about what it can do and whether it’s safe.
- Can You Get Infected With HIV From Oral Sex?
If you're worried about HIV infection, you may wonder whether it's safe to have oral sex. While it's not risk-free, the chances of spreading the virus that causes AIDS are very low, especially if you take the right precautions.
- Safe Sex When You’re HIV-Positive
You can have sex safely if you or your partner has HIV. Find out what helps lower your risk.
- HIV Pain: Causes, Types, and Tips for Management
People living with HIV often have to deal with chronic pain. Learn where it can come from and how you can deal with it.
- HIV and High Blood Pressure: What's the Link?
HIV and High Blood Pressure: What's the Link?
- How Soon Will There Be an HIV Vaccine?
Researchers are trying to develop an HIV vaccine, but decades after the search began, the efforts have so far come up short. Despite the slow progress, scientists are still hopeful of success.
- HIV and High Cholesterol
If you have HIV, your risk of high cholesterol goes up -- and so do your chances of heart problems. Learn about the link between the two conditions and how to get your cholesterol under control.
- Garlic and HIV: What You Should Know
Garlic has many health benefits, but some research suggests garlic supplements could keep certain HIV medications from working as well as they should. Learn what the studies say and what steps you can take to improve your health.
- HIV and Heart Disease: What's the Link?
People who have HIV have a greater chance of developing heart disease than people who don’t have the virus. Find out what you need to know -- and how to lower your odds of having a heart attack or stroke.
- HIV and Life Expectancy
How long can you live with HIV? As long as anyone else, according to some research. But there are some health challenges you need to know about so you can live well -- not just long.
- Apps for HIV Treatment, Management, and Prevention
If you have HIV or are at risk for it, you’ll find lots of mobile phone apps designed to help. Learn what apps could help you prevent and manage HIV.
- Does Marijuana Help or Hurt With HIV?
Would marijuana help with HIV-related problems like weight loss and nerve pain? Find out what the research shows.
- How Effective Is PrEP for HIV and AIDS?
PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is medicine that helps protect you from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. Learn about how it works, how well it works, who’s most likely to benefit from it, side effects, and more.
- Respiratory Symptoms of HIV
When you have HIV, you’re more likely to have respiratory symptoms than people who don’t have the virus. Here's what to look out for.
- How Much Does HIV Treatment Cost?
The cost of HIV treatment varies depending on which medicines you take and any other care you need. But there are a lot of ways you can get help paying for treatment to make sure you can keep your condition under control.
- HIV-Related Mouth Sores: Symptoms and Treatments
Mouth sores are common in people with HIV. Learn more about the causes and symptoms of HIV-related mouth sores and how you can treat them.
- Dangerous Complications of HIV and AIDS
With a weakened immune system, people living with advanced HIV and AIDS are more susceptible to different kinds of infections and cancers.
- Can You Spread HIV With an Undetectable Viral Load?
If you have HIV and your viral load becomes undetectable, can you still spread the virus? Get the facts.
- What Are Your Chances of Getting HIV?
Could you be at a higher risk of HIV than you know? Find out what boosts your chances of getting it.
- HIV and Diabetes
Are people with HIV more likely to have diabetes? Is there a link between the two conditions?
- How Long Can HIV Live Outside the Body?
Learn how long HIV lives once it gets outside of your body.
- Tips for Dating When You're HIV-Positive
You don't have to stop dating just because you're HIV-positive. The key is to be safe and know when and how to reveal your status.
- Single-Tablet Treatment Regimen for HIV
Learn more about HIV treatments that combine several medications into one pill. Who should take them? What are the pros and cons?
- How Much Does Truvada for PrEP Cost?
Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, with Truvada could lower your risk of getting HIV. If you can't afford the high cost of this drug, there are programs to help you pay for it.
- How Close Are We to an HIV Cure?
Is a cure for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, on the horizon? Find out how new treatment therapies may work and what problems could happen.
- Is Coronavirus Riskier if You Have HIV?
If you have HIV, you may be concerned it raises your risk for a bad case of COVID-19. You can take extra precautions, but whether you're at a higher risk likely depends on your current health.
- HIV Drugs: ART Interactions
Will your antiretroviral therapy (ART) drug combinations interfere with other drugs you take? Drugs to control your HIV can cause interactions with medications for blood pressure, cholesterol, or heartburn. Find out which drugs could interact and what can happen if they do.
- A su pareja le diagnosticaron el VIH: Qué necesita hacer
¿Qué debe hacer si a su pareja le acaban de diagnosticar el VIH? Lea más sobre cuándo se debe hacer la prueba del VIH, si debe considerar la PrEP, y qué cambios de estilo de vida debe hacer para que ambos se mantengan fuertes y saludables.
- Los efectos secundarios de medicamentos contra el VIH
Lea más sobre los efectos secundarios comunes —de corto plazo y de largo plazo— de los medicamentos antirretrovirales.
- HIV Symptoms in Men
The signs of HIV are mostly the same in men and women, but there are a few key differences. Learn what the virus looks like in men.
- Dental Dam
Condoms aren't the only way to protect yourself against STDs. Learn how dental dams work and how to use one.