Hih virus

It is spread by contact with certain bodily fluids of a person with HIV, most commonly during unprotected sex sex without a condom or HIV medicine to prevent or treat HIV , or through sharing injection drug equipment. So, once you have HIV, you have it for life. In the U. Once someone has a dangerous opportunistic illness, life expectancy without treatment falls to about 1 year. The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to get tested. Testing is relatively simple. You can ask your health care provider for an HIV test.

Many medical clinics, substance abuse programs, community health centers, and hospitals offer them too. You can also buy a home testing kit at a pharmacy or online. HIV self-testing is also an option. Self-testing allows people to take an HIV test and find out their result in their own home or other private location. You can buy a self-test kit at a pharmacy or online. Some health departments or community-based organizations also provide self-test kits for free.

This summer an intelligence review ordered by President Joe Biden drew no definitive conclusions but left open the possibility that the virus leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF. By Katherine Eban. Enter your e-mail address. The U. Throughout , the notion that the novel coronavirus leaked from a lab was off-limits. Those who dared to push for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark.

These cells become overactive, causing too much inflammation. Ordinarily, these cells should destroy infected, damaged cells of the body. This process is called hemophagocytosis. HLH can be challenging to diagnose because the initial symptoms may mimic other problems such as common infections.

Signs and symptoms of HLH may include:. HLH can be diagnosed only with the proper tests. Blood tests include blood cell counts, liver function, infection studies, and markers of immune system activation such as ferritin and soluble IL-2 receptor levels.

A bone marrow aspirate and biopsy may be performed to look for microscopic evidence of hemophagocytosis. Doctors may perform a lumbar puncture to collect cerebrospinal fluid and make sure the HLH is not affecting the brain. These latter two procedures are performed while a patient is asleep.