Hiv Opportunistic Infections Phd Thesis Pdf.
HIV is associated with significant mortality, serious morbidity and high costs of treatment and care. Around 100,000 people are living with HIV infection (diagnosed and undiagnosed) in the UK.
An opportunistic infection is an infection caused by pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, or protozoa) that take advantage of an opportunity not normally available, such as a host with a weakened immune system, an altered microbiota (such as a disrupted gut microbiota), or breached integumentary barriers. Many of these pathogens do not cause disease in a healthy host that has a normal immune.
Opportunistic infections (OIs) are infections that occur more often or are more severe in people with weakened immune systems than in people with healthy immune systems. People with weakened immune systems include people living with HIV or people receiving chemotherapy. OIs are caused by a variety of germs (viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites).
HIV causes the immunosuppression that allows opportunistic pathogens to cause disease in HIV-infected persons. OIs, as well as other co-infections that may be common in HIV-infected persons, such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), can adversely affect the natural history of HIV infection by causing reversible increases in circulating viral load that could accelerate HIV progression and.
Abstract. On infection with HIV-1, the host exerts a highly specific immune response against the virus. Despite this, HIV-1 is able to persist in the host, resulting in the gradua.
Before HIV medicines were available to treat HIV infection, opportunistic infections were the main cause of illness and death in people with HIV. HIV medicines are now widely used in the United States so fewer people with HIV get opportunistic infections. By preventing HIV from damaging the immune system, HIV medicines reduce the risk of opportunistic infections.
Typically, CNS opportunistic infections occur during this stage of the HIV infection; waning immunity and high HIV load, both systemically and in the CNS, create a favourable milieu. Apart from immune deficiency, other features of HIV-1 might directly facilitate CNS opportunistic infections, for example in PML. Most CNS opportunistic infections result from reactivation of latent pathogens.