Day one:
After you've tested positive

May 2008     View PDF     En español

Disease progression

HIV is a “spectrum” illness: all who are infected have the same disease, but there are different stages to it. AIDS is the name given only to the later most serious stage. In the earlier and less serious stages, people are HIV-positive, meaning they tested positive on an HIV antibody test but they have no life-threatening symptoms of illness. If left untreated, most people generally progress along the spectrum toward AIDS.

HIV disease can progress slowly or quickly. Several studies have researched the rate at which it progresses when left untreated. Most conclude that about half of HIV-infected people progress to AIDS if left untreated within about ten years of infection. About three out of four (75%) reach AIDS by the 15th year.

These studies conclude that HIV is a progressive disease that leads to symptomatic illness in most people over time. Children born with HIV and people infected through blood trans­fusion seem to get sick more quickly. Studies suggest that when women have access to and seek regular care and monitoring, their progression rates are similar to and perhaps even slower than men. Studies that include people with hemophilia are inconclusive about their rates of progression.

Why people progress at different rates is uncertain. It may be due to differences in the strain of HIV a person gets. Others believe it is influenced by genetic differences in people, while others suspect that lifestyle factors make a difference.