Strategies for improving your immune health: The different approaches to improving your immune system

January 2007     View PDF     En español

AIDS is a disease of the immune system, caused by HIV. To date, all of the proven strategies for treating HIV disease focus on crippling the HIV’s ability to infect and destroy immune cells. Currently, there are no approved treatments for improving immune deficiency and function in HIV disease. However, the good news is that when HIV reproduction is slowed by using anti-HIV drugs, your immune system begins to repair itself. There’s evidence of some improvement in the immune system when HIV is controlled over time.

HIV infects the cells in your body, including CD4+ cells (T cells). It uses these cells as a host to reproduce. Once the cells are infected, HIV impairs how they function and eventually destroys them over time.

CD4+ cells are key for controlling disease. They direct other cells to perform tasks that control infections and diseases. As HIV destroys more CD4+ cells, your body gradually loses its ability to fight disease. This is when a person becomes more at risk for serious and life-threatening conditions. Tests that measure your CD4+ cell counts are routinely used to monitor your immune health.

Improving your immune health is an important part of a long-term strategy for managing your HIV disease. While in theory this is true, in practice it’s much harder to figure out how to do this. But there are things you can do. This publication highlights various strategies to consider.