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HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is transmitted primarily through sexual contact and intravenous drug use. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16623627&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_DocSum]

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and is a chronic disease that gradually weakens the immune system by disabling and killing "T-helper cells", which normally signal other constituents of the immune system to perform their respective roles. When HIV reduces the number of T-helper cells below a certain threshold, an infected person is vunerable to opportunistic infections and cancers that typify Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. [http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/howhiv.htm] It is transmitted primarily through sexual contact with an infected person, sharing of needles or syringes, and, less frequently, through transfusion of infected blood or blood clotting factors.[http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/transmission.htm]. 

 

 

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