Aids and the Immune System

Category: Health News

An article by Elinor Levy, Ph.D., & Tom Monte
The 10 Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System, p.217At this writing, there is no cure or vaccine against HIV and AIDS. That means that there are only two ways of protecting oneself from this dreaded disease: the first is prevention, which means abstaining from behaviors that put you at risk. The second is to maintain and, where possible, to boost your body’s immune system. Of course, once a person is infected with HIV, prevention is no longer an option, which means that the only thing that stands between the infected person and AIDS that they can influence is the strength of the immune system. In this chapter, we want to address readers who are already infected with HIV and those who may already have AIDS. If you are in one or both of these groups, your single most important imperative is to keep your immune system strong. The stronger it is, the longer you can delay the onset of AIDS. Even after AIDS develops, the higher the level of CD4 cells, also referred to as T lymphocytes, the more likely that response to therapy will be good, and the odds for survival improved.

On average, it takes ten years after HIV infection for the immune system to fall to a dangerously low level of functioning. However, some people have been infected for more than ten years, have near-normal immune systems, and show no signs of illness. One of the remarkable characteristics of these people is that they tend to maintain higher levels of neutralizing antibodies -that is, antibodies that prevent the infection of new cells. They also have more T cells that target cells that contain HIV than people who progress more rapidly to AIDS. Such cells are referred to as anti-HIV cytotoxic T cells. Another characteristic of long-term survivors is that they actively take good care of themselves, which means that protecting their immune systems through appropriate lifestyle choices has been a priority for them.

It should be pointed out, however, that long-term survivors face just as powerful a disease as those who die soon after infection. Recent investigations show that most long-term survivors have equally virulent HIV strains as those who become ill, but nevertheless have somehow maintained good antiviral immunity. Many have never been treated with antiviral drugs, such as AZT. Presumably, their immune systems are the single most important factor in keeping them healthy.

The importance of a good immune response in preventing infection in the first place is still controversial. Other factors that are still unknown may play important roles in how the body deals with HIV. Also, some of the evidence suggests that a minority of people – certain infants and some adults with partners who are infected with HIV – may have the ability to totally clear HIV from their bodies after exposure. This group, however, represents a small number of people, and much more research must be done in order to understand this phenomenon. The vast majority of infected people have a single recourse, which is to take care of their immune systems.

¤ For a very comprehensive program to boost the immune system, please visit this link.

¤ For more information on Aids and what HIV positive individuals can do, please click here to visit the very informative website of the HIV Aids Foundation of Southern Africa.

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