Information about HIV infection

"Tell me about HIV" is a booklet published by UKC

This booklet is for anyone who has just been told they have HIV.

Learning this can be confusing and frightening. You may feel there's much to learn and a lot of decisions to make.

This booklet tries to answer questions people frequently ask after testing positive for HIV infection.

Click on the cover picture to read the text of the booklet

If you are newly diagnosed with HIV, click on the link below the next section for more detailed information.

Much of this section of our website was originally published in the form of a booklet by the AIDS Education and Research Trust .  Whilst that booklet is now out of print, we think that you deserve access to the updated information that it contained

The Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) can prevent the proper functioning of the body's immune system.  It does this by infecting your cells.  The cells most affected are known as CD4 lymphocytes, or "T" "helper" cells, which co-ordinate the body's response to infections.

Whilst the issue is still subject to some debate, the commonly held scientific view is that HIV is the virus that can lead to the condition called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome , or AIDS .  It is not a disease on its own, but a syndrome involving one or more of a number of specific infections or cancers that can occur when your immune system is severely deficient.

HIV infection and AIDS are still relatively new conditions.  When first identified it was often in people going to hospitals with AIDS defining serious illnesses. Between 1998 and 2000, 1 in 5 of people with HIV who died did so within three months of their HIV diagnosis and were unable to benefit fully from the treatment options available to people diagnosed as HIV positive much earlier.

Many people with HIV are perfectly healthy and carry on full and productive lives despite the infection.  Improvements in treatments for HIV have greatly reduced the death rate and the amount of time spent in hospital due to HIV.

Over time, HIV can damage your immune system.  When a person's immune system is damaged, they may develop opportunistic infections, particular cancers and infections that take advantage of a compromised immune system. HIV on its own can damage parts of the body. 

If you are newly diagnosed as having HIV infection, click here for more information.

Feel free to feedback your comments on it either by email or through our discussion board.

If you want authoritiative UK information about HIV and AIDS, click here to be taken to AIDSMAP, the internet resource of National AIDS Manual and British HIV Association.