Infectious Diseases Codexery

HIV/AIDS

Retrovirus causing AIDS, manageable but incurable.

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HIV is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system and can lead to AIDS without treatment.[1][2] The virus is spread through unprotected sex, contaminated needles, blood transfusions, and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding.[3][4] With antiretroviral treatment, HIV can become a manageable chronic condition and an HIV-positive person can expect to live a normal life.[2][4]

Key facts and history

The UNAIDS 2025 fact sheet reports that 41.0 million people globally were living with HIV in 2025.[5] Since the start of the epidemic, 44.2 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses.[5] The World Health Organization states that AIDS occurs at the most advanced stage of infection.[6] During the early-to-mid-20th century, the transmission of HIV from other primates to humans occurred in west-central Africa.[7]

Within the Retroviridae family, HIV is classified under the genus Lentivirus.[8] Globally, the majority of HIV infections are caused by HIV-1, which is more virulent and more infective than HIV-2.[9] In the absence of therapy, the infection can impair the immune system and, over a period that can span many years, eventually advance to AIDS.[10]

What the research sources say

The UNAIDS 2025 fact sheet states that 32.1 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy in 2025.[5] The UNAIDS 2025 fact sheet reports that 88% of all people living with HIV knew their HIV status in 2025.[5] The UNAIDS 2025 fact sheet indicates that new HIV acquisitions have declined by 42% since 2010.[5] The UNAIDS 2025 fact sheet notes that AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 73% since the peak in 2004.[5]

The UNAIDS 2025 fact sheet states that risk factors are 18 times higher among gay men and other men who have sex with men compared to all adults.[5] The World Health Organization fact sheet notes that people taking ART who have no evidence of virus in the blood will not pass HIV to their sexual partners.[4] The UNAIDS feature story on the HIV vaccine states that the RV144 trial showed a 31.2% vaccine efficacy in preventing HIV infections.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "HIV/AIDS" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "AIDS – the first 20 years", The New England Journal of Medicine, June 2001, p. 1764–72; Krämer, "Modern infectious disease epidemiology concepts, methods, mathematical models, and public health", Springer, 2010, p. 88; Kirch, "Encyclopedia of Public Health", Springer, 2008, p. 676–77; "Retrovirus Definition", AIDSinfo (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "HIV/AIDS" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About HIV/AIDS", U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), December 6, 2015; "HIV and AIDS", World Health Organization, 22 July 2024; "HIV and AIDS", World Health Organization, 22 July 2024; "HIV and AIDS", World Health Organization, 22 July 2024; UNAIDS, "The quest for an HIV vaccine", May 18, 2012; "About HIV/AIDS", U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), December 6, 2015; UNAIDS, "The quest for an HIV vaccine", May 18, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "HIV/AIDS" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Environmental and occupational medicine", Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007, p. 745; "HIV and Its Transmission", U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2003; "Preventing Sexual Transmission of HIV", HIV.gov, April 9, 2021; "HIV/AIDS Fact sheet N°360", World Health Organization, November 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. "HIV/AIDS Fact sheet N°360", World Health Organization, November 2015. facts only, no text reused. who.int
  5. "Global HIV & AIDS statistics — 2025 fact sheet", UNAIDS. facts only, no text reused. unaids.org
  6. "HIV and AIDS", World Health Organization, 22 July 2024. facts only, no text reused. who.int
  7. Wikipedia, "HIV/AIDS" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Origins of HIV and the AIDS pandemic", Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, September 2011; "A reflection on HIV/AIDS research after 25 years", Retrovirology, October 2006; "HIV and AIDS", World Health Organization, 22 July 2024; "Global HIV & AIDS statistics — 2025 fact sheet", UNAIDS; "The first postmodern pandemic: 25 years of HIV/AIDS", Journal of Internal Medicine, March 2008, p. 218–43; "NIH launches new collaboration to develop gene-based cures for sickle cell disease and HIV on global scale", National Institutes of Health (NIH en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "HIV/AIDS" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, "61.0.6. Lentivirus", Men's Journal, 2002; International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, "61. Retroviridae", Men's Journal, 2002 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "HIV/AIDS" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Comparison of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infectivity from a prospective cohort study in Senegal", Statistics in Medicine, February 2003, p. 573–93 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "HIV/AIDS" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "HIV/AIDS Fact sheet N°360", World Health Organization, November 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. UNAIDS, "The quest for an HIV vaccine", May 18, 2012. facts only, no text reused. unaids.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article HIV/AIDS (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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