Complications of AIDS

There are four different groups of conditions that occur during AIDS, which is the fourth stage of HIV disease. These include opportunistic infections, severe weight loss, cancers and conditions that affect the nervous system.

Opportunistic Infections

• Because the immune system becomes damaged by the effects of HIV, people with advanced HIV disease develop illness from infections (bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic) that do not cause illness in healthy people. These are called opportunistic infections (OIs). Common OIs include candidiasis (a fungus of the mouth), cytomegalovirus (which can lead to blindness), toxoplasmosis (a parasitic brain disease) and Pneumocystis pneumonia.

Weight Loss

• Two conditions cause weight loss in AIDS. These are AIDS wasting syndrome, which causes the loss of muscle mass, and lipodystrophy, which causes the loss and redistribution of fat.

Cancers

• Three types of cancer are associated with AIDS. These are cervical cancer, lymphomas (cancers of immune cells affected by AIDS) and Kaposi's sarcoma, a skin cancer that causes purple lesions.

Neurological Conditions

• AIDS can also have an impact on the nervous system. The most serious neurological condition in AIDS is AIDS dementia complex (ADC), which affects thinking, motion and behavior.

Treatment

• Some AIDS-related illnesses respond to treatment with antiretroviral drugs used in the general management of HIV disease. Other conditions must be targeted more specifically, with antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals or cancer treatments, for instance.