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U.S. Public Health Service Opportunistic Diseases

In a healthy body with a functioning immune system, white blood cells called CD4 cells attack and destroy viruses. Virus victims may be miserable for a couple of weeks, but they survive and regain their health. Diseases that compromise the immune system, such as HIV, prevent the body from fighting off common infections and diseases. Eventually, people with AIDs and other immune suppressing issues begin to develop serious health issues, called opportunistic infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionc, most AIDs patients die from the secondary diseases caused by opportunistic infections.

  1. Invasive Cervical Cancer

    • Invasive cervical cancer is a disease that begins with an HPV infection. HPV is a group of viruses that can infect the cervix. In most people, HPV will go away on its own. In other cases, doctors find abnormal precancerous cells caused by HPV and kill them before they develop into cancer. If HPV goes undetected, invasive cervical cancer will spread deep inside the cervix and on to the uterus. Invasive cervical cancer is on the U.S. Public Health Service list of opportunistic diseases because women who have an an autoimmune disease or take medicines that suppress the immune system are more susceptible to the spread of cervical cancer and at higher risk.

    Recurrent Pneumonia

    • People with compromised immune systems are unable to fight off infections and extremely susceptible to recurring bouts of pneumonia. This includes people with HIV and AIDS, cancer, especially leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma, people taking chemotherapy, people who have undergone organ transplants and people taking corticosteroids or other medications designed to suppress the immune system. Recurrent pneumonia starts with an bacterial infection that develops into pneumonia when the body's natural defenses are weakened. Each bout of pneumonia further weakens the body and damages the immune system.

    Cytomegalovirus Disease

    • Cytomegalovirus transmission is person-to-person, sexual, congenital or through transplantation, but poses little threat to healthy people. Severe complications from the disease occur primarily in people with compromised immune systems, especially those with AIDS and transplant patients. Cytomegalovirus suppresses the immune system even further and can lead to additional complications of HIV infection, including pneumonia. Cytomegalovirus may attack vision, causing lesions on the retina, or the esophagus, intestines, bowels, pancreas or pulmonary system in an immunocompromised patient. It is on the U.S. Public Health Service list of opportunistic diseases because people with a healthy immune system are rarely affected by infection and often have no idea they are infected.

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