Does anything cause AIDS besides HIV?

Submitted by throwaway15273991 t3_ym44ww in askscience

So my sister was saying that AIDS is just symptom so it should be caused by more than just HIV.

As done basic research in the pasted for my own health and more today, but every artical I find links AIDS to HIV, calling it stage 3 HIV and saying it is a Symptom of HIV.

Is AIDS strictly linked to HIV or is their something else that causes and why.

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cox_ph t1_iv1wuj0 wrote

There is nothing besides HIV infection that leads to AIDS.

There are other causes of immunodeficiency (broadly defined as dysfunction or lack of competence of the immune system), but the specific syndrome known as AIDS is caused by HIV infection.

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LifeScienceInvestor t1_iv200er wrote

AIDS is not a "symptom", it's a medical syndrome.

A medical syndrome is a set of medical symptoms that are usually (although not always) caused by a single disease pathology.

In the case of AIDS, it is only caused by HIV infection and progression to the point where specific cells of your immune system (CD4+ T-cells) fall below a critical threshold.

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MarineLife42 t1_iv20k45 wrote

> So my sister was saying that AIDS is just symptom so it should be caused by more than just HIV.

I think your sister is unclear of these terms and how they are used. HIV is the virus and therefore, the cause. Its effect is a group of symptoms, collectively called AIDS.

Currently we have another virus that is all the rage: It is called SARS-CoV19, and its effect is Covid - though these terms are used somewhat interchangeably.

There is no such thing as "just" symptoms.

Also, only HIV causes AIDS. This is because AIDS means "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome", with the "acquired" pointing to the fact that you get it from the "Human Immunodeficiency Virus".

There are some other types of immune deficiencies which can cause sort-of similar symptoms but they aren't called AIDS because they are not acquired from a virus.

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jqbr t1_iv28ide wrote

AIDS is a disease; HIV is the cause. Similarly, COVID-19 is a disease and SARS-CoV-2 is the cause. COVID-19 is obviously not a symptom; coughing etc. are. For AIDS, weight loss and night sweats are among the symptoms.

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PlaidBastard t1_iv2nb2r wrote

Like others have alluded to, the angle your sister is coming from only makes any sense because of how different related conditions are referred to, because of specific quirks in how and when each part was figured out.

It's kind of like saying 'diabetic ketoacidosis is a symptom of diabetes, so there should be other conditions which cause it.' Except, 'diabetic' is in the name, while 'HIV' isn't in the name that stuck for the condition it can cause, AIDS.

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fliguana t1_iv31mra wrote

AIDS is the collection of symptoms caused by HIV infection.

It is possible to become immunocompromised by other means, but those symptoms are not called AIDS, because AIDS is used only in HIV context.

It is easiest to settle such arguments with a dictionary.

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runthereszombies t1_iv4aey5 wrote

Replying to fliguana (#446,173)

This is true, just a small correction for clarity. AIDS isn't really a set of symptoms. Its defined as an HIV infection that has progressed to a point where the person has a CD4 count under 200 or has an "AIDS-defining condition". The 2 often go hand in hand because these AIDS defining conditions usually happen at very low CD4 counts. So you can have AIDS and then actually regress back to just an HIV infection with HAART when the CD4 count recovers.

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runthereszombies t1_iv4b5mt wrote

Replying to jqbr (#444,751)

You can have HIV without having AIDS, and you can have fever and night sweats without having AIDS. One of the initial presentations of HIV infection is flu like symptoms. Those people don't have AIDS, they have very early stage HIV infection.

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Nyatwit t1_iv4ubpv wrote

AIDS is the condition is caused by HIV viruses. There can be different variants as shown below but they are all HIV.

"[HIV] has nine named strains: A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, and K. Some of these have sub-strains. Researchers find new strains all the time as they learn more about HIV-1 group M. The B strain is the most common in the U.S. Worldwide, the most common HIV strain is C."

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