World AIDS Day 2024: What is the theme for this year? Know date, history and more

World AIDS Day 2024: HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, targets the body's infection-fighting cells, weakening the immune system and increasing vulnerability to severe complications. After exposure, acute HIV infection typically develops within 2-4 weeks, presenting symptoms such as fever, headache, and rash. During this stage, the virus multiplies rapidly, spreading throughout the body and compromising the immune system. This is also the period when the individual is most infectious.

Without timely treatment, HIV can progress to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). In this advanced stage, the viral load is extremely high, symptoms become severe, and survival without treatment is typically limited to a few years.

Between acute HIV infection and AIDS, there is a chronic HIV infection stage where the virus continues to replicate but at a slower rate. Although this stage cannot lead to a cure, disease progression can be significantly slowed with antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART enables individuals with HIV to live longer, healthier lives.