Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is AIDS?The Immune SystemDisease ComparisonResearch
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is AIDS?
The Immune System
Disease Comparison
Research
When someone has an autoimmune disease, their immune system mistakenly attacks their own healthy cells and tissues. But unlike when a healthy immune system attacks something that can cause harm—like a virus—theirs never calls off the attack.
While acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is another type ofimmune system malfunction, in this case, a person’s immune system is weakened or ineffective.
Verywell / Michela Buttignol
Human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) is a virus that causes a person’s body to attack the cells they need to fight off infection, making them more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. While there is currently no cure for HIV, there are a variety of treatments that can significantly extend and improve the quality of life for people living with the virus.
After an initial acute infection period—which can last from several days to several weeks—a person enters the second stage of HIV: chronic infection. With proper treatment, a person with HIV may remain in the second stage for the rest of their life. However, if left untreated, HIV could progress to its final stage: AIDS.
Symptoms of AIDS may include:
These symptoms can, however, also be the result of other illnesses. The only way to find out for certain (for those who don’t already know they have HIV) is to take an HIV test.
Diagnosing AIDSHIV test results, combined with a person’s set of symptoms, will help a doctor determine whether to diagnosis someone with AIDS.
Diagnosing AIDS
HIV test results, combined with a person’s set of symptoms, will help a doctor determine whether to diagnosis someone with AIDS.
How the Immune System Works
Theimmune system—which is made up of various organs, cells, and proteins—is designed to protect a person’s body from harmful substances, germs, and cell changes that could make them sick.
A person’s immune system has three primary tasks:
There are also three different types of immunity: innate, acquired, and passive.
Innate Immunity
This is the immunity a person is born with, which protects them against antigens—proteins found on the surface of cells, viruses, fungi, or bacteria.
The purpose of innate immunity is to maintain effective barriers against harmful materials that may enter a human body and provide its first line of defense. Some of the functions and barriers of innate immunity include:
Acquired Immunity
Acquired immunity develops following exposure to various antigens that have made it past the body’s initial barriers.
When this happens and a person’s immune system detects an antigen, it creates a specific protein that it uses to neutralize and/or fight off that particular antigen if it attempts to attack the body again. That protein is called an antibody.
Passive Immunity
Passive immunity is the result of antibodies that are produced outside of a person’s own body. Most notably, this occurs when a fetus receives antibodies that are transferred through the placenta. After it’s born, an infant typically has these antibodies for between 6 and 12 months.
AIDS and autoimmune diseases both affect the immune system, though in two different ways:
AIDS vs. Autoimmune Diseases
When a person has anautoimmune disease, their body’s immune system—which is there to protect them—can’t distinguish between something that is potentially harmful and their own healthy cells and tissues, so it attacks everything.
AIDS, however, is an immunodeficiency disorder. Unlike anautoimmune disease—in which a body’s immune system attacks its own healthy tissue—the immune system of a person with an immunodeficiency disorder is very weak, or absent altogether. This is also known as immunosuppression.
AIDS and Autoimmune Disease Research
HIV—the virus that causes AIDS—can also cause an immune dysregulation, which can lead to the development of autoimmune and systemic diseases.
In one 2017 study, a cohort of people living with HIV had certainautoimmune diseasesat a more frequent rate than the general public. These include:
A separate 2017 study found that people with HIV/AIDS had an increased risk of developing some autoimmune diseases, specifically:
A Word From Verywell
When your immune system is functioning properly, you typically don’t even realize that it’s there. But for people with certain disorders involving the immune system, it might feel like it controls their entire life.
10 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Boston Children’s Hospital.Autoimmune diseases.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About HIV/AIDS.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Symptoms of HIV. Updated: July 01, 2020.Information NC for B, Pike USNL of M 8600 R, MD B, Usa 20894.How does the immune system work?Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG).MedlinePlus.Immune response.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Disorders of the immune system.MedlinePlus.Autoimmune disorders.MedlinePlus.Immunodeficiency disorders.Virot E, Duclos A, Adelaide L, et al.Autoimmune diseases and HIV infection.Medicine (Baltimore). 2017;96(4). doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000005769Yen Y-F, Chuang P-H, Jen I-A, et al.Incidence of autoimmune diseases in a nationwide HIV/AIDS patient cohort in Taiwan, 2000–2012.Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2017;76(4):661-665. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-209815
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Boston Children’s Hospital.Autoimmune diseases.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About HIV/AIDS.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Symptoms of HIV. Updated: July 01, 2020.Information NC for B, Pike USNL of M 8600 R, MD B, Usa 20894.How does the immune system work?Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG).MedlinePlus.Immune response.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Disorders of the immune system.MedlinePlus.Autoimmune disorders.MedlinePlus.Immunodeficiency disorders.Virot E, Duclos A, Adelaide L, et al.Autoimmune diseases and HIV infection.Medicine (Baltimore). 2017;96(4). doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000005769Yen Y-F, Chuang P-H, Jen I-A, et al.Incidence of autoimmune diseases in a nationwide HIV/AIDS patient cohort in Taiwan, 2000–2012.Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2017;76(4):661-665. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-209815
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Boston Children’s Hospital.Autoimmune diseases.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About HIV/AIDS.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Symptoms of HIV. Updated: July 01, 2020.Information NC for B, Pike USNL of M 8600 R, MD B, Usa 20894.How does the immune system work?Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG).MedlinePlus.Immune response.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Disorders of the immune system.MedlinePlus.Autoimmune disorders.MedlinePlus.Immunodeficiency disorders.Virot E, Duclos A, Adelaide L, et al.Autoimmune diseases and HIV infection.Medicine (Baltimore). 2017;96(4). doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000005769Yen Y-F, Chuang P-H, Jen I-A, et al.Incidence of autoimmune diseases in a nationwide HIV/AIDS patient cohort in Taiwan, 2000–2012.Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2017;76(4):661-665. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-209815
Boston Children’s Hospital.Autoimmune diseases.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About HIV/AIDS.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Symptoms of HIV. Updated: July 01, 2020.
Information NC for B, Pike USNL of M 8600 R, MD B, Usa 20894.How does the immune system work?Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG).
MedlinePlus.Immune response.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Disorders of the immune system.
MedlinePlus.Autoimmune disorders.
MedlinePlus.Immunodeficiency disorders.
Virot E, Duclos A, Adelaide L, et al.Autoimmune diseases and HIV infection.Medicine (Baltimore). 2017;96(4). doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000005769
Yen Y-F, Chuang P-H, Jen I-A, et al.Incidence of autoimmune diseases in a nationwide HIV/AIDS patient cohort in Taiwan, 2000–2012.Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2017;76(4):661-665. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-209815
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