3.4. AIDS and Opportunistic Infections: What are OIs?
Description
This article is from the AIDS FAQ, by Dan Greening with numerous contributions by others.
3.4. AIDS and Opportunistic Infections: What are OIs?
The immune systems of most people with HIV gradually deteriorate,
leaving them vulnerable to numerous viruses, fungi, bacteria and
protozoa that are held in check in people with healthy immune
systems. These microbes can become active in HIV-infected individuals,
causing frequent and severe disease.
NIAID uses a two-pronged approach to the prevention and treatment of
OIs: basic laboratory research to learn how these microbes cause
disease and clinical research to develop and evaluate promising
therapies.
Prevention and treatment of one such disease, Pneumocystis carinii
pneumonia or PCP, has been a major thrust of the NIAID program. Other
NIAID investigations include cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection,
Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and tuberculosis (TB). Institute
research focuses on these infections because, although they occur
repeatedly among HIV-infected people, they are rare in the general
population and few drugs are available now to prevent and treat them.
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