P. Monna Khanna: HIV stands for Human Immune Deficiency Virus. This virus attacks the body's immune system by destroying new type of white blood cells that you need to fight disease. When an HIV infection has severely weakened your immune system to a certain point, you are no longer just infected with the virus, you now have a condition called AIDS. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Researchers first identified HIV in the United States in 1981. once consider to death sentence, new medications have now enable infected patients to live much longer, and much healthier lives. HIV is usually transmitted in three ways; by having sex with an infected person, by sharing needles with an infected person, or by a baby being exposed to the virus during pregnancy, birth or breast feeding.

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