Question

Why is AIDS a fatal disease? Why is it considered to be a syndrome and not a disease?

Answer 1

Hint: AIDS is an immunodeficiency syndrome caused by genetic or acquired loss of a component of the immune system by which the person becomes unprotected by the pathogen. The person suffering from this syndrome becomes liable to catch the disease.

Complete answer:
AIDS is a fatal disease caused by the Human immunodeficiency virus which leads to weakening of the immune system by which a person gets prone to many diseases and it takes a long time to cure, the immune system becomes unable to fight the pathogen due to a decrease in the number of helper T cells. AIDS is a syndrome because it is caused by a number of symptoms which include weight loss, ulcer, diarrhea, fever, cough, nausea, night sweating, tuberculosis, pneumonia, brain damage, etc. In some cases, AIDS also causes cancer by affecting cell growth.

Additional Information: The life cycle of AIDS starts when a virus enters into macrophages, the RNA of the virus gets replicated to form DNA by enzyme reverse transcriptase. The macrophage started to work like a factory where a large number of viruses get developed. The HIV gets to enter into a helper T cell where it replicates and produces several viruses. An increase in the number of viruses leads to a decrease in the number of helper T cells, by which a person gets prone to disease. AIDS is not transferred by physical contact it only gets transferred by sexual contact, blood, and infected needles.

Note: ARC is also called an AIDS-related complex which is a mild form of AIDS in which a person gets symptoms like swollen lymph gland, weight loss, and night sweating. ARC is recoverable and in some ARC patients, a person develops full-blown AIDS.