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Basic information about HIV and AIDS, including information on the virus, its origins, symptoms, and testing

In people with HIV, use of some HIV medicines may increase blood glucose (also called blood sugar) levels and lead to type 2 diabetes. Drugs in the PI and NRTI classes are most frequently associated with increased risk of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is treated with life style changes and/or medication.

HIV drug resistance occurs when a mutation occurs during HIV replication. Anti-HIV medications that previously controlled a person’s HIV infection are not effective against the mutant, drug-resistant HIV. Adherence to a treatment regimen reduces the risk of developing drug resistance.

An overview of the HIV life cycle. This factsheet contains information about and images depicting how HIV uses immune cells to replicate and how different medications block the replication cycle.

It’s been more than 30 years since a disease now called AIDS was first recognized in the United States. Back then, it was considered a death sentence. No treatments were available, its cause was unknown, and people often died within a few months after being diagnosed. Today, people infected with HIV—the virus that causes AIDS—can live full, healthy lives, in large part because of medicines and other discoveries made with NIH support.

March 20, 2015, is National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day . This day is an opportunity for Native people across the United States to learn about HIV and AIDS, encourage HIV counseling and testing in Native communities, and help decrease the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

February 7 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). The theme for NBHAAD, I Am My Brother’s and Sister's Keeper: Fight HIV/AIDS, emphasizes the role that everyone can play in HIV prevention.

Find your best HIV prevention and treatment options.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that can lead to AIDS. Learn more.