CNN —

Here’s a look at the origins, treatments and global response to HIV and AIDS.

Facts

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus.

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

HIV/AIDS is spread through sexual contact with an infected person, sharing needles with an infected person, through transfusions of infected blood or through an infected mother.

People infected with HIV go through three stages of infection:

Acute infection, or acute retroviral syndrome, which can produce flu-like symptoms in the first month after infection.

Clinical latency, or asymptomatic HIV infection, in which HIV reproduces at lower levels.

AIDS, in which the amount of CD4 cells fall below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood (as opposed to the normal level of 500-1,500).

HIV-1 an

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