An HIV positive individual is one who is infected with the HIV virus. The status if HIV infection can be known with the help of the tests carried out. There are various types of tests which are carried out on an individual to know his/her HIV status. For example, the Elisa, western blot etc. are carried out for the same. The symptoms of the early infection which appear in an HIV positive individual are flu like illness, diarrhea etc.

The various symptoms, causes and treatment associated with an HIV individual are:

The foremost step to know as to whether an infection exists in the body is to look for the symptoms. The various symptoms observed in an HIV infected individual are:

• rapid loss in weight
• Dry cough
• fever
• fatigue and night sweats
• swollen lymph glands
• diarrhea
• pneumonia

The tests carried out to know the HIV status are as follows:

• The Elisa test
• The western blot test
• The use of home kits
• Rapid blood tests
• Other important tests

The causes which are responsible for an HIV positive condition are:

• Unsafe sexual intercourse
• Other forms of sex like oral sex etc.
• Use of infected needles.
• Blood transfusion from an infected individual
• Mother to child.

But as it is known that HIV is an incurable virus till this day but still treatment is available for the same which can prevent the infection from further spreading. The types of drugs available are:

• Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs)
• Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs)
• Protease inhibitor(PI)
• Fusion or entry inhibitors (EI)
• Integrase inhibitor (II)
• Maturation inhibitors (MI)

An HIV positive individual should not be discriminated or looked down upon instead we should make sure that every effort is made to make the person comfortable and he/she should be encouraged to lead a normal life and undergo treatment which will prevent the infection from further spreading. Thus, an HIV positive individual should try to keep a positive attitude towards life only then can life have a new meaning.