While some of these diseases can occur in people who don’t have HIV, they are only considered AIDS-defining in the presence of an HIV infection.
Opportunistic Infections vs. AIDS-Defining Illnesses
While AIDS-defining illnesses can also be classified as opportunistic infections, the opposite is not necessarily true. Opportunistic infections are those caused by otherwise common, harmless viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites which can cause disease when immune defenses have been compromised.
Many opportunistic infections are not life-threatening and can develop even when a person’s CD4 count is high. AIDS-defining illnesses, by contrast, tend to appear during later-stage disease when the CD4 count has dropped significantly.
Some opportunistic infections, such as herpes simplex, are only considered to be AIDS-defining when they spread (disseminates) beyond the tissue or organ where they are typically seen.
List of AIDS-Defining Illnesses
The current list of AIDS-defining illnesses according to the CDC are :
Bacterial infections, multiple or recurrent Candidiasis of bronchi, trachea, or lungs Candidiasis of the esophagus Cervical cancer (invasive) Coccidioidomycosis, disseminated Cryptococcosis, presenting outside of the lung Cryptosporidiosis, chronic intestinal for longer than one month Cytomegalovirus (CMV) with loss of vision Cytomegalovirus disease (other than in the liver, spleen, or lymph nodes) Encephalopathy (HIV-related, also knows as AIDS dementia complex) Herpes simplex virus (HSV), lasting longer than a month or appearing in an area other than the skin (such as esophagus or lungs) Histoplasmosis, disseminated Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) Lymphoid interstitial pneumonia or pulmonary lymphoid hyperplasia complex Burkitt lymphoma (or equivalent term) Immunoblastic lymphoma (or equivalent term) Primary lymphoma of the brain Mycobacterium avium complex or Mycobacterium kansasii, disseminated Mycobacterium tuberculosis of any site in or out of the lungs Mycobacterium or similar species, disseminated beyond the lung Pneumocystis pneumonia caused by the fungus Pneumocystis jiroveci Pneumonia, recurrent Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) Salmonella septicemia, recurrent Toxoplasmosis of the brain Tuberculosis Wasting syndrome
A Word From Verywell
If you have HIV, getting your CD4 count and viral load tested regularly is critical to your health and the prevention of HIV-associated diseases.
AIDS-defining illnesses are best avoided by starting antiretroviral therapy, ideally at the time of diagnosis.
Once started, HIV therapy must be continued for a lifetime and taken daily to ensure the sustained suppression of viral activity and to prevent the development of drug and multi-drug resistance.
