AIDS:


Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is the most serious outcome of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. People with AIDS often suffer lung, brain, eye and other organ disease along with debilitating weight loss, diarrhea, candidiasis, dementia, toxoplasmosis and a type of cancer called Kaposi's Sarcoma. 

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. A condition in which the normal immune system becomes depressed, rendering the affected individual unable to fight a number of serious and fatal infections. Human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV-III) is associated with AIDS. The virus has been renamed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The presence of HIV antigen in the blood will confirm that an individual is infected with the virus and has AIDS. The presence of HIV antibody in the blood confirms that an individual has been infected with the AIDS virus. See antigen and antibody. 

Persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are protected under most federal and state discrimination laws. If buyers ask the real estate agent whether a prior occupant had AIDS, most agents point out that the law prevents responding one way or the other. Many states have emended their licensing laws to provide that the fact that someone has AIDS is not deemed a material fact and therefore does not form the basis for a claim that a broker concealed a material fact. Also protected are persons with AIDS-related complex (ARC) or human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV). 

An epidemic disease caused by an infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1, HIV-2), a retrovirus that causes immune system failure and debilitation and is often accompanied by infections such as tuberculosis. AIDS is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids.