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What Is AIDS?

AIDS

Say: ADES

The letters in AIDS stand for:

  • acquired
  • immunodeficiency (say: im-yuh-noh-di-FISH-un-see)
  • syndrome

AIDS is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus weakens the immune system by killing a kind of white blood cell needed to fight infections. A person who has been infected with the HIV virus may not get AIDS for a long time.