HIV - abbreviation (Health and Fitness)
Short for human immunodeficiency virus, a name for either one of
two retroviruses (
properly called
HIV-1 and
HIV-2) which cause a breakdown of the body's immune system, leading in some cases to the development of Aids. Etymology: The initial letters of Human Inmmunodeficiency Virus. History and Usage:
HIV became the official
name for the Aids retroviruses in 1986, after an international committee had looked into the proliferation of names resulting from research in different parts of the
world (previously, the same retroviruses had been known variously as ARV: Aids-related virus, HTLV-III (or HTLV-3):
human T-cell lymphotropic or lymphocyte virus 3, and LAV-1 and LAV-2: lymphadenopathy-associated virus 1 and
2). The
US Center for Disease Control used
HIV attributively in three of the six stages that it identified: the base state,
HIV antibody seronegativity, involves no sign in the blood of exposure to
HIV;
HIV antibody seropositivity identifies the presence of antibodies; and
HIV asymptomaticity refers to infection with the virus which has not produced any signs of illness. (For the full list of stages, see
Aids .) Colloquially,
HIV is
sometimes called the
HIV virus, effectively repeating the word virus (but showing that many people are not aware of the expansion of the abbreviation), and
HIV-positive is used as an alternative for antibody-positive (similarly
HIV-negative). In the late eighties, confusion over the terminology of Aids (and in particular frequent reference to people who actually had only a positive report of
HIV infection as 'having Aids') led to the development of the term
HIV disease for the earlier stages. Most people with
HIV infection feel entirely well and may remain so for years...Some may feel ill...at the time they 'seroconvert' (i.e. become
HIV antibody positive). Allegra Taylor Acquainted with the Night (1989), p.
82
People with haemophilia who are
HIV-negative should be able to get life
insurance (though it
may cost more). Which? Sept. 1989, p.
454 Channel 4's
recent Dispatches programme, which repeated the arguments of (among others) molecular biologist Peter Duesberg to suggest that the
HIV virus can't cause Aids, has caused
outrage and
concern among Aids specialists in Britain. Guardian 29 June 1990, p. 38
