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.