Lupus vs HIV
What could be more troublesome than acquiring diseases? Truly enough, when one of your family members becomes ill, you cannot stop worrying. First of all, becoming ill takes a toll on one’s health, emotional, and even financial aspects. For any family, they are most worried about when one of their family members has lupus and HIV. These diseases are often connected with each other because when one has lupus, his or her HIV lab results are often affected. However, experts say that there is no relationship between lupus and HIV. Lupus and HIV are two different diseases. However, both diseases attack the human immune system. Let us discuss a few important details regarding lupus and HIV.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease. It means that the immune system can’t tell the difference between healthy body tissue and antigens. When someone has lupus, the healthy tissues are often affected which include the skin, joints, heat, blood, lungs, and even kidneys. You will have signs of inflammation and swelling. Since the nature of lupus is an autoimmune disease, your immune system cannot detect antigens; hence, it affects the above-mentioned body tissues and organs.
There are different types of lupus. The most commonly known type of lupus is SLE or systemic lupus erythematosus. Other types include: discoid, drug induced, and neonatal. Most often, females are affected by lupus than males. African-American women have a higher mortality rate according to the studies. So what causes lupus? No one can actually tell what is the cause of lupus. However, it is said that lupus is linked to the genetic and environmental stimuli. Since women are mostly affected by lupus, healthcare providers believe that the hormone estrogen is one key factor in developing lupus. When triggered under the following conditions, you are likely to have lupus: smoking, UV rays, extreme stress, taking medications, infections, and chemical compounds. Here are some signs that you have lupus: serositis, mucosal ulcers, arthritis, photosensitivity, anemia, seizures, rash on the cheeks, and red, scaly patches on the skin. Sadly, there is no treatment for lupus.
HIV is human immunodeficiency virus. It is actually a virus that causes AIDS and not a disease. Since HIV and AIDS are often associated together, several also consider AIDS as HIV. For people, HIV is a less hurtful term than identifying someone with AIDS. A person with HIV has a lowered immune system. This makes the person even more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. This might be the reason why when a person has HIV/AIDS or lupus, he will also have the other disease. As HIV/AIDS progresses, this worsens the health of an individual.
HIV/AIDS can be transmitted through blood-to-blood means and sexual contact. Here are the early common signs of a person with an HIV infection: fever, chills, joint pain, muscle ache, sore throat, sweating at night, enlarged glands, red rash, weakness, and weight loss. You will notice that most of the signs of a person with HIV/AIDS are also present in a person with lupus. To determine which is which, if you have lupus, there should be a butterfly rash on your face which is not present in HIV/AIDS. Like lupus, HIV/AIDS is not curable.
Summary:
- Lupus and HIV both attack the human immune system.
- Lupus and HIV are not curable. Depending on the management of the signs and symptoms, the ill person can still have a longer life.
- Lupus and HIV often have the same signs and symptoms. To know whether you have lupus or not, there should be the presence of a butterfly rash (malar rash) on your face.
- The cause of lupus is not known while the cause of HIV/AIDS is the HIV virus.