HIV infection weakens your immune system, making you highly susceptible to a large number of bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infections. You may also be vulnerable to certain types of cancers. But treatment with anti-retroviral drugs has markedly decreased the number of opportunistic infections and cancers affecting people with HIV. It's now more likely these infections will occur in people who have not had treatment.
Cancers Infections
- Kaposi's sarcoma. Kaposi's sarcoma is a tumor of the blood vessel walls. Although rare in people not infected with HIV, it's common in HIV-positive people. Kaposi's sarcoma usually appears as pink, red or purple lesions on the skin and mouth. In people with darker skin, the lesions may look dark brown or black. Kaposi's sarcoma can also affect the internal organs, including the digestive tract and lungs. Researchers are testing new combinations of the chemotherapy drugs currently used to treat Kaposi's sarcoma as well as new ways of delivering those medications. What's more, as with most opportunistic infections associated with AIDS, the use of anti-retrovirals has reduced the incidence of this cancer and has even reduced the lesions in people already affected.
- Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This cancer originates in lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. Lymphocytes are concentrated in your bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen, digestive tract and skin. Although lymphomas can start in other organs, they usually begin in your lymph nodes. The most common early sign is painless swelling of the lymph nodes in your neck, armpit or groin.