AIDS is the final, life-threatening stage of the infection with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiecy syndrome. The name refers to the fact that HIV severely damages the patient’s disease-fighting immune system. Cases of AIDS were first identified in 1981 in the United States, but scientists have traced cases to as early as 1959. Millions of AIDS cases have been diagnosed worldwide. HIV can be present in the body for 2 to 12 years without producing any outward signs of illness, yet there are definite symptoms. Infection with HIV appears to be lifelong in all that become infected. People infected with HIV eventually d