AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) is an autoimmune disease that can be accompanied by a wide range of other symptoms and opportunistic infections. When any of these opportunistic infections include a positive diagnosis of the HIV virus, a patient is said to have AIDS. AIDS is controversial, in this respect, because of how widely AIDS symptoms can vary, both in terms of how it manifests around the globe, and also how it affects different risk groups.
In the United States and Europe, the most common characteristics of AIDS are Kaposi`s sarcoma (a type of cancer), pneumocystis pneumonia, candidiasis, and mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis (a disease caused by protozoa that damages the central nervous system, eyes, and internal organs), cytomegalovirus, and the herpes virus. Other symptoms often associated with AIDS include diarrhea, weight loss, night sweats, fevers, rashes, and swollen lymph glands.