• Question: What happens to AIDS if the person with AIDS dies?

    Asked by mlskld to Ailsa, Evan, James, Kath, Ryan on 19 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ryan Ladd

      Ryan Ladd answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      AIDS is actually the name of the condition, it’s caused by HIV, a virus. I guess, when a person with HIV dies the virus will die too, but virus’ are strange things and aren’t always considered alive, so I’m not sure if they can die!

      Maybe Ailsa can answer better than me!

    • Photo: Ailsa Powell

      Ailsa Powell answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      So viruses like HIV need a living cell in order to reproduce themselves, but don’t need a living cell to survive.

      If a person with HIV dies then the virus can’t reroduce itself but fluids from the body will contain the virus. That doesn’t mean the virus can escape into the environment and infect another person, as with all HIV infections it would require contact with virus containing fluid, like blood.

      Although it doesn’t involve anybody dying, that is why donated blood is screened for HIV and other viruses, because the viruses would be able to survive in the blood (even when it’s been kept in the fridge and not in a person) and infect a someone who was given that blood. You would have a similar problem with organ donation, if a donated organ contained HIV then the recipient could get infected.

    • Photo: Evan Keane

      Evan Keane answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      I think Ailsa’s answer is what you should look at here, but basically the virus dies along with the person.

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