thaanks for your help everyone =)
A diagnosis of AIDS is made whenever a person is HIV-positive and:
he or she has a CD4+ cell count below 200 cells per microliter OR
his or her CD4+ cells account for fewer than 14 percent of all lymphocytes OR
that person has been diagnosed with one or more of the AIDS-defining illnesses listed below.
Candidiasis of bronchi, trachea, or lungs (see Fungal Infections)
Candidiasis, esophageal (see Fungal Infections)
Cervical cancer, invasive‡
Coccidioidomycosis, disseminated (see Fungal Infections)
Cryptococcosis, extrapulmonary (see Fungal Infections)
Cryptosporidiosis, chronic intestinal (>1 month duration) (see Enteric Diseases)
Cytomegalovirus disease (other than liver, spleen, or lymph nodes)
Cytomegalovirus retinitis (with loss of vision)
Encephalopathy, HIV-related† (see Dementia)
Herpes simplex: chronic ulcer(s) (>1 month duration) or bronchitis, pneumonitis, or esophagitis
Histoplasmosis, disseminated (see Fungal Infections)
Isosporiasis, chronic intestinal (>1 month duration) (see Enteric Diseases)
Kaposi's sarcoma
Lymphoma, Burkitt's
Lymphoma, immunoblastic
Lymphoma, primary, of brain (primary central nervous system lymphoma)
Mycobacterium avium complex or disease caused by M. Kansasii, disseminated
Disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, any site (pulmonary‡ or extrapulmonary)
Disease caused by Mycobacterium, other species or unidentified species, disseminated
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
Pneumonia, recurrent‡ (see Bacterial Infections)
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Salmonella septicemia, recurrent (see Bacterial Infections)
Toxoplasmosis of brain (encephalitis)
Wasting syndrome caused by HIV infection†
To expand upon the answers given to you by Teak and Lizzie;
HIV is the virus that can lead to AIDS. An HIV test will test for antibodies to the HIV virus in your bloodstream (though there are Saliva tests and I beleive some urine based tests). Someone who is HIV+ does not automatically have AIDS. A definition of AIDS is when the CD4 count is measured as being below 250.
During the course of the illness regular checks are made upon how the virus is progressing and how many copies of the virus there are against how the immune system is coping in fighting the virus.
when someone had a risk or thinks they had a risk...they are tested for hiv.
it is only after someone has been DIAGNOSED with hiv that further testing is done to see the progression.
so an AIDS screen is just the same thing as a hiv test?
AIDS is HIV. It's just a progression of.