Pelosi credits fight against AIDS for historic victories like marriage equality

In This Story: HIV

The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.

Without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype. In most cases, HIV is a sexually transmitted infection and occurs by contact with or transfer of blood, pre-ejaculate, semen, and vaginal fluids. Research has shown (for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples) that HIV is untransmittable through condomless sexual intercourse if the HIV-positive partner has a consistently undetectable viral load.

Non-sexual transmission can occur from an infected mother to her infant during pregnancy, during childbirth by exposure to her blood or vaginal fluid, and through breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells.

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In This Story: Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Patricia Pelosi is an American politician serving as a congresswoman from California and the speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi is the only woman in U.S. history to serve as Speaker and the highest-ranking female elected official in United States history. She is also the dean of California’s congressional delegation. As House speaker, Pelosi is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president.

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In This Story: San Francisco

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a cultural, commercial, and financial center in the U.S. state of California.

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In This Story: United States

The United States is a country also known as the United States of America, USA, US or just America. There are fifty states in the union, which is a federal republic ruled by a representative democracy. Nearly ten million square kilometres are inhabited by over 300 million people. The majority of Americans speak English.

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