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kids
What Is AIDS?
AIDS
Say: ADES
The letters in AIDS stand for:
- acquired
- immunodeficiency (say: im-yuh-noh-di-FISH-un-see)
- syndrome
AIDS is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus weakens the immune system by killing a kind of white blood cell needed to fight infections. A person who has been infected with the HIV virus may not get AIDS for a long time.