AIDS: Meaning and Definition of

AIDS

Pronunciation: (ādz), [key]
— n. Pathol.
  1. a disease of the immune system characterized by increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections, as pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and candidiasis, to certain cancers, as Kaposi's sarcoma, and to neurological disorders: caused by a retrovirus and transmitted chiefly through blood or blood products that enter the body's bloodstream, esp. by sexual contact or contaminated hypodermic needles. Cf. AIDS virus.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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