HIV is an Inflammatory DiseaseWe are learning that HIV seems to do more than just impair the immune system. It is also an inflammatory disease which over time can cause damage to arteries and to the heart as well as to other organs. Because of this inflammatory effect, a person who has HIV and who does not smoke has the same risk for heart attack as a person who doesn’t have HIV but who does smoke. This is also one of the reasons we encourage newly diagnosed HIV positive clients to get linked to care as soon as possible, as we will talk about later in this training.