HS can be exceedingly painful and debilitating, but it is seldom fatal, happening primarily when a bacterial infection causes an overwhelming systemic infection in a person with a compromised immune system. The virus that causes HS also does not cause cancer. However, if the infection is not treated quickly, it may spread throughout the body and lead to multiple serious complications including stroke, kidney failure, and even death. In general, a weakened immune system makes you more susceptible to infections and diseases. This is true for people with HIV/AIDS as well as those who are healthy but have reduced immunity due to other reasons. In this case, infections will easily spread and cause problems all over the body. For example, someone who has low numbers of T cells may develop large areas of skin where HS lesions occur. These individuals are at risk for developing blood infections (sepsis) because their bodies are unable to fight off common bacteria that exist in the environment. People with AIDS usually die from one of two things: either the infection they have leads to their immune system being so weak that it cannot fight off another infection, or they develop drugs for their infection which kill them anyway. Healthies survivors often suffer from chronic infections and severe illnesses as a result of their suppressed immune systems being too weak to fight off regular bugs.