HIV/AIDS Symptoms

The earliest symptoms of HIV infection start to show when your body begins to form antibodies against the virus between six weeks and three months after the infection has occurred. This is known as "seroconversion".

For most people however, the first symptoms of HIV will not be apparent. They will be asymptomatic and only a HIV test will show if they are infected. Those who do show early HIV symptoms will develop flu-like symptoms. These include fever, rash, muscles aches and swollen lymph nodes and glands.

As the HIV progresses, the patient will grow increasingly susceptible to illnesses and other infections that normally don't affect a healthy person. The immune system is so weak at that point that the typical cures to these infections usually fail.

From HIV To AIDS

Without proper treatment, people infected with HIV can expect to develop AIDS eight to ten years after their initial HIV infection. HIV medication however can slow down this progressions to the point where it can take 10 to 15 years before you develop AIDS.

Therefore, when someone becomes HIV-positive, we can say that he or she can go through 3 stages....

1. The Person Gets HIV In His/Her Body.

After someone becomes HIV-positive, they can appear healthy for many years but the virus is still in their system and it can get passed along to other people without anyone knowing it. After about 3 months the body starts to respond to the HIV by producing antibodies but the antibodies cannot kill the virus. This is the aforementioned "seroconversion" and early symptoms could present themselves, even though it is not likely.

Blood tests can detect these antibodies which lets someone know that they indeed are infected HIV-positive.

2. Illnesses Can Begin To Appear.

A HIV-positive person can begin to show signs of illness after six months or after many years but these signs are common in many other illnesses so they are not specific enough to be used to diagnose HIV. A person might have HIV if they show at least 2 of the major signs and at least 1 minor sign.

Major signs:

- Weight loss greater than 10% of the body weight
- Diarrhea for an extended period of time (longer than one month)
- Persistent fatigue
- Fever for longer than one month

Minor signs:

- Skin rashes
- Cold sores over body
- Shingles
- Trush in mouth and throat
- Swollen glands for more than 3 months
- Cough for more than 1 month

3. The Person Has AIDS

Stage 3 is when so much of the immune system is destroyed that the person is attacked by infections which his or her body eventually won't be able to fight. It's in this last stage that we can talk about the patient having "AIDS".

Common diseases that can affect someone with AIDS include:

- Chest infections causing pneumonia or recurrent pneumonia
- Gut infections causing severe diarrhea
- Brain infections that cause mental confusion and severe headaches
- Cancers, including cervical cancer and lymphoma
- Kaposi's Sarcoma