Symptoms

Early signs of HIV infection

Indication of illness.Symptoms after an HIV infection are usually very rare, and vary from person to person. However some people do experience a flu-like illness three to six weeks after an infection. In this early stage of infection, called Acute HIV Syndrome, you may experience the following symptoms:

• Tiredness
• Fever
• Nausea
• Diarrhoea
• Headache
• Enlarged Organs in the lymphatic system that remove toxins and harmful bacteria and viruseslymph nodes

These symptoms are common to many illnesses, for this reason a person may not realize that they have been infected with HIV. These symptoms usually disappear within a month.

Later stages of HIV infection

After the initial infection a person may not experience any more symptoms of the virus for up to ten years. During this time period the virus is multiplying and destroying your CD4 cells. Eventually as the situation deteriorates, mild infections or Medical condition or illness that lasts over a long period of time.chronic symptoms may arise. These may include:

• Diarrhoea
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Fever
• Weight loss
• Cough, and an inability to breathe properly

After approximately ten years, during the final stages of an HIV infection, your body looses the ability to fight back, the viral load increases significantly and you will start to see some more serious symptoms appearing. By this time you probably have Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Final stage of HIV infection

The test for AIDS, taken from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is:

A positive HIV-antibody test plus

• The development of an opportunistic infection such as Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia or
• A CD4 lymphocyte count of 200 or less.

Now that your body is unable to defend itself from opportunistic infections, you will probably start to experience some of the following symptoms:

• Soaking night sweats
• Dry cough and shortness of breath
• Chronic diarrhoea
• Weight loss
• Lack of energy
• Shaking chills or high fever
• Headaches
• Persistent white spots or unusual Broken skin, an area of skin that is open and infected.lesions on your tongue or in your mouth
• Blurred and distorted vision