AIDS is a chronic incurable disease that is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is contracted through sexual contact, contaminated blood or blood products, contamination through intravenous needle sharing and via mother-to-child transmission during childbirth. By damaging your immune system, HIV interferes with your body's ability to fight off viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause disease, reports the Mayo Clinic. There are three stages of HIV/AIDS.
Acute Infection
Within two to four weeks after infection with HIV, you may experience an acute illness, which is often described as "the worst flu ever," reports AIDS.gov. Signs and symptoms include fever, headache, sore throat, swollen lymph glands, fatigue and rash. These symptoms occur as the virus begins to multiply and destroy your white blood cells (CD4 lymphocytes) needed to fight infection. Not everyone infected with HIV will develop signs and symptoms of acute infection.
Clinical Latency
According to AIDS.gov., after the acute stage of HIV infection, the disease moves into a stage called clinical latency. You may have no symptoms for a period of up to ten years. The HIV virus may remain at low levels in your body, however, you are still capable of transmitting HIV to others. Towards the end of this stage, the viral load in your body begins to rise and you may begin to experience signs and symptoms such as swollen lymph nodes, diarrhea, fever, cough and weight loss.
AIDS
In 1993 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) redefined AIDS to mean the presence of HIV infection as shown by a positive HIV-antibody test plus the development of an opportunistic infection or a CD4 lymphocyte count of 200 or less. During this stage symptoms may include night sweats, high fever, diarrhea, weight loss, fatigue, mouth lesions and cough.
