According to Avert.org, an international AIDS charity, more than one million people in the United States have HIV. AIDS is a chronic, life threatening illness caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV interferes with the body's ability to effectively fight off illness, leaving sufferers open to opportunistic infections. Despite the numbers, people are living longer with HIV thanks to better medications and more awareness. Knowing what to look for could allow people to seek help earlier and improve patient outcomes.
Early Infection Symptoms
Two to four weeks after acquiring the virus, a person may begin to experience flu like symptoms. Fever, headache, sore throat, rash and swollen lymph nodes may be noted. Even if a patient isn't symptomatic, it is still possible to infect others at this stage of the illness.
Later Infection Symptoms
Many patients can remain symptom free for years. During this time, the infection is slowly destroying immune cells and multiplying the virus in the body. A person may begin to notice they are getting ill more often, or that their illnesses seem to last longer. There may be chronic infections or swollen lymph nodes, which is often the first noticeable sign of HIV. Symptoms of HIV at this stage may be weight loss, diarrhea, fever, cough and shortness of breath.
Latent Phase Symptoms
In the latent phase, which can occur more than 10 years after the initial infection, symptoms may become more serious. A person may begin to experience persistent fatigue, soaking night sweats, shaking chills, fever, lymph nodes swollen for more than three months, persistent headaches and chronic diarrhea. Opportunistic infections become present such as pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and cancer. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a CD4 lymphocyte count of less than 200, and an opportunistic infection along with a diagnosis of HIV will result in an AIDS diagnosis.
Considerations
The HIV virus will affect everybody differently and can go undetected for years. In order to be certain the virus isn't present, a blood test is required. If exposure is suspected, patients should go to their physician or clinic and get tested. Many clinics have HIV tests that can tell within minutes whether a person has the virus. If the test is positive, the clinic will often move onto an ELISA test for confirmation, which takes a few days but is much more accurate. Even if a test is negative, it is important to get retested at six weeks and again at six months if exposure is suspected.
