There are more than 1 million HIV-positive people living in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 55,000 more will become infected this year. Because symptoms of HIV often go unnoticed in the early stages, it can take years for a person to suspect a problem and receive a diagnosis. Many patients enter the AIDS stage of the disease before they even find out that they are sick.
Flu-like Symptoms
When a person is first infected by the HIV virus, he typically develops flu-like symptoms, says MayoClinic.com. Symptoms such as fever, rash, headache, sore throat and swollen lymph glands develop two to six weeks after infection and can last from a couple of days up to a week. Since the symptoms are typically mild, most people do not seek medical help and, if they do, most doctors don't initially suspect HIV because these symptoms are common for so many diseases.
No Symptoms
After the initial stage, most patients have no symptoms at all for years and are not typically aware that they have HIV. Some become aware that they are carrying HIV by accident when they try to donate blood, for example. Being asymptomatic does not prevent the patient from spreading this deadly virus, however.
Later Symptoms
Many patients don't develop any symptoms for a decade; however, the HIV virus is still busy, killing CD4 lymphocytes that defend the body against infections. Finally, the patient develops symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, a cough, weight loss and swollen lymph nodes. It is during this stage most patients finally get diagnosed. With proper care, it is possible to improve the patient's immune system. If a patient is diagnosed early enough, he stands a good chance of never developing AIDS.
AIDS Symptoms
When a patient's CD4 lymphocyte count is fewer than 200 cells per cubic mm of blood, he begins to suffer from so-called opportunistic infections. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this means that he meets the official definition for AIDS. Someone with a normal immune system can easily fight off these infections, but the weakened immune system of an HIV patient does not have the strength to do it. The term "opportunistic infection" is misleading as these can include many other kinds of illnesses beside infections---certain cancers, for example. Other common examples include herpes simplex viruses, tuberculosis, malaria, toxoplasmosis and pneumocystis pneumonia. In addition to opportunistic diseases, AIDS patient may also suffer from fever higher than 100 degrees F that continues for several weeks, chronic diarrhea, shortness of breath, night sweats, headache, white spots on the mouth, weight loss and blurred vision.
