HIV infection symptoms: primary and advanced cases

October 20, 12:12 AMHartford Women's Health ExaminerElizabeth Stannard Gromisch

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Testing is the only way to diagnose HIV
CDC

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, slowly weakens the immune system, making it increasingly difficult for the body to fight off other infections. Identifying the disease by symptoms alone is difficult, as the signs are similar to other illnesses and stress reactions; the only definite way to identify HIV is through testing for HIV antibodies. In addition, you may not experience symptoms for up to ten years; however, you can still pass on the disease to other sexual partners.

Primary/Acute HIV Infection

The most common symptoms of an HIV infection are fatigue, fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and rashes, such as seborrheic dermatitis—flaky white or yellowish scales that form on oily skin, regardless of whether the skin is red. These symptoms can appear within days or weeks after the initial exposure to HIV; this type of HIV is known as primary or acute HIV infection.

Symptoms

Other symptoms of HIV include diarrhea, frequent vaginal yeast infections, mouth sores, and muscular stiffness or aching. Some HIV patients will not experience any symptoms, a condition known as asymptomatic HIV infection. Because there are no visible symptoms with asymptomatic HIV, there is the danger to spread the disease to other people. In addition, these symptoms are not unique to HIV, making self-diagnosis very difficult.

Possible Complications

Because the immune system is deteriorated by the infection, other diseases can further compromise it. Cancers, chronic wasting, HIV dementia and HIV lipdystrophy are possible complications. In addition, many infections can form, such as bacillary angiomatosis, candidiasis, cytomegalovirus infection, cryptococcal infection, cryptosporidium enterocolitis, mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection, pneumocystis carinii (jiroveci) pneumonia, salmonella infection in the bloodstream, toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.