The onset of HIV infection is subtle and potentially lethal. Understanding the symptoms common to infection by the human immunodeficiency virus helps to recognize and treat the syndrome, preventing its spreading or infecting others.
The Facts
HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus. Once it's in your system, the virus kills key cells in the immune system, and you becomes more susceptible to illness. The immune system is too weak to combat all the germs constantly around us, thus you becomes weak from opportunistic illness. You can catch the virus sexually, through shared needles, or through breast milk.
Early Symptoms
Diagnosing HIV infection is problematic; because only the immune system is damaged, no sign or symptom is conclusive proof of the presence of HIV. The only conclusive proof is a medical HIV test. However, possible and common signs include those associated with flu such as fever, headaches, aches and pains, or swollen glands.
Later Symptoms
As with early symptoms, none of these signs are conclusive, but a further progression of HIV infection may include fatigue, diarrhea, frequent and persistent fevers, memory loss, various infections, genital sores, or bone and muscle pain.
Misconceptions
HIV infection is not necessarily AIDS. HIV becomes AIDS in the final stage of infection, when the immune system has been rendered almost completely ineffective. In addition, the host is suffering from several opportunistic infections. It can take a few weeks or up to 10 years for AIDS to develop from an HIV-infected host, but with proper treatment it can be delayed up to 15 years.
Warning
Although HIV infection is not easily recognizable, if you do catch it, you will be highly infective almost immediately. It is vital to recognize the illness so you don't infect others, and to get treatment. With proper treatment, expectant mothers can avoid passing the virus on to their children, and the virus's development into AIDS can be hampered.
Tags: immune system, conclusive proof, human immunodeficiency, human immunodeficiency virus, immunodeficiency virus, proper treatment