Early AIDS symptoms:
People usually looks and feel totally healthy for a long time after they are infected. It can take 10 years or more for HIV to show any symptoms for people who take HIV medicines. That why it is really very important to get tested for HIV regularly, especially who had unprotected sex or shared needles,etc.. HIV treatment can help you stay healthy. Treatment can also even stop your chances of spreading HIV to other people during sex.
The first 2-4 weeks after being infected with HIV, you may feel feverish, achy, and sick. These flu-like symptoms are the body’s first reaction to the HIV infection. During that time, there is a lot of the virus in your body, so it is really easy to spread HIV from one person to other people. The symptoms only last for a few weeks, and then you usually dont have symptoms again for years.
Later AIDS symptoms:
HIV destroys cells in your immune system called CD4 cells or T cells. Without CD4 cells, your body has a hard time fighting off diseases. This makes you more likely to get really sick from infections that usually wouldnot hurt you. Over time, the damage HIV does to your immune system leads to AIDS.
You have AIDS when you get rare infections or types of cancer, or if you have lost a certain number of CD4 cells. This usually happens about 10 years after getting HIV if you donot get treatment. Treatment can delay or even prevent you from ever developing AIDS.
Normal symptoms of AIDS include:
Thrush.
Sore throat.
Bad yeast infections.
Chronic pelvic inflammatory disease and Getting bad infections a lot.
Feeling really tired, dizzy, and lightheaded.
Headaches and losing lots of weight quickly.
Bruising more easily than normal
Having diarrhea, fevers, or night sweats for a long time.
Feeling short of breath.
Purplish growths on your skin or inside your mouth
Bleeding from the mouth, nose, anus, or vagina.
Skin rashes.
Symptoms and Stages of HIV
HIV infection happens in three stages. Without treatment, it will get worse over time.
First Stage:
Most people dont know right away when they have been infected with HIV, but a short time later, they must have symptoms. This is when your body’s immune system puts up a fight, typically within 2 – 6 weeks after you have gotten the virus. It is called acute retroviral syndrome or primary HIV infection.
Second Stage:
After your immune system loses the battle with HIV, the flu-like symptoms will go away. Most people don’t have symptoms you can see or feel. You may not realize you are infected and can pass HIV on to others. This stage can last 10 years or more.
During this time, untreated HIV will be killing CD4 T-cells and destroying your immune system. Fortunately, a combination, or “cocktail,” of medications can help fight HIV, rebuild your immune system. Prevent to spreading the virus. if you are taking medications and have healthy habits, your HIV infection may not progress further.
Third Stage:
AIDS is the advanced stage of HIV infection. This is usually when your CD4 or T-cell number drops below 200. You can also be diagnosed with AIDS if you have an “AIDS defining illness” such as Kaposi’s sarcoma or pneumocystis pneumonia.
Signs and Symptoms of HIV/AIDS in Infants and Children:
HIV infection is often difficult to diagnose in very young children.In one hand, Infants with HIV often appear normal and may show no signs allowing for a clear diagnosis of HIV infection. On the other hand, many infants develop multiple and serious illnesses related to their HIV infection.
Many children with HIV infection do not gain weight or grow normally. If left untreated, HIV-infected children are frequently slow to reach important milestones in motor skills and mental development such as crawling, walking, and talking. As the disease progresses, many children with untreated HIV develop problems with walking, poor school performance, seizures, and other symptoms of HIV brain encephalopathy.
Children with untreated HIV suffer the usual childhood infections more frequently and more severely than HIV-uninfected children. These infections can cause seizures, fever, pneumonia, recurrent colds, diarrhea, dehydration, and other problems, like adults with HIV infection, children with HIV are at risk of developing life-threatening opportunistic infections. Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), a severe form of pneumonia that strikes people with weakened the immune systems.
