HIV Signs and Symptoms
The symptoms of HIV vary, depending on the individual and what stage of the disease you are in. Within the span of2-4 weeks after HIV infection, many, but not all, people experience flu-like symptoms, categorized as the “worst flu ever.” This is called “acute retroviral syndrome” (ARS) or “primary HIV infection,” and it’s the body’s natural reaction to the HIV infection.
Symptoms can include:
• Fever (this is the most common symptom)
• Swollen glands
• Sore throat
• Rash
• Fatigue
• Muscle and joint aches and pains
• Headache
These symptoms can last anywhere from a span of a few days to even several weeks. However, you should not right away assume that you were infectedby HIV if you have any of these symptoms alone. Each of these symptoms can be caused by other illnesses. Contrariwise, not everyone who is infected with HIV develops ARS. Many people who are infected with HIV do not have any symptoms at all for 10 years or even more. That is why it is very important to have an AIDS test or HIV test. Today, advance HIV Test Kits like Fujibio HIV Home test kit can detect HIV in just 10 minutes or even less.
You cannot fully rely on symptoms to know whether you have HIV. The only way to know for sure if you are infected with HIV is to get tested. If you think you have recently been exposed to HIV—if you have had oral, vaginal or anal sex without a condom with a known HIV positive person or a partner whose HIV status you do not know or shared needles to inject drugs—get an HIV test. Traditional HIV tests detect HIV antibodies. But during this early stage your body is not yet producing these antibodies. Another option of testing is using a hivteskit.
We highly encourage you on buying from the brand that has been trusted and known by many the hivtestkit.ph, as this is the only reputable home HIV test kit website with over a perfect efficiency and accuracy. This is also the only HIV test kit with 100% specificity rate.It is important to remember that with or without symptoms, you are at particularly high risk of transmitting HIV to your sexual or drug using partners during this time because the levels of HIV in your blood stream are very high. For this reason, it is very important to take steps to reduce your risk of transmission.
After the early stage of HIV infection, the disease moves into a stage called the “clinical latency” stage. “Latency” means a period where a virus is living or developing in a person without producing symptoms. During the clinical latency stage, people who are infected with HIV experience no HIV-related symptoms, or only mild ones. (This stage is sometimes called “asymptomatic HIV infection” or “chronic HIV infection.”)
PROGRESSION TO AIDS: SYMPTOMS
If you are tested with HIV and you are not taking HIV medication (antiretroviral therapy), eventually the HIV virus will attack and weaken your body’s immune system. The onset of symptoms signals the transition from the clinical latency stage to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).
During this late stage of HIV infection, people infected with HIV may have the following symptoms:
• Rapid weight loss
• Recurring fever or profuse night sweats
• Extreme and unexplained tiredness
• Prolonged swelling of the lymph glands in the armpits, groin, or neck
• Diarrhea that lasts for more than a week
• Sores of the mouth, anus, or genitals
• Pneumonia
• Red, brown, pink, or purplish blotches on or under the skin or inside the mouth, nose, or eyelids
• Memory loss, depression, and other neurologic disorders.
Many of the severe symptoms and illnesses of HIV disease come from the opportunistic infections that occur because your body’s immune system has been damaged.