Early Signs of HIV and Being Aware of Your Condition

There are millions of people who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the United States alone, there were about 1.2 million people who were diagnosed with HIV infection in the year 2002.

While the reported HIV-infected population is already undeniably huge, health experts suspect that there are far more people who are actually infected with the disease during that year – probably about 1.5 million. The problem is that a percentage of this infected population is just unaware of their condition.

The unawareness might stem from the fact that people are not required to take regular HIV tests. Other than this, many HIV infected people are oblivious of their health condition primarily because they are not familiar with the early signs of HIV infection.

What you need to know about HIV signs and symptoms

Many HIV infected people do not experience signs and symptoms of the infection. The duration for the development of the disease, as well as the symptoms, will usually vary. Some show up within just a few months while others take more than ten years.

In addition to that, the severity and the number of symptoms that will manifest vary from one person to another. What’s more is that the early signs of HIV infection will typically disappear on its own just after a few weeks after the virus has been transmitted. So technically, many infected people might just disregard the early symptoms as soon as they disappear. Some will also associate the signs with other diseases or health conditions that they might have.

Although there might be no early signs of HIV, the virus will continue to reproduce actively inside the body. In this process, it will also invade and kill body cells. The most common target of the virus is the cells of the immune system – in particular, the T-4 lymphocytes. These cells are responsible for fighting body infections.

The apparent symptoms

On the first phase of HIV infection, the patient will likely develop flu-like illness. This illness comprised of persistent fatigue and high fever will typically last for two to four weeks upon infection. In some cases, the patient will also experience severe headaches and sore throat. There might also be swollen lymph glands which can be very painful. In some cases, rashes and lesions might also occur.

As the immune system of the patient becomes severely impaired overtime, the HIV infected person will experience more apparent early signs of HIV. This will include frequent fever and night chills and sudden weight loss. The patient will also experience a lack of energy as well as short term memory loss. A few patients also reported that they had persistent yeast infections matched with other skin diseases. This included rashes, flaky skin, lesions, and sores in the mouth, the genitalia, and the anal area. GP