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HIV Complications

HIV weakens the immune system over time through infection by targeting immune cells called CD4 cells. This viral action leads to effects on the body in three different stages of HIV disease. The longest stage of HIV has no symptoms, but the virus is still weakening the immune system during this time.

  1. Acute HIV Infection

    • The effects of acute HIV infection are a short flu-like sickness soon after infection. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, aches and pains, sore throat, digestive problems including loss of appetite, nausea and diarrhea, and skin rash. This symptoms disappear within a month and do not have lasting effects.

    Symptomatic HIV

    • A chronic flu-like illness develops during symptomatic HIV, an average of 10 years after infection. Other symptoms include night sweats, fungal infections, skin and breathing conditions, as well as the development of severe weight loss, which will continue into AIDS.

    AIDS

    • The effects of HIV cause the loss of cell-mediated immunity, which means that the immune system can no longer fight off infections successfully. This occurs when CD4 cell count drops below 200 per cubic milliliter of blood.

    Opportunistic Infections

    • The loss of cell-mediated immunity means that people with AIDS develop disease from infections that do not sicken people who have healthy immune systems. These opportunistic infections include oral fungus (thrush), cytomegalovirus (which can cause blindness), Pneumocystis pneumonia (a fungal, often fatal pneumonia) and toxoplasmosis, an infection of the brain by protozoan parasites (AIDS.org).

    Other Effects

    • AIDS is also marked by cancers, including cervical cancer, lymphomas (cancers of the cells of the immune system) and Kaposi's sarcoma, a skin cancer with purple lesions. Neurological problems also occur, including dementia that can affect a sufferer's motor skills, thinking and behavior.

    Treatment

    • HIV-disease is managed with antiretroviral drugs, which are used (in a multi-drug treatment plan called HAART, or highly active antiretroviral therapy) to control the infection and replication processes of HIV. Other conditions are managed specifically with, for instance, antibacterial and antiviral drugs and cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.

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