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HIV Disease Information

HIV disease is a term used to describe everything that occurs physiologically as a result of HIV infection. HIV-disease has four stages: acute infection, latency, symptomatic HIV and AIDS.

  1. Acute Infection

    • In many individuals, HIV triggers a flu-like illness within about a month after infection that lasts for about 2 weeks. Symptoms include fever, headache and muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, loss of appetite, diarrhea, nausea and skin rash.

    Latency

    • Latency is the longest phase of HIV infection. It lasts on average for about a decade but can last up to 25 years. During this phase, there are no symptoms at all of HIV infection.

    Symptomatic HIV

    • Symptomatic HIV occurs as the immune system begins to fail but before AIDS occurs and may last about 1 to 3 years. Symptoms of this phase of HIV-disease include persistent swollen lymph nodes, fever, diarrhea, fatigue, night sweats, skin conditions and breathing problems.

    AIDS Diagnosis

    • AIDS is diagnosed in HIV-positive persons when CD4+ cell counts drop below 200 per cubic milliliter of blood, when these cells account for less than 14 percent of lymphocytes or when an opportunistic infection (one that does not occur in a person with a healthy immune system) like thrush or cytomegalovirus occurs.

    AIDS Effects

    • In addition to opportunistic infections, AIDS causes neurological problems like AIDS dementia complex, cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphomas and wasting syndrome, a condition of severe weight loss.

    Treatment

    • A combination of antiretroviral drugs, which target HIV at several stages of its cycle, are used to treat HIV. This treatment is known as HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) and can delay the onset of AIDS in HIV-positive persons.

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